Coyotes Release Official Statement Explaining Galchenyuk's Termination

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TJ Tucker
July 14, 2023 (1:53 PM)

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It is now official, Alex Galchenyuk is no longer a member of the Arizona Coyotes. The 29-year-old, who was drafted 3rd overall in 2012, was placed on unconditional waivers by Arizona yesterday in order to terminate his contract. He cleared waivers today and is now a free agent. In the meantime, while the Coyotes wouldn't comment on the situation yesterday, the team did release a statement today explaining why the decision was made to drop Galchenyuk.

"We are aware of the incident involving Alex Galchenyuk and strongly condemn this type of behavior. Once the Club was made aware of the allegations, we immediately began the process of terminating his Standard Player's Contract through the proper channels in conjunction with the National Hockey League. As a result, the Arizona Coyotes today have exercised the team's right to terminate the contract of Alex Galchenyuk due to a material breach of the terms of his Standard Player's Contract. The Club will have no further comment at this time." - Arizona Coyotes

While it took about an hour after the initial announcement from the Coyotes, we eventually learned that Galchenyuk had been arrested on July 9th, and is facing several charges.

Galchenyuk was already hanging on to an NHL job by his fingernails anyway. This latest development may be the final nail in the coffin. There are already calls on Russian websites for the KHL to sign him. Galchenyuk, who represented the United States on the international level at several tournaments, spent much of his youth in Russia while his father, who was born in Belarus, played in the KHL.

"In recent years, many humiliated, insulted and accused of one misdemeanor or another have come to Russia. Avtomobilist was coached by "racist" Bill Peters. Jake Virtanen, accused of rape, was sheltered by Spartak. Reid Boucher, a participant in another sex scandal, plays quietly in the KHL. Brendan Leipsic, who received a black mark in the NHL for bullying other hockey players' wives, went further. Not only did he receive a contract from SKA, but he will soon acquire a Russian passport. Given this trend, all roads for the troublemaker Galchenyuk lead to Russia." - Sport24.ru