A couple of things wrong here though.
1. Galchenyuk wasn't playing at centre in Sarnia. He was on the wing. So I'm not sure he develops as a centre in Sarnia if the lockout lasts the year since he wasn't playing centre.
2. 2014-2015 was not a good year. Standings wise it was, but that team played terrible for most of the year and were saved by Price's heroic performance. They barely looked like a playoff team and won the division. This is where the holes in the team became incredibly apparent and the team started its downward slope. On a team that couldnt score a goal, MB thought it was appropriate to get two buffalo rejects in Mitchell and Flynn at the deadline as help.
3. 2013-2014 Desharnais had 1 point in his first 19 games and the Habs still refused to try other options at centre and stuck with him no matter what. He ended up picking up the pace by season's end, but he was such a liability at centre and held the team back. If there was a time to put Galchenyuk at centre, it was those first 19 games. Circumstances didn't keep Galchenyuk on the wing, coaching staff and management did.
1. Was he though? I've saw this a few times today and I don't profess to have watched Galchenyuk in junior, but I recall that he was centering Yakupov at some point? Litterally every website from Sportsnet to NHL.com articles to thehockeywrites.com listed him as a center.
2. I don't disagree, but it's hard to sell a rebuild when you are winning the division. 2 division championships and a conference final in 3 years. Even if there are apparent holes, and there obviously was, the expectation is now skewed heavily towards winning instead of building.
3. Problem being again, move Galchenyuk off the wing and who replaces him. Team is trying to be competitive even though they should have been rebuilding. Not saying I agree, but given our roster makeup that season, and the mentality that we were competing, I understand the decision making. It was obviously short sighted thinking, but given the context that management believed in the team it's understandable.
Hindsight tells us this was a major mistake. Probably lots of posters here called it. It's likely fireable. But it doesn't change that fact that I believe Galchenyuk was drafted to be a center, and the team just got kind of distracted before it could happen. They were happy to use Galchenyuk as a goal scoring winger. Wasted some important years, and now we'll likely never know if it could have been or not.