Galchenyuk made some really important strides last year, IMO. He was far more aggressive and hard on pucks. The Habs under Therrien and Julien want to pressure the puck. That's not been part of his game as a centre or winger but finally I started to see the hustle that I think they need to see from him. Like it or not, the Habs want all their players to pressure, pressure, pressure. It's how the system works. If everyone doesn't do it, the system falls apart. So he started doing that. That's good.
The other thing I saw was he finally started learning how to use the middle of the ice as a winger. A lot of natural centres struggle when they move to the wing because they feel like they're stuck in a track. Galchenyuk is not like Pacioretty, Gallagher, Danault. These are North-South players. Galchenyuk is more like Drouin, an East-West guy. He needs to be able to move laterally and use the middle of the ice. That's where he's most dangerous. It's also what makes him a natural centre. But on the wing, I finally started seeing him step into the middle of the ice either with the puck, or to support the rush. This was a huge step and I think it will allow him to be more of a dynamic player, like the one we saw playing centre.
Now, why isn't he just playing centre? It's simple - his play in his own zone. Although he's hard on pucks in the offensive zone, he's not hard enough, not aggressive enough in the D zone. He needs to anticipate plays and breakdowns better and jump into the spots he needs to be to help start the rush. He was not doing enough in his own zone to break up plays and start the rush. He was waiting for passes. They want their centres to be puck hounds, and Galchenyuk is not that. As long as he plays that way, he won't be a centre for this team.