To put it kindly, expectations were modest when the Toronto Maple Leafs spent what's become a low-level prospect to acquire Alex Galchenyuk last month.
It was that way because the 2012 third-overall selection of the Montreal Canadiens, who once scored 30 goals and flirted with 60 points on multiple occasions, was drowning in his professional hockey life. Property of seven different teams for various intervals — many of them short — across points over the last four seasons alone, Galchenyuk had reached the level where he was unwanted.
You couldn't blame even the most excitable fans of the first-place franchise for barely flinching at the news of his acquisition, deciding first to get off jokes as the Egor Korshkov era ended.