Former Maple Leaf Appointed Captain Overseas - But It's Not What You Think

At one time, former NHL player Alex Galchenyuk was a solid player who was able to carve out a decent career for himself with the Montreal Canadiens before bouncing around the league and finding himself elsewhere.

He's currently found himself overseas in Russia and hopes to continue his career with Amur Khabarovsk, and seemed poised to do so and was recently named the captain of the team in quite the honor for the veteran forward.

However it's not without controversy, as it turns out that Khabarovsk's head coach is none other than Galchenyuk's father himself.

According to an article (translated from Russian), the Belarusian coach was appointed to be coach of Amur, and subsequently lead to the signing of Galchenyuk to the squad and captaincy.

It reeks of nepotism but it's understandable why the elder Galchenyuk would want to keep his son as the leader, and perhaps felt he truly was the best player to captain the team due to his extensive NHL experience.

Galchenyuk, 31, was drafted 3rd overall by the Canadiens in 2012, and registered 354 points in 654 games (146 goals, 208 assists) and spent six years in Montreal before spending time with Arizona, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and Minnesota.

His best season came in 2015-16 with Montreal where he had 56 points in 82 games (30 goals, 26 assists) and last played in the NHL back in the 2022-23 season.

Though his time in Toronto was brief he did have 12 points in 26 games (4 goals, 8 assists) and was seen as more of a secondary role player at the time.

For now though, it might be a bit controversial given that he's now captain of the team his father helms, however if it leads them to success then perhaps it was the right call after all.