Canadiens' Alex Galchenyuk: Dropped from top line

Galchenyuk skated on the third line as a winger during Wednesday's practice, Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette reports.

Analysis:

Twelve hours after coach Claude Julien told reporters that Galchenyuk had not played well in Tuesday's loss to Detroit, the one-time center found himself on a wing with center Andrew Shaw and winger Artturi Lehkonen. Galchenyuk won just 15 of 48 faceoffs over the last three games, and the top line produced just two goals over the last nine. Julien saw the failing chemistry between the top trio, and his natural coaching instinct was to break them up and hopefully get Galchenyuk on track in a less demanding position. We suspect he'll remain on the top power-play unit, so there's still some value in deploying Galchenyuk in fantasy lineups.