Alex Galchenyuk may have just hit rock bottom.

The career of National Hockey League forward Alex Galchenyuk may have just hit an all time low.

As many of you will already know, Galchenyuk was traded over the weekend as part of a three player trade that saw the Ottawa Senators send him and forward Cedric Paquette to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forward Ryan Dzingel. Although Galchenyuk was in fact a part of that trade, it would now appear that he was nothing more than an afterthought in that deal and it may even be that the Hurricanes have no desire to have him within their organization at all.

Immediately following the trade Galchenyuk was placed on waivers, not even bothering to leave Canada given that he could in theory be picked up by any other team in the NHL. It was a sign that the Hurricanes did not view him as a part of their immediate plans and the expectation from most pundits was that Galchenyuk would largely be relegated to the Hurricanes taxi squad this season, assuming of course that he wasn't picked up by another team. Unfortunately for Galchenyuk, who did in fact clear waivers on Monday, it now appears that the Hurricanes don't even have interest in keeping him as a spare part on that squad. 

According to news from Ottawa Senators reporter Murray Pam, the Hurricanes have already made the decision to send Galchenyuk to the Chicago Wolves, a team in the American Hockey League. When you consider that Galchenyuk was the 3rd overall pick at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, this has to be rock bottom for the Milwaukee native. Even more than that I genuinely wonder if this could be the end of the road, at least as far as the NHL is concerned, for Galchenyuk who is now headed to his 5th different team in the last 2 seasons.

I don't know if Galchenyuk will accept the assignment in the American Hockey League, that honestly sounds like a nightmare scenario for an established NHL player in the midst of this ongoing pandemic, but his options will now be very limited. I would not be surprised to see him instead seek out an offer in Europe, or perhaps even in the Kontinental Hockey League, rather than playing in the AHL.