The No. 3 selection by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2012 NHL Draft, Galchenyuk was born in Milwaukee, where his father, Alexander Galchenyuk, was playing in the American Hockey League. The family would move back to Europe when Alex was 4 and live in Germany, Italy and Russia.

Alexander Galchenyuk, who played internationally for the Soviet Union and Belarus, was serving as an assistant coach with Sarnia of the Ontario Hockey League when Alex began his junior career there. Alex had 31 goals and 83 points in his first season, drawing notice from NHL teams.

A knee injury limited him to eight games, including playoffs, in his second season, but the Canadiens were undeterred and drafted Galchenyuk that summer.

Healthy again for 2012-2013, he was putting up big numbers for Sarnia and had helped the United States win gold at the World Junior Championship when the NHL resumed play after a lockout. Galchenyuk joined the Canadiens and had nine goals and 27 points as a rookie, playing all 48 games of the abbreviated season.

In 2014-15, his third season, he reached the 20-goal mark for the first time in the NHL. His two goals at home in the 2015-16 finale against the Tampa Bay Lightning gave him 30 for the season.

At 22 years and 57 days old, he became the third youngest player in Canadiens history to reach that mark. Bernie Geoffrion and Stephane Richer were the others.