Dubas: Galchenyuk's play 'reduces the urgency' to trade for forward

Alex Galchenyuk has made life a little bit easier for his new general manager.

The Toronto Maple Leafs winger has gelled nicely with the club, and GM Kyle Dubas says Galchenyuk's strong play is easing the team's need to add another top-six forward ahead of the April 12 trade deadline.

"I think the emergence of Galchenyuk playing with John and William, both in terms of the fact he's produced a little bit but in terms of how hard he's playing and the effectiveness that he's brought to the group, I think certainly reduces the urgency," Dubas said Tuesday, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

Galchenyuk, who's playing for his fifth team since the start of the 2018-19 campaign, has tallied four points through nine games since being acquired by the Leafs on Feb. 15.

The trio of Galchenyuk, Tavares, and Nylander own a 64% share of scoring chances and 73.53% share of high-danger chances at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Dubas said in March he was keen on acquiring another forward ahead of the deadline and was willing to part with top prospects to improve the club. Though the addition of Galchenyuk has been a big boost, Dubas is still keeping his options open as the deadline approaches.

"But with all that said, if we can do something that we think is going to be a good fit in the locker room and on the ice, I think we would still very openly explore that," he said.

The Leafs have won seven of their last eight outings and have a six-point cushion on the top spot in the North Division entering Tuesday's slate of games.

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