Oilers would say yes

Imagine galchenyuk with Mcdavid.. not a good idea

I wouldn't do that trade.

IMO Montreal would have to add. Look at these numbers and tell me I'm wrong:

http://puckiq.com/players/8476851 (Galchenyuk)
http://puckiq.com/players/8476454 (Nugent-Hopkins)

- RNH played C exclusively, a more important - and valuable - position. Galchenyuk spent a good portion of his season at wing. (RNH took 1268 faceoffs, Galchenyuk 642).
- RNH played 42% of the time against the leagues Elite players, Galchenyuk just 25%. That's fifth in the league vs 3rd line status - not even close.
- Nugent-Hopkins' CF% against Elites is better. The gulf isn't huge, but consider that his time vs Elite's was always with McDavid and Draisaitl on the bench. In other words, his numbers are raw and without help from the teams best players. Galchenyuk played a sheltered role with generally better line-mates.
- Galchenyuk played 27% of his time with Pacioretty and 40% with Radulov, the teams top 2 players. RNH played 0.5% with McDavid and 7.7% with Draisaitl, his teams top players.
- Galchenyuk's most common linemates were Lehkonen (30%) and Radulov (40%), both of whom were better without him. (Check out the WOWY's in the link provided above. Specifically look at the CF%, DFF% and the GF%.)
- RNH's most common linemates were Eberle (59%) and Lucic (40%). Eberle was much better with RNH than without, while Lucic was slightly better without RNH. Important to note, however, that Lucic spent 40% of his remaining icetime with McDavid, who *significantly* boosted his numbers. See: http://puckiq.com/wowy/8473473/8478402
- The difference in cap hit is negligible in the overall scheme of things, especially considering how important Nugent-Hopkins is to this Oilers team. The coach trusts him with the most difficult assignments, leaving the young guns with easier minutes and all the prime PP time. This contributed greatly to the teams success last year.

I appreciate the attempt by the Montreal fan to not try and foist Gallagher on us, but Galchenyuk isn't Nugent-Hopkins' equal in reality. If the Oilers need another LW they can just move Nugent-Hopkins over, but switching Galchenyuk to center clearly won't have the same results.