Another season has gone by, and defensive woes are still holding Alex Galchenyuk back from becoming a true No. 1 center.

In the Montreal Canadiens' end-of-season press conference on Monday, general manager Marc Bergevin said Galchenyuk's short-term future will be playing on the wing, according to Tony Marinaro of TSN 690 Montreal.

Galchenyuk spent the bulk of 2015-16 and 2016-17 playing down the middle under two different head coaches, but both Michel Therrien and Claude Julien have had a difficult time trusting him enough to stick on the club's top line. This season, he was often left in the dust to skate with grinders in the bottom six, leaving Phillip Danault and Tomas Plekanec to center the team's top two lines.

This comes in spite of the fact that Galchenyuk is by far their most talented center. A case could be made that he even has more pure talent than wingers Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov.

"Ideally, we'd love to have (Galchenyuk) play center," said Julien, who was hired as the head coach on February 14. "You have to be good at both ends of the ice and you have to be responsible."

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

Galchenyuk has now spent five seasons in the NHL. He is still just 23 years old, but if he hasn't grasped the concept of defense by now, when will he?

He certainly has the size (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) and skating ability to be a true No. 1 center. All the tools are in place. He just needs to learn how to apply his offensive creativity to the defensive side of the puck. A move back to the wing will only delay his defensive potential further.

"Hopefully he took a step back this year to take two steps forward next year," said Bergevin, according to TSN's John Lu.

From a statistical perspective, Galchenyuk has steadily improved almost every season since coming into the league as an 18-year-old.

*Bold = season spent primarily as a center.

Yet, with Galchenyuk, it clearly isn't about just the offensive production. The move to wing to start next year would signify that Montreal's patience with his defensive game is wearing thin.

"At some point, players have to take ownership," said Bergevin. "Until young players realize there's an issue and they need to get better, they never will."

Galchenyuk admitted that he needs to work on all aspects of his game. He wants to be "a very complete player."

If Montreal fails to address the center position in the offseason, they could be looking at another early playoff exit. Teams comprised of Plekanec, Danault, and Torrey Mitchell down the middle usually don't make it too far. Galchenyuk is their X-factor. If he can improve his play without the puck and earn the trust of Julien, it'll go a long way for Montreal making a deep playoff run in 2018.

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