Max Pacioretty has played in almost 1,000 NHL games. He turns 36 in November. He’s played only 91 regular-season games over the last three seasons because of injuries.
The Maple Leafs are going to see what, if anything, he has left.
Pacioretty will attend Leafs training camp, which begins next week, on a professional tryout. The hope for GM Brad Treliving and company is that Pacioretty will bring some offence and experience to what’s arguably the weakest position on the roster: left wing.
The current bunch figures to include Matthew Knies, Bobby McMann, Nick Robertson, and perhaps, Connor Dewar and Pontus Holmberg (and maybe others if the puzzle pieces were to move around). Easton Cowan will also be eyeing his first go-around in the NHL. It’s a group with some upside, but also a very limited NHL track record.
Only Knies feels like a sure thing for top-six duty this fall.
The Leafs let Tyler Bertuzzi, the top left winger at the end of last season, walk in free agency.
And so, Pacioretty. Or at least a shot on Pacioretty, with no strings attached for the moment.
Pacioretty was among the NHL’s most productive scorers for about a decade.
The only players with more goals than Pacioretty’s 303 from the 2011-12 season to the end of the 2021-22 season were Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, Patrick Kane, Brad Marchand and Joe Pavelski.
Pacioretty scored at least 30 goals in six of those 10 seasons.
But, of course, he may not be that dude anymore. Pacioretty scored only four times in 47 games for the Washington Capitals last season while shooting just 4.2 percent. His shot rate plummeted to just 7.8 shots per 60 minutes at five-on-five, down from double digits perennially during most of his peak years, including a high of almost 13 per 60 in Vegas (2019-20).
He registered only five shots in four playoff games for the Caps and failed to score.
Pacioretty’s season didn’t start until January, though, one year after he tore his Achilles tendon for the second time in a less than a year.
It’s tempting to think he’ll be in a better position to succeed now, with better shooting luck and some distance from the injury, which also cost him all but five games during the 2022-23 season. Then again, Pacioretty also had a string of injuries wreck his 2021-22 season. He played only 39 games that regular season.
Pacioretty will be among the older forwards in the league next season — if he parlays the PTO into a contract, that is. And that seems likely if he can stay healthy at camp.
For the Leafs and new head coach Craig Berube, there’s no downside in getting a look at him, to see if Pacioretty has something left and can play, potentially, on one of their top three lines and power play this season.
Last fall, Noah Gregor turned a PTO with the Leafs into a contract. Zach Aston-Reese did the same a year earlier.
Both were fourth-liners.
The Leafs will be eyeing more from Pacioretty, a top-nine (and, more likely, top-six) left winger who knows how to play essentially.
Knies had a impressive playoffs and boasts all kinds of upside, but he’ll only be 22 next month and has one full NHL season under his belt. McMann was a fringe fourth-liner until he exploded offensively for a couple months last season and drew a two-year extension. Robertson scored 14 times in 56 regular-season games last season but struggled to earn consistent minutes, which prompted a trade request in the summer.
He agreed to return one a one-year contract this week (and could still be traded).
Collectively, those three, the likelier candidates for top-nine left-wing duty, have played 236 regular-season NHL games. Holmberg, another top-nine left wing candidate potentially, has totalled 91.
Pacioretty, the former captain of the Montreal Canadiens, has suited up in 902 such games to this point, plus 78 more in the postseason.
The Leafs don’t need (and almost certainly won’t be getting) anything close to peak Pacioretty. However, even 15 to 20 goals from Pacioretty at this stage of his career would be nice, especially if he’s doing it for a low price. It would help them replace the 21 goals that Bertuzzi scored last season and provide a boost, potentially, in the playoffs, where goals for this team have been hard to come by.
Can he do that? Can he stay healthy? The Leafs are going to find out.
(Photo: John McCreary / NHLI via Getty Images)
