Team owner says Pacioretty asked for trade
Former Canadiens captain has signed a deal with Golden Knights
LAVAL, QUE. — The seemingly never-ending saga between Max Pacioretty and the Montreal Canadiens finally is over, but not before one final twist.
After months of rumours, speculation, leaks, denials and conflicting reports, the Canadiens traded their former captain to the Vegas Golden Knights late Sunday night.
Contrary to what Pacioretty and his agent Allan Walsh had repeatedly claimed, the Canadiens say the winger had requested to be traded as early as last season.
Montreal dealt Pacioretty to the defending Western Conference champs for forward Tomas Tatar, prospect forward Nick Suzuki and a second-round draft pick in 2019.
“We’re just going to focus on telling the truth, and that’s that a request was made,” Canadiens owner Geoff Molson said at the team’s annual pretraining camp golf tournament on Monday. “It’s been going on several months now that we’ve been trying to make this happen.
“When the request was made to look at making a trade, we started to actively go after that. And the player and the organization agreed that it was probably in the best interest of Max and the organization to start to look for a trade.”
The transaction puts an end to a messy situation between Pacioretty and the Canadiens.
Back in February, an emotional Pacioretty said he was relieved not to be leaving Montreal at the trade deadline.
On draft day in June, it looked like the 29-year-old had been traded to the Los Angeles Kings, but that deal fell through due to contract negotiations.
A report weeks later claimed general manager Marc Bergevin had no intention of extending his captain’s contract. Bergevin confirmed that report Monday.
Pacioretty had one more season left on a six-year deal worth an annual US$4.5 million. On Monday, the Golden Knights announced they had signed Pacioretty to a four-year, $28-million extension.
“Both parties agreed that the best thing was to move on and we were able to do that last night,” said Bergevin. “Last season, he asked for a trade. I will not go into details. But that’s a fact.”
The Canadiens drafted Pacioretty in the first round in 2007. The Connecticut native made his NHL debut the following year. He was named captain in 2015. He scored 226 goals and added 222 assists in
626 career games, all with Montreal.