‘No hard feelings’
Mired in a slow start to his Golden Knights career, Max Pacioretty not bitter about trade out of Montreal
What’s the biggest difference between playing hockey in Montreal versus Las Vegas?
It isn’t necessarily the weather, said Max Pacioretty.
It’s this: Pacioretty has two goals and no assists for a team that has the third-worst record in the Western Conference. But so far, not one reporter has asked him about his scoring slump, his lack of leadership or criticized him for being a big-ticket disappointment.
It’s a different sort of climate change for someone who spent the past decade in a Montreal Canadiens jersey.
“Obviously, the media is different there and expectations are in every organization to win, but in a Canadian market everyone knows you have to answer the questions about those expectations every day,” Pacioretty said of playing for the Golden Knights. “That’s the biggest difference I’ve seen.
“At the end of the day, it’s a bit more realistic. You don’t sit up front every day and answer questions about how bad you are. Like I said, it’s completely different in that sense. But at the same time, expectations on any team is Stanley Cup or bust — whether you answer questions about it or not.”
Ten games in, Pacioretty is lucky to be hiding out in the desert.
The trade that brought him to Vegas so far isn’t working out the way the Golden Knights had intended. Then again, very little has been working for a team that went all the way to the Stanley Cup final in its inaugural season. The magic that was there a year ago suddenly isn’t. Players are getting hurt, pucks aren’t going in like they used to and the losses are starting to pile up.
Pacioretty, who missed the past four games following a high hit from Tampa Bay’s Braydon Coburn, isn’t the main reason why Vegas is currently out of a playoff spot. But one month into the season, you can finally put one in the win column for GM Marc Bergevin. Well, two actually.
Few might have expected that Tomas Tatar, whom the Canadiens acquired along with prospect Nick Suzuki and a second-round pick in 2019, would have more goals and points than Pacioretty at this point of the season. Even fewer would have predicted that Montreal — not Vegas — would be holding down a playoff spot.
“I don’t think it’s surprising,” Pacioretty said of the Canadiens, whom he faces on Saturday for the first time since being traded. “In Montreal, even when I was there, too, you always seem to have a bounce-back year after you had a bad year. I think a lot of guys have really stepped up and bounced back well. That seems to be the case oftentimes in big markets and then also when there’s less pressure and less expectations.
“We saw it with Vegas last year. It’s easier to skate down the ice when you don’t have that on your shoulders.”
With or without the ‘C’ on the front of his jersey, the pressure is still there for Pacioretty. Though the fouryear, $28-million contract extension he signed with Vegas doesn’t kick in until next season, he still came into the season with the expectation that he would help lead the offence.
He didn’t have to necessarily score 40 goals. But at the very least, he was supposed to chip in more goals than fourth-line enforcer Ryan Reaves, who has doubled Pacioretty’s output.
To be fair, Pacioretty is averaging four fewer minutes than he did in Montreal. And injuries to himself, Paul Stastny and Alex Tuch have prevented him from finding a consistent spot in the lineup. He’s played three games with Stastny, one with Tuch, and had Erik Haula as a centre and a winger.
“My last two games, I was really starting to feel my game,” said Pacioretty. “I think it was the best I’d played in a long time. And then you get hurt in the first shift of the next game, that’s frustrating.”
“He was starting to come around,” said Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant. “He was playing fine, he was working hard, but the problem was the puck wasn’t going in the net. When you’re a key player like that and you’re coming to a new team, you want results right away. And he wasn’t getting them.”
There’s obviously more time for Pacioretty and Vegas to get back on track. And maybe this road swing through Canada, where the Golden Knights play the Maple Leafs on Tuesday, the Ottawa Senators on Thursday and are in Montreal on Saturday, will jump-start things. After all, there’s no better time for Pacioretty to show his worth than against the team that named him captain before trading him three years later.
“No hard feelings,” Pacioretty said of being traded. “People mention that it will probably be good to get it out of the way early. It will be fun to go back ... and hope for the best.”