Leafs Announce Signing of Former Canadiens Captain Max Pacioretty
Photo credit: The Hockey News
The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed one a formerly bitter rival of the team, former Habs captain Max Pacioretty.
According to Chris Johnston, Pacioretty's deal has a base salary of just over $800K, but can be worth $1.5M with performance bonuses.
Now 35 years old, Pacioretty was attending Leafs training camp on a professional tryout contract. Despite some recent down seasons, Pacioretty actually had a productive preseason and scored a few goals in the Leafs top six to earn this deal.
Pacioretty was once one of the more prolific goal scorers in the NHL, and a major rival of the Maple Leafs. �Patches' was drafted 22nd overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2007, and he went on to play 10 seasons with the Habs. He often came close to scoring 40 goals was a great leader off the ice, earning him the Habs captaincy in his last three seasons with the team.
Apparently there's no bad feelings between Pacioretty and the Leafs anymore, but that hasn't always been the case for players of that era. Famously, his teammate Josh Gorges couldn't accept a trade to the Leafs, just because he truly disliked them that much.
Unfortunately, Pacioretty has been beaten down the last few years with a series of horrible injuries. He tore his ACL in offseason training, and then was only able to return and play 5 games for the Carolina Hurricanes before tearing it again. He played 47 games with the Washington Captials last season with not much offensive success, but he may have been just getting back to speed. At 35 years old, it may be tough to do.
Pacioretty's hope to continue his NHL career has come true with the Leafs, and at his age without a Stanley Cup, it's the drive of winning still keeping him going. He's joining a team that's arguably cursed with the least chance of winning, but maybe it's his jersey number �67 that breaks the Leafs cup drought since that year.
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