Montreal Canadiens: Max Pacioretty The Unappreciated Elite Scorer

Max Pacioretty has scored a lot of goals for the Montreal Canadiens but seems always to be the first target whenever things don’t go well.

The Montreal Canadiens struggle to score goals. This is nothing new. The lack of offense seems to have been a problem for the Habs for many, many years. Montreal was a franchise once known for flair and style. Not anymore. He is no longer the limousine riding, jet flying, kiss stealing, wheeling and dealing hockey team they were known as for decades. Long gone are the Flying Frenchman.

But wait. The Canadiens have had one of the league’s best scorers on their team for the past five years. Max Pacioretty. Yes, that Max Pacioretty. The captain has scored the fifth most goals in the NHL for the past five seasons. Only Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Joe Pavelski, and Vladamir Tarasenko have scored more. That’s serious company. And that’s elite goal scoring.

Fans Want More

For some reason, Montreal Canadiens fans are always quick to criticize Pacioretty when things don’t go well for the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge. Max is usually the first player mentioned when disgruntled fans want a Hab traded. Go to twitter or any forum board and the anti-Max vitriol is always front and center.

The Montreal Canadiens struggle for goals and fans want to get rid of their best goal scorer. Not just their best but statistically one of the league’s best. Pacioretty has scored 30 or more goals five times and most likely would be a six-time 30 goal scorer if not for the 2012-13 lockout.

We also must be reminded that Pacioretty has done all this scoring without a true number one center (with all due respect to David Desharnais and Phillip Danault). It’s not outlandish to say that Max could score 40 if he played with a true number one center.

Even the attempts of playing with Jonathan Drouin can’t be counted. Drouin is still learning the position, and many consider him more suited to the wing than down the middle.

Even as Pacioretty became the franchise’s all-time overtime goal leader, passing some historic greats, there were negative “not so impressed” sentiments attached to the achievement. It seems that Pacioretty can never do enough to satisfy the fan base.