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.

Over the last five NHL seasons, Pacioretty has tied with Ovechkin for the most game-winning goals — as mentioned by Marc Dumont in the latest episode of HabsFan vs. LeafsFan (S02, E16).  Pacioretty is scoring some crucial goals. Yet, we still hear how many people believe the bulk of his goals are empty net goals. Just not true.

Yet with all the great accomplishments that Pacioretty has achieved why is he targeted so frequently by media and fans alike? Max’s inconsistent play, his supposed lack of passion, the responsibility of being captain and his apparent role in the Subban trade are all reasons why Pacioretty is critiqued more than others.

Fans Want Consistency

As of the writing of this piece, Max is in one of his all too familiar goalless streaks. He has currently gone six straight games without a goal. In October he had a seven-game goalless streak.

He finished the 2016-17 season with a four-game streak and continued that with a well documented six playoff games without a goal. He’s had much more in his career, and he’ll have much more moving forward.

You need goals to win hockey games, and when things don’t go well for the Montreal Canadiens, all the eyes look towards the goal scorers not scoring. When he and only a few others on the team can score much of the pressure falls to Max.

Pacioretty is a guaranteed thirty goal scorer. He is also guaranteed to have long stretches without a goal. It seems the fans would instead like to see Max score a goal every other game than have him score in ten straight and then go cold for ten straight.

Mathematically, it’s the same thing, but it’s the dry spells that drive fans crazy. More consistent production would go a long way in helping to dodge the criticisms hurled towards Pacioretty.

Fans Want Passion

When Max Pacioretty is not scoring the fans want him to show passion.  They want him to utilize his big frame as a bruising power forward. They want him to put the opposition through the boards. They want to see an effort. They want to see the passion. They want Mad Max.

They want to see Max busting his behind on the backcheck. They don’t want to see blown coverage. Like they saw against the Leafs. They want to see effort, and a constant determined to backcheck. Not like they saw when P.K. Subban lost and edge and Max did this.

Yes, I did bring up P.K.’s name…a little more below. Only a little bit, I swear.

They want to see Max smash sticks in anger and frustration. They want to see him yelling at teammates, opposition, coaches, Youppi! Anybody. They just want to see that he cares.

The thing is, this is isn’t Max. He does care – he just shows it differently. He doesn’t need to yell and scream to show he cares. He’s admitted he cares too much. Possibly to his detriment.

Fans Want Him to Play in the Dirty Areas

That’s just not the type player Max Pacioretty is. It’s not that he’s not trying; it just looks like it sometimes. His snapshots, as good as they are, from 55 feet away, from the wing, will not beat today’s NHL goaltender.

Fans notice this. When Max hears the footsteps closing in on him, he’d rather loft one towards the net than take the hit and make the harder play. Nothing frustrates a fan more than when they perceive a player who is not giving 100%.

Extra effort and passion are what fans want to see from their players and especially from their captain. Pacioretty isn’t known as a vocal leader and although we don’t know how he truly is in the room, leading by example is something people expect from their captain. Nobody will say bailing on a hit or lazy stick checks is leading by example or playing with passion.

Max’s Strength Is Scoring

Maybe it’s the “Chara introducing him to the stanchion” flashbacks that cause him to get rid of pucks so quickly. Who can blame him? I still remember little Susie pushing me off my tricycle in grade one. Okay, okay, I was in grade eight…still a tricycle.

People complain about Max’s ability to pass and set up teammates. Again, this is not Max. Ovechkin isn’t much of a set-up guy. Nicklas Backstrom isn’t a goal snipe machine. Jaromir Jagr doesn’t bash bodies around.

These are all great players. They just have their individual strengths. Max’s strength is scoring. And he is one of the best in the NHL at it. The numbers don’t lie.

Despite being one of the best at what is a very, very difficult and rare skill to have:  the ability to put the puck into the net. People still want more passion from Max.

The Weight of The C

As captain of the Montreal Canadiens, the fan base expects even more. The franchise’s list of all-time great captains is distinct, and the fans expect Max to live up to this history.

Even former coach, Michel Therrien, caused a bit of a firestorm when rumours made the rounds about his thoughts on Max’s place in history as captain of the Canadiens. A very unfair situation for both men who denied them, but I’m sure Max didn’t appreciate it. We all would feel the same. Rumours or not.

In addition to being an elite scorer, the fans want even more from him because of the C on his jersey. It seems they’ve never been happy with Max as captain. When Shea Weber was acquired, people openly asked whether Max would remove the C and hand it to him.

Max has the added pressure of being the captain and of being one of the few goal scorers on the team. Fans expect more from a captain and when they feel they’re not getting enough the negative reviews rain down on Max — and Max isn’t Gene Kelly.