Montreal Canadiens: Initial Reaction to the Max Pacioretty trade

The Montreal Canadiens were at work late last night, and Max Pacioretty now has a new team in the Vegas Golden Knights for the 2018-19 season.

What a thing to wake up to. The Montreal Canadiens and Max Pacioretty have had an interesting relationship in the last few weeks. It started back in December when his name was being brought up in trade rumours around the deadline. But once the day past, Pacioretty was still a member of the team.

Even after word was out that Pacioretty may be dealt at the 2018 NHL Draft, nothing ended up transpiring (although, the Los Angeles Kings were the closest). Allan Walsh, the 29-year-old’s newly appointed agent, was adding more fuel to the fire as well. It got to the point where it seemed nearly impossible that the Habs would keep him going into the regular season, even though moving him later may have been a better option.

But at 1:00 AM ET, the Montreal Canadiens announced that Pacioretty will be moving to the Vegas Golden Knights (AKA The Disney Squad). Tomas Tatar, prospect Nick Suzuki, and a 2019 second-round pick are coming Marc Bergevin‘s way in exchange for the sniper.

At face value, it’s the standard ‘player-pick-prospect’ transaction. Not getting a first-round pick in the trade stings. Perhaps that may have been something the Montreal Canadiens could’ve gotten if they waited for Pacioretty to shake away the shadows of the 2017-18 season completely. Another thing to add on is that it’s not Vegas’ second.

The originally pick came from the Columbus Blue Jackets after dealing with the Golden Knights ahead of the Expansion Draft. Whether it’s from Columbus or Vegas themselves, that selection is most likely to be in the latter portion of the second-round. Again, that’s not terrible, especially if Trevor Timmins works some magic in that area as he did in Dallas. Jacob Olofsson was a 56th pick (six picks shy of the end of the round), and he looks like a great addition.

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Tatar was once a well-regarded player after putting up some great numbers in Detroit. He still is to an extent, but his stock took a hit after how he was used in Vegas after the deadline. The 27-year-old put up six (6) points in the remaining 20 games of the season and was in the lineup sparingly in the playoffs. However, he did score a big goal to get things going for the Golden Knights against the Winnipeg Jets.

Suzuki is the star of the trade. Vegas selected him 13th overall in 2017 from the Owen Sound Attack and he’s a player with excellent extinct and speed. He was behind a lot of his team’s offence and uses a distracting shiftiness to create plays on the ice. The 19-year-old managed to eclipse his 45 goal and 51 assist season in his draft year scoring 42 goals and 58 assists last season.

The kid is good, and although he may not be the biggest player, there’s a lot of strength to his game that allows him to not be pushed off the puck as easily as you’d expect.

Suzuki has one (1) pro game under his belt playing in the playoffs with the Chicago Wolves. Seeing as he’s on an entry-level contract, he will likely be at training camp giving Montreal Canadiens fans an opportunity to see what he can do first hand.

There’s always going to be a feeling of wanting more here. No trade is won or lost in the first few months, and it’ll definitely take some time to reap the benefits of the deal. The Montreal Canadiens got value for Pacioretty. Whether they got as much as they could’ve is debatable, but now it’s time to move on to a new era.