Player Discussion Max Pacioretty Appreciation Thread: Thanks Max!

[LyricalLyricist]

Well he peaked(He's not getting better at this age)...sure but he's VERY consistent. He still has at least a few good years in him, I'm sure he will touch or surpass that 30 goal mark.

 

[BLONG7]

Well he peaked(He's not getting better at this age)...sure but he's VERY consistent. He still has at least a few good years in him, I'm sure he will touch or surpass that 30 goal mark.

Agreed.........not to mention he will be on a mission.......away from the circus created by Da Big Clown!!

 

[LyricalLyricist]

I actually think he can easily pot 30 with Vegas.

I don't think he's gonna pot 40 just because he plays with better centers. A bit like Kessel in Pittsburgh. Everyone thought he'd score 50 with Crosby or Malkin but it didn't happen.

I see Pacioretty hit 70 pts though. He's much better surrounded now. Remember when Galchenyuk centered him? For some reason, he became the playmaker of that line and assisted Galchenyuk in a lot of goals. It gave him the opportunity to do others things than just shooting the puck. He had a career high in assist that season. So I can see him do quite well in his first years in Vegas. 30g-40a is not out of question.

I agree with you although the Galchenyuk part is odd to me. He dropped his goal totals that year but had a few more assists? That isn't success, especially when Galchenyuk came paired with Gallagher and favorable ice time.

He did look good at times with Galchenyuk though but I don't think the way you illustrated it is correct.

That being said, I don't think 30-40 is unreasonable either. Vegas kind of had a fluke year but Perron, Smith, etc... are not on Max's level and had that PPG pace, if LV can recreate that magic or if they're legit Max is clearly an upgrade on those guys.

 

[ProspectsFanatic]

I believe he is slowly going in a downward trend (last season was abnormally bad though), but he never played with a good centerman in his career, Statsny is much superior to Gomez, Desharnais, Danault and Galchenyuk/Drouin for the most part disappointing at center (he played with some good years of Plekanec but for some reasons the chemistry wasn't there), this might nullified the downward trend in the short future.

 

[Burke the Legend]

I believe he is slowly going in a downward trend (last season was abnormally bad though), but he never played with a good centerman in his career, Statsny is much superior to Gomez, Desharnais, Danault and Galchenyuk/Drouin for the most part disappointing at center (he played with some good years of Plekanec but for some reasons the chemistry wasn't there), because of this I could envision him having a career year in terms of point production in a short future.

It's kind of a myth that DD held back Patches. I don't think he did at all. DD was a pretty good playermaker and had chemistry with Patches. When he was on the ice he was always looking for Patches and feeding him nice breakout passes. What more could Patches ask for? Sure an improved version of DD could help Patches even more but it's no guarantee that Statsny or Karlsson are that guy. Karlsson is a shooter and as others mentioned, Statsny has iffy chemistry with Patches.

 

[waffledave]

I think he bottoms out as a 25-25 guy. Stick him on a line, he won't do anything much but he'll put up some points. Reminds me of declining Zednik.

 

[ProspectsFanatic]

It's kind of a myth that DD held back Patches. I don't think he did at all. DD was a pretty good playermaker and had chemistry with Patches. When he was on the ice he was always looking for Patches and feeding him nice breakout passes. What more could Patches ask for? Sure an improved version of DD could help Patches even more but it's no guarantee that Statsny or Karlsson are that guy. Karlsson is a shooter and as others mentioned, Statsny has iffy chemistry with Patches.

I don't believe DD held him back, DD played some good hockey, but wasn't truly a 1C. But I would agree that Stastny isn't substantially better than prime DD. Pac might never play with a true 1C/boderline elite center in his prime.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

People most often underestimate the impact of changing environment. It can go both ways.

And in the case of our erstwhile friendly ghost, IMO he'll perform. I have few doubts that he'll hit 30.

He'll be in a good environment, and I mean the team not the city, as he'll be reunited with Gallant who was here the two years after Max's faithful bad luck of being stuck between a stanchion and a stupid place. Now, I don't care for the opinions of others about this because I spent some time watching Vegas and what I saw was reminiscent of his days in Florida. Imo he's the best coach in the NHL and the moron let him go and kept the grindosaur instead. Anyway, Gallant knows Pac, so I'm thinking the odds of Pac being in lockstep with the team is highly likely, contrarily to what the OP stated.

IMO, Max will be highly motivated and it will probably last. He'll be well surrounded, so there's no surprise for me if he goes to hit 35-65 again, if not better.

When players come close to their 30's and seem to have lost it, it's never a physical thing. Like Gomez and other players before him, they're still physically able to do the same thing they always do.

People have such a narrow and misinformed view of talent and performance. It's all between the ears. It's motivation. And so many factors can play with levels of motivation, and it goes differently for each individual depending on basal level of activation of the motivation/reward system in our brain, which is set very early in life.

And there's very little volition involved for those with affected basal levels. You can't directly force your current motivation level. Sure you can try to motivate yourself, but if your neuroendocrine correlate is at low levels because of other factors, it ain't gonna work.

It takes time to flip the swith. The volitive part is not self-motivation, although it does help in the long run (for those with varying degrees of abnormal basal levels). The volitive part is about changing the factors, the environment to force basal levels to go up with time. There needs to be an overwhelming change with positive factors.

Imo, Max will have that and he'll perform.

People with normal levels have a hard time understanding this.

 

[Habs]

After 28 , most players are on the downside.

 

[yianik]

Whether he’s on the downside or not really won’t influence my opinion on this trade.

He just had to be traded, no matter what. Winning in this league is all about timing, and he just didn’t fit in the picture anymore. Might as well get some value in return. Think of the Kessel trade from Toronto to Pittsburgh, except we got better value in the deal, for a worse player, with a year left on his deal as opposed to retaining a substantial amount of money on a long term contract.

Remains to be seen if the Pacioretty trade ends up helping us to draft our Matthews. At the very least, it should improve our odds. But I wish Patches the best in Vegas, wanting him gone is nothing personal, that’s just how the business works.

These are my thoughts as well. I will go just a little further to say that I believe he is capable of continuing to be a 30 goal scorer for some years yet, but based on timing, what he brings overall and the price for that, and our needs, I supported his being traded. It is too bad, a good player and likeable guy who wanted to stay here, but this was better for the team and its future.

 

[The Great Weal]

I honestly dont care about Pacioretty anymore. Deslauriers was better on the pp.

 

[CauZuki]

How brave of you to start this thread after he is traded...

 

[Habs Halifax]

I honestly dont care about Pacioretty anymore. Deslauriers was better on the pp.

Agreed. Patch was pretty good 5/5 at scoring goals. But on the PP... he was brutal. Especially this past year where he tried to be a play maker or focal point of our offense.

As far as a declining asset? I think you need to consider his strengths and how this can decline into his 30's. Do we think that he looses his shot and quick release from age 30-35? I think not. What about his skating? Maybe he had modest decline but I don't see him falling off a cliff like Gomez did. Gomez is a good player to measure when it comes to the decline factor. Gomez's game was build on speed and once he lost some of this in his early 30's, he quickly became less effective. As far as Patch, I just don't see him losing what he does best. Shooters are shooters and he won't be a major decling asset. Were talking about a very small year to year decline and almost unnoticeable. I think the biggest question is how Vegas's coach using him. After all, Gallant would know Patch very well.

PK: Yes. He can burn you and he has a long stick with a long reach. He is active with his stick and can cause trouble for the other teams PP.

PP: 2nd unit in front of the net. Not at the point or side wall.

5/5: 2nd or 3rd line is best. Playing on a team with 2 or 3 solid lines is the best situation for Patch. Once he becomes the focal point of your offense and on your top line, he can be shut down. He is best suited like the Pens use Kessel.

 

[Redux91]

A lot of Pacioretty's production came from a footspeed advantage and his great wrister, scoring on the rush. Players (usually wingers) who depend on those two physical aspects suffer more of a late 20s decline than players who are more cerebral or have solid strength/possession game (boardwork / cycling).

He's entering a pivot point of his career where we find out if he can adapt to this new physical reality or not, where he no longer has the advantages his body's speed from 5 years ago. He'll need to learn to pick his opportunities better and become more of a playmaker. Some players manage it, others just fade.

Vegas has effectively taken on decent risk here, mitigated by the fact that it's just a 4 year contract. Surprised Patches agreed to that after he rejected the 6 year LA offer.

I gotta say i really realllllly like this post, you just couldnt of said a single word better honestly, you were as good as francois gagnon was on TSN last night

 

[CauZuki]

Max,

I appreciate you...


- I appreciate your drive...when the opponents neat was empty.
- I appreciate your leadership...until the 2nd week of April.
- I appreciate your dedication...to being potentially the most boring person in the world.

Good luck in Vegas!

 

[Runner77]

Bye bye Max, I wish the Chara hit never happened and I wish that you were never named captain but oh well. I still think that you have one of the best snap shots in all of hockey and it's too bad that DD was your Crosby, cheers.

Sums up the hockey player, nicely.

Also, off ice, he was great with the fans, very involved with the community and one of the few players who actually made Montreal his home.

I'll never forget how he helped raise funds via his foundation for a much needed MRI machine for the Montreal General.

Pacioretty didn't shy away from fans. I'd rather remember him like this:

All the best, Max.

 

[GHJimmy]

Why delete my appreciation thread I started first?
Could have merged them at least.

I took some time to actually write something out and share two videos with some personal back story. -_-

Please don't brag, I created a thread for Byron injury thread 12 hours earlier before it got merged to another thread created way tf later, that's how they work, they want people with more post to post them.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

 

[The Great Weal]

I'll miss the long list of nicknames.

 

[Skip Bayless]

Never was a fan of the player, nor the character, but I appreciated his much needed goal scoring. When he'd miss a breakaway you'd often see him get mad at himself on the bench, but it wasn't selfish, he knew and embraced his role on the team. Giving him the C was a mistake, but without him, the habs would've probably not made the playoffs during the pretender years.

 

[Laurentide]

To Max, I say thanks.

View attachment 138757

Even his autograph looks disinterested.

 

[yianik]

Hmmm, pretty short thread. I wanted him traded but I liked him as a player for what he was , and handles himself well.

Heard him speak in Vegas. He was classy there. He didnt even say Habs were in a full blown rebuild, just stuck to what MB and Molson said, small rebuild or reset. Also didnt go into the he didnt ask for a trade stuff.

Wish him well.

 

[PhysicX]

I'm glad you're gone, although, in my opinion, you should've been first to pack your bags three seasons ago.

My only wish is you and your family stay healthy and enjoy life in Vegas. For the rest, won't miss you one bit.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

With Bergevins Anti-Midas touch Max probably wins the Rocket and Conn Smythe and Tatar and Suzuki bust hard

 

[Dominator13]

It's odd to say this when he's hitting 30 years, but I do think with the talent surrounding him in Vegas, he could absolutely hit the 40 goal mark. Whether it's Karlsson, Stastny or even Glass, it's still better than anything he's had to work with in Montreal.