Nail in the coffin? Canadiens’ Max Pacioretty out 4 to 6 weeks with knee injury
The Montreal Canadiens have been realistically out of the playoff race for quite some time, and losing the captain Max Pacioretty is the final nail in the coffin for even the most optimistic fans.
It’s been a rough season for the entirety of the Montreal Canadiens organization, and nobody has experienced the brunt of the heat more then the captain of the team, Max Pacioretty.
After a career long 14-game goal drought in December, Pacioretty found himself in the midst of unrelenting trade rumors as a result of the teams apparent intention to begin a rebuilding process. It was also no secret that Pacioretty was unhappy with the team, and speculation that he had requested a trade from the team began to surface.
As the trade deadline approached, a deal seemed increasingly more likely. But deadline day passed, and Pacioretty was still a member of the Canadiens wether he liked it or not. Unfortunately for the Canadiens captain, the trade deadline would be far from his darkest hour this season.
The Canadiens announced on Monday that Pacioretty suffered a knee injury in the team’s 6-3 win over the New York Islanders last Friday and will miss the next four to six weeks, most likely ending his season with only four weeks to go in the campaign.
Mise à jour médicale : Max Pacioretty a subi une blessure à un genou le 2 mars à Brooklyn. Sa période de guérison est évaluée à 4-6 semaines / Medical update: Max Pacioretty suffered a knee injury on March 2 in Brooklyn. His recovery period is expected to be 4-6 weeks.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 5, 2018
In 64 games this season, Pacioretty has 17 goals and 20 assists for 37 points, a significant drop off in production after four consecutive seasons of of 30-plus goals and 60-plus points. It doesn’t help that Pacioretty has been shooting at an 8 percent clip on the season, a career low since his rookie campaign, though surely that percentage will bounce back next season with his career average coming in near 11 percent.
Following the trade deadline, it’s pretty clear that trade talks around Pacioretty could resume by the time the draft rolls around, so is it possible that we have seen Pacioretty in a Canadiens jersey for the final time already?
It sounded as though Montreal had plenty of offers on the table for him at the deadline, but none of them met the asking price to warrant moving the captain. If Montreal does intend to move Pacioretty, the ideal time would be at this year’s draft to get the most assets back for him and avoid dropping his value as a rental at next year’s trade deadline.
More from NHL
- NHL Rumors: Legendary Patrice Bergeron retires, which 3 players could be next to hang up their skates?
- NHL Rumors: Latest on Hart, Hellebuyck, Gibson trade possibilities
- NHL Rumors: 5 forwards most likely to sign early extensions this summer
- NHL Rumors: Where things stand with Erik Karlsson, Penguins and Hurricanes
- NHL Rumors: Penguins nearly traded for Erik Karlsson at deadline
In addition to Pacioretty, the Canadiens also announced that one of the few bright spots of this season,19-year-old defenseman Victor Mete, will miss six weeks with a fractured finger, also suffered in last Friday’s win against the Islanders. Mete has seven assists in 49 games this season and was a key contributor for Team Canada in its gold medal run at the World Junior Championships this year.
As of Monday, the Canadiens sat 10 points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final wild card spot. Sports Club Stats currently gives Montreal a 0.163 percent chance at finding a way back to the postseason, and following the injuries to Pacioretty and Mete, even the most optimistic of Canadiens fans will need to concede defeat for this season.
Even if the Canadiens were in the mix for the playoffs, their IR list is more than enough to ensure that playoffs are a distant hope. The list includes star goaltender Carey Price, No. 1 defenseman Shea Weber, captain Max Pacioretty, Charles Hudon, Victor Mete and Ales Hemskey.
Next: Report card grades for all 31 NHL teams at the trade deadline
The Canadiens season is over. There’s just no nice way to put it any more at this point in the season. Ever since the first game of the year in Buffalo, everything that could’ve gone wrong this year has gone wrong, and as a result, the playoffs have been off the table for a long time now. The priority now for the rest of the season and the offseason should be to give the fiercely loyal fans of Montreal reason to believe that their patience with this team this year will not be in vain, and that a meltdown of this scale will never happen again.