Did the Canadiens finally make a good trade in Max Pacioretty deal?

The Montreal Canadiens traded their captain Max Pacioretty after months of rumors, but did they actually get a decent return in a trade for a change?

While most of the hockey world was asleep, the Montreal Canadiens and Vegas Golden Knights set off the time bomb that was a trade for Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty.

Max Pacioretty is heading to Las Vegas in return for Tomas Tatar, prospect Nick Suzuki, and Columbus’s second-round pick in 2019. Montreal retained 10% of Pacioretty’s salary, and Vegas retained 9.4% of Tatar’s salary in the deal.

If there was a player that ever needed a change of scenery, it’s Max Pacioretty. After months of speculation and distractions, he’ll be heading to the greener pastures of Las Vegas. Vegas has already said that they do not intend for Pacioretty to be a rental, and have already begun negotiations to sign him to an extension.

But the real problem fell on the shoulders Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin. Whether anybody in Montreal will admit it or not, he’s been getting robbed left and right in trades for the last few years, and this was a trade that he needed to get right. If he couldn’t get a solid return for their captain who is also a perennial 30 goal scorer with a team friendly cap hit, it would probably be the last straw that puts his job in danger.

But luckily for Bergevin, he did get a solid return from the Vegas Golden Knights for Pacioretty, and the early reaction around the league is that the Canadiens might have won this trade despite not having any leverage with the situation.

Tomas Tatar is the first piece that is coming to Montreal. At 27 years old, he’s always been a fun player to watch with his breakneck speed and offensive talent but has just never been able to reach the ceiling of his potential. Vegas sent a king’s ransom to Detroit to acquire Tatar at the trade deadline with a first, second, and third-round pick in hopes that he was the last piece to complete their miracle season, but he was regularly scratched in the playoffs for underwhelming performances.

Perhaps Tatar just wasn’t the right fit in Vegas, and like Pacioretty, he could benefit from a change in scenery. But Tatar is not the piece that Habs fans should be excited about.

The real game-changing piece coming to Montreal is 19-year-old center Nick Suzuki, the 13th overall pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, who has been lighting it up for the Owen Sound Attack in the OHL. Over the last two seasons in the OHL, Suzuki 87 goals and 109 assists for 196 points in 129 games. He’s also scored 35 points in 28 playoff games. Even before he drafted, Suzuki has been called “the steal of the 2017 draft”.

Suzuki is just the piece Montreal needed as they look to start the team anew, and Suzuki is a part of the upcoming prospect system that Montreal feels they can build around. With him joining 2018 third overall Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Montreal’s woes at center will be a thing of the past in a few years

Add on a 2nd round pick to the trade and it feels safe to say that Montreal, at the moment at least, has won this trade. Obviously, only time will tell who wins the trade, but the potential bounce back over the next three seasons from Tatar, the massive upside of Nick Suzuki, and another prospect via draft pick on the way, the Canadiens are putting themselves in a good spot down the road.

For the first time in a long time, the Canadiens finally seem to have found a direction worth going in.