Max Pacioretty of New Canaan, Connecticut will not be on the ice with his new team, the Carolina Hurricanes, for the foreseeable future. The 33-year-old left winger was traded to the Hurricanes with defenseman Dylan Coghlan from the Vegas Golden Knights for future considerations on July 13. However, Pacioretty will miss the next six months because he will undergo surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
When will Pacioretty be back?
The six-month time frame means Pacioretty will be projected to return sometime in early to mid-February. The Hurricanes play their Metropolitan Division foes New York Rangers on February 11, 2023. In the regular season, the Hurricanes and Rangers finished first and second in the division, as the Hurricanes had 116 regular season points and the Rangers had 110. However, in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Rangers beat the Hurricanes in seven games in the second round.
2021-22 season in Vegas
In 39 games in 2021-22, Pacioretty had 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points. He was a +8 with 33 penalty minutes, 12 power-play points, four game-winning goals, 148 shots on goal, two faceoff wins, 21 blocked shots, 30 hits, 15 takeaways and 23 giveaways.
Pacioretty had two three-point games. He had two goals and one assist for three points in a 4-3 Golden Knights win over the Seattle Kraken on October 12, and then had one goal and two assists for three points in a 6-4 win owe the Minnesota Wild, exactly two months later, on December 12.
Why only 39 games?
Pacioretty dealt with numerous injuries this past season. They included a broken foot and a broken wrist. Earlier in his career while with the Montreal Canadiens, Pacioretty broke his cervical vertebrae and suffered a serious concussion after being a recipient to a hit by Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins. The following season in 2012-13, Pacioretty won the Bill Masterton Award for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. He had 33 goals and 32 assists for 65 points in 79 games.
A decade in Montreal
Pacioretty played 10 seasons in Montreal from 2008 to 2018. He had 226 goals and 222 assists for 448 points in 626 games. In 2013-14, Pacioretty led the NHL in game-winning goals with 11, and in 2014-15, led the NHL in plus/minus (+38).
Pacioretty was also the Canadiens captain from 2015 to 2018. At the time of the announcement, many were surprised because the feeling was Montreal would name defenseman P.K. Subban captain instead. Just before the announcement of the captaincy, Subban had made a generous $10 million donation to the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
All-Star for the Golden Knights
While with Vegas from 2018 to 2022, Pacioretty had 97 goals and 97 assists for 194 points in 224 games. In 2019-20, he was an All-Star for the first time. Pacioretty had 32 goals and 34 assists for 66 points, was a +18 with 44 penalty minutes, 19 power-play points, five game-winning goals, 307 shots on goal, 51 faceoff wins, 35 blocked shots, 90 hits, 32 takeaways, and 55 giveaways.
Who is Dylan Coghlan?
Now with Pacioretty out of the lineup, the Hurricanes may be expecting more from Coghlan, who came to Carolina in the trade from Vegas. A defenseman from Duncan, British Columbia, Coghlan had three goals and 10 assists for 13 points with the Golden Knights last year. He spent the last two seasons with the Golden Knights.
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