Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Max Pacioretty - Habs trade/contract drama gets another wrinkle

Montreal Canadiens v Calgary Flames

CALGARY, AB - DECEMBER 22: Max Pacioretty #67 of the Montreal Canadiens in action against the Calgary Flames during an NHL game at Scotiabank Saddledome on December 22, 2017 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images)

Getty Images

The hits just keep coming as far as Max Pacioretty, the Montreal Canadiens, a potential trade, and his next contract goes. You won’t need to sit down for this easy-to-foresee spoiler: it’s another case where the headaches only get worse for GM Marc Bergevin and the Habs.

Here’s the latest: sources say that Pacioretty won’t negotiate a contract extension once the 2018-19 begins, even if he’s a member of a team other than the Canadiens, according to Le Journal De Montreal’s Marc De Foy (via Eric Engels) and TSN’s Gino Reda.

Yikes.

As a reminder, this continues the trend of the Canadiens ... not exactly winning the “PR battle” when it comes to the Pacioretty situation. During this increasingly tense offseason, word surfaced that the Canadiens have not discussed a contract extension with Pacioretty. There were also rumblings that a trade to the Los Angeles Kings fell through because an extension couldn’t be reached, arguably prompting Pacioretty to change to agent Allan Walsh, who then accused the Habs of leaking the information about the failed trade.

Out of context, it’s easy to see why this isn’t a simple situation for Montreal.

No doubt, Pacioretty’s an excellent scorer, and he’s almost certain to play at a higher level than last season if he’s reasonably healthy.

Still, there’s logic to the Habs saying goodbye, even if part of that argument would hinge on a rebuild Bergevin might not be crazy about overseeing (particularly since Montreal’s paying Carey Price $10.5 million per year to be more than a cellar dweller). After all, Pacioretty will turn 30 on Nov. 20, so if he - understandably - wants serious term, his next deal would kick in when he’s 31. If the team giving him a much-deserved raise also provides the security of a lot of years, they’ll be taking a huge risk.

The Canadiens are hurting their side of the perception battle by doing a poor job of making it look like they’d keep Pacioretty in a different system. Merely stating “Boy, we wish we could keep him, but the salary cap dictates tough decisions” might mend a fence or two. Or, hey, they could have at least given negotiations a token effort to save face.

Instead, it seems like they’re pushing Pacioretty away, and risking an even larger mistake by allowing his trade value to plummet. This unofficial deadline for extension discussions only make matters worse, yet it’s a tactic Montreal opened itself up to by letting things get nasty.

It’s not just us around-the-clock hockey fanatics who are giving Montreal the thumbs down, either.

Observers seem to be siding with Pacioretty, from former teammates such as Lars Eller:

To the Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan, who wrote today about an increasingly ugly divorce:

Bergevin stuck a knife in his captain’s back at the end of last season when he said attitude was the team’s biggest problem. Somehow, I thought P.K. Subban was supposed to have been the problem … or maybe it was Michel Therrien? The former defenceman and coach are gone, but there is still a problem and Pacioretty seems to have become the latest scapegoat.

But it’s Bergevin who should be looking in the mirror.

Uh oh.

No doubt about it, Bergevin’s painted himself into a corner. Some of that comes from these specific dealings with “Patches,” while the rest revolves around other gaffes. Subban was essentially run out of town, and now he’s racking up playoff runs along with accolades such as another Norris nomination; meanwhile, Shea Weber’s run into health issues and wasn’t enough to solve Montreal’s defensive woes when he was there. There are parallels in what happened with Alex Galchenyuk - right down to a trade of immediately questionable value - and the (seemingly?) less character-related Jonathan Drouin - Mikhail Sergachev swap looks rough after one season.

Again, it’s not just “losing” trades, either. It’s fairly common to see a player absorb criticism on their way out the door following a trade (even when it’s bizarre stuff like the Dougie Hamilton museum rumors), but there have been multiple times in which this Montreal regime seemed to handle delicate situations with the precision of wild sledgehammer swings.

There’s still a chance that Bergevin will time this all perfectly and extract the perfect package of assets for Pacioretty. Snipers of Pacioretty’s caliber don’t grow on trees, and for all we know, the best deal may - against steep odds - really lie in the future, possibly even during the 2018-19 season.

Recent history suggests otherwise, and those unforced errors didn’t really come with Bergevin’s back truly against the wall.

Right now, this has “nightmare” written all over it, and a recurring one in that.

James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.