The Toronto Maple Leafs should stay out of the Max Pacioretty trade talks.
As a Toronto Maple Leafs fan and blogger, I have nothing but respect for Pacioretty. I’ve seen him play the Toronto Maple Leafs countless times. He’s been a great leader and an impact player for divisional foe, the Montreal Canadiens.
While he has been an asset for the Canadiens over the years, last year wasn’t a pretty one for Pacioretty. In 64 games played, he posted 17 goals, 20 assists, 15 PPP and an 8 S%. It was a significant drop compared to the prior season in which he had 35 goals and 32 assists in 81 games. Yes, you could make the argument that his stats suffered due to missing 18 games, but I wouldn’t. Even if he played a full season, he most likely wouldn’t have totaled more than 45 points.
In addition, he’s 29 years old and only under team control for one more season. On July 1, 2019, Pacioretty will be a UFA and depending on his 2018-2019 campaign, he could request a decent chunk of change.
At the end of the day, it would be a similar situation to the James van Riemsdyk contract debate. JVR is the same age as Pacioretty and is a free agent now. Just like Pacioretty, JVR could land a decent salary after a stellar offensive season last year.
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At this point in time, I don’t believe its worthwhile to sign JVR to a contract. JVR would command a high salary and the assumption is that he’d hurt the Maple Leafs’ cap limit for the next four to five years. So, trading for a winger like Pacioretty wouldn’t make much sense based on that logic.
What I’d Do Instead?
All-in-all, grabbing a top six winger isn’t a priority for this off-season. The Toronto Maple Leafs have a surplus of solid wingers including Patrick Marleau, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Zach Hyman.
While the Toronto Maple Leafs do have a void if JVR isn’t resigned at winger, the team doesn’t need to replace JVR with another high scoring winger. I’ve mentioned in several posts that the front office can replace his production with a top defenseman like Dougie Hamilton or P.K. Subban.
If Dubas and/or his assistants don’t believe in replacing JVR with a defenseman, I have a plan b suggestion. The Toronto Maple Leafs front office could target Andre Burakovsky of the Washington Capitals.
Burakovsky has a ton of upside and wouldn’t hurt the Toronto Maple Leafs’ salary cap as much as a Pacioretty would. Additionally, the Maple Leafs wouldn’t be forced to overpay for Burakovsky after he had a rough season in Washington. Also, the Capitals are going to be desperate to move a couple of contracts if they plan or re-signing free agent, John Carlson. So, Dubas might be able to net the Capitals’ winger without giving up the farm.
It’ll be interesting to see which direction Dubas chooses to go in, but I believe if he acquires Burakovsky that he’ll be adding a skilled winger that has the potential to be a dominant offensive asset.
stats from NHL.com