Max Pacioretty made me eat my own words, and they were delicious

If asked, I would say that my favorite food is probably Chilli Chicken, a delicious Chinese-Indian dish that my cardiologist does not in any way approve of. However, the food I eat more than any other is my own words - they taste horrible, but I eat them all the time.

I am forced to, because when you work in the public sphere and everything you think is recorded for posterity, every single wrong opinion, guess, take or idea you have is forcefed back to you by the good ol' internet and it's classiest users - most of it well-deserved.

If, like me, you exhaustively cover a single topic and post an opinion on everything related to that topic, there is a lot of words to eat, most coming with a side of crow. But while I often get things wrong *Zach Hyman* cough *Justin Holl* cough cough cough....I have never been THIS far off base before, and so I would like to apologize to my readers and to my new favorite player, Maxium Pacioretty.

I called Pacioretty's try out contract "a joke" and I said the odds of him successfuly helping the Maple Leafs and coming anywhere close to his former glory a - quote - "physical impossibility."

So, you know, pass the Siracha, son!

Max Pacioretty made me eat my own words, and they were delicious

Two goals and six points in 13 games doesn't really do justice to what Pacioretty has done with the Leafs. First of all, you notice him constantly. The guy hits, battles for pucks, and hits some more.

He's not just riding shotgun on the John Tavares Redemption Tour, he's driving the bus.

The Toronto Maple Leafs aren't just winning Pacioretty's minutes, they are dominating them. They are outscoring opponents 7-3 5v5, which is 70% when he's on the ice. They are posting a 59% expected goals rating, which is elite, and it leads all Leafs forwards. (naturalstattrick.com).

Pacioretty also leads in 5v5 points per 60 minutes of ice-time, scoring points at the highest frequency on the team. He's only behind Auston Mattews in individual expected goals per minute.

The Leafs pulled Pacioretty off the scrap heap, and he is playing at an ELITE level. Except for a rough game or two early on, he's given the Leafs a sixth star forward every night.

Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Nylander, Knies and Pacioretty have all performed at a star-level this season. That is crazy. Pacioretty is 35 and injuries made him unplayable. You aren't supposed to be able to get back to the elite-level of a pro-league at that age, after those injuries. What Pacioretty doing is bordering on the extremely unlikely, but clearly only a complete moron would have said it was "impossible," (as I did).

He had to be helped off the ice during Saturday's Leafs/Canadiens game, and hopefully he won't be out long because not only was I wrong about how good he could be, his continued success is key to the Leafs Stanley Cup hopes.

I will happily eat my words any day if it helps the Leafs. Max Pacioretty has clawed his way all the way back and hopefully his injury won't be as bad as it looked.