With the Toronto Maple Leafs desperately looking for some potential left wing help on the open market, they had the opportunity to offer a professional tryout to whomever they believed could eventually help the team if things ended up working out.
In the end, the Toronto Maple Leafs meticulously decided that the distinguished opportunity would go to veteran Max Pacioretty, as he signed a PTO with the Leafs on Wednesday.
As a former thorn in the Leafs side, Pacioretty amassed 20 goals in 44 career games against Toronto, the most he has scored against any team in the NHL. Now that he has joined the boys in blue, they will hope he can continue doing that damage on opposing teams instead.
However, in doing so, the signing ultimately marked the end of any potential reunion with a former offensive force and fan favourite in James Van Riemsdyk.
Toronto Maple Leafs signing of Max Pacioretty to PTO ends JVR fantasy
As one of the top free agents still available in the market, it has actually been quite surprising that Van Riemsdyk has yet to find a home for the 2024-25 NHL season.
After all, with a keen nose in finding the back of the net, he would be a valuable veteran add to any team looking for some reliable secondary scoring in the middle-six.
Just for comparison, Van Riemsdyk and Pacioretty both play left wing and are both 35, with Pacioretty turning 36 in November. When it comes to health, Van Reimsdyk has been relatively healthy the past few seasons, as opposed to Pacioretty, who has had some major injuries that has prevented him from playing more than 48 games since 2020.
On top of that, Van Riemsdyk has been as consistent as one could be, reaching double-digits in goals for all 15 years of his NHL career. Whereas for Pacioretty, injuries aside, he has only managed to put up only 7 goals in the last two seasons with some signs of regression being quite evident.
Moreover, Van Riemsdyk could have provided an added element to the game that the current Maple Leafs group severely lacks, which is the critical net-front presence. Many would recall he was among the best in that role, especially on the power play. Don’t expect anything similar to that for Pacioretty, whose game is more on the perimeter.
Most importantly, it has been recently reported that Van Reimsdyk is willing to accept a PTO now. So the Leafs could have easily given that same chance to him in what could have been a feel-good coming home story for Van Riemsdyk. (All stats from NHL.com)
As a result, the Maple Leafs may have missed out on a potential valuable addition that would have certainly gotten the Leafs fans’ approval. Instead, they better hope now that they got the dominant, electric version of Pacioretty that many had seen more than five years ago, and not the struggling, injury-prone version that we have all witnessed in the past three seasons.