After Tuesday night’s win over the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens alternate captain Brendan Gallagher was asked about Max Pacioretty’s retirement, and he only had good things to say.
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Gallagher played for six seasons in Montreal alongside the former captain during some particularly tough years. When asked about the Connecticut native retirement, he said:
I really enjoyed playing with him; he was a guy who did a lot for this organization. I’m sure there will be a time when he comes back to the city and gets his due response that he deserves. He did a lot of things as captain, represented the team incredibly well, and he was a good teammate. The career he had, he can be incredibly proud. He had some tough injuries and worked his way back, scoring a ton of goals, and now he’s going to get to spend some time with his boys.- Gallagher on Pacioretty
Pacioretty spent 10 years of his career with the Canadiens, playing in 626 games, scoring 226 goals along the way, and picking up 222 assists in the process for a total of 448 points. He hangs up his skates, having played 917 NHL games, scored 335 goals, and picked up a total of 681 points.
Last season, Gallagher overtook Pacioretty on the all-time Canadiens’ list in goals, points, and assists, something very few people would have thought possible when Pacioretty was in his prime.
Whichever way you look at it, trading Pacioretty when they did was the right move for the Canadiens. He was sent to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Nick Suzuki, Tomas Tatar, and a 2019 second-round pick. The pick was eventually traded for two other picks, which became Mattias Norlinder and Jacob LeGuerrier. They didn’t pan out, but the trade was nevertheless a steal for the Canadiens.
Tatar went on to become a first-line player for the Canadiens for a couple of seasons, putting up numbers quite similar to Pacioretty’s in Vegas for those two years. But the masterpiece of the trade was, of course, Nick Suzuki, the gift that keeps on giving. He went from being an unproven prospect to becoming the face of the franchise and captain. Last year, he almost reached the 90-point mark for the first time in his career. At 26, he shows no sign of slowing down, and why should he? His best years are yet to come.
As for Pacioretty, he stayed in Vegas for four seasons before having short injury-plagued stays with the Carolina Hurricanes, the Washington Capitals, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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