The new & improved Max Pacioretty hoping his third stint with the big club will cement his place in the NHL

by Priyanta Emrith, AllHabs.net

Max Pacioretty might finally be living up to his billing.

It was September 2008 when Max Pacioretty attended his first professional training camp with the Montreal Canadiens. He had just been signed to a pro-contract after his freshman year at the University of Michigan.

Yes, Pacioretty was the team’s (second) 1^st round in 2007 selected 22^nd overall, but it was no secret Trevor Timmins and then general manager Bob Gainey were not big fans of rushing prospects. Other players drafted by the Habs who played college hockey played past their freshman year. Mike Komisarek and Christopher Higgins played two years at Michigan and Yale respectively and Ryan O’Byrne played three years at Cornell, just to name a few examples. So what was so special about the young American affectionately known as MaxPac?

Well, for starters, he had size and blazing speed for a 6’2″ near 200-pound man. He also played on the top line for the Michigan Wolverines earning the honour of being named the CCHA Rookie of the Year and named to the CCHA’s all-rookie team.

He ended up playing 34 games with the Canadiens in the 2008-09 season registering 11 points (3 G, 8 A). Last season, Pacioretty was up with the big club for more than half the season, but only tallied 14 points in 52 games before being sent down to Guy Boucher and the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League.

While those numbers aren’t brutal [if you’re a 4th liner], it was unacceptable to Pacioretty who had been an over-a-point-a-game player in all other levels of hockey he played before turning pro.  It was also unacceptable to the Canadiens, who opted to keep Tom Pyatt, Dustin Boyd, Mathieu Darche and Lars Eller to start the season, and with that, MaxPac was sent down to Hamilton as one of the final cuts.

Pacioretty started putting numbers up in the AHL and then created some waves when the Bulldogs played a game at the Bell Centre. Speaking to a mob of the Montreal media, Pacioretty spoke honestly about preferring to play the entire year in the AHL on the top-line than warming the bench in the NHL barely playing ten minutes a night.

Many thought Pacioretty might have dug his own grave speaking out of turn giving Jacques Martin a backhand slap about how he was utilized last year, but he continued lighting it up in the AHL at a torrid pace forcing the hand of the organization to call him up and see if he’s for real.

While it has only been two games, MaxPac looks at home with Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta. After trying everyone and their mama to spark Gomez offensively (he has four assists in the two games he’s played alongside Pacioretty), it appears the answer was in Hamilton all along.

Unlike when Travis Moen skating on that line to add size, the 22-year-old New Canaan native does that and can also keep pace with the two G’s. He’s also naturally skilled which makes all three players serious scoring threats.  Most importantly, Pacioretty is now playing with a mound of confidence. Look no further than to the 2010-11 poster boy of confidence & maturity [Carey Price] to see once the mental part of the game is taken care of, all the rest of the parts fall into place.

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)