by Michael Ham-Fan, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
MONTREAL, QC. – The Montreal Canadiens forwards are having a tough year scoring goals. In fact, they have combined for only 152 goals this season. Within this scoring drought, only one player is putting up goals on a consistent basis: Max Pacioretty.
In fact, Pacioretty has scored 33 goals, and no one else on the current team has reached the 20-goal-plateau yet. That means that he 6-foot-2 winger has contributed to approximately 22 percent of the Canadiens’ forward scoring. With theses statistics, that makes him the forward that opposing team pays the most attention to on defense. Regardless, Pacioretty has been able to score at a very constant pace.
When looking at how he is playing this year, it is good to remember that the 26-year-old has come a long way.
Selected 22nd overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, Max Pacioretty’s professional career didn’t start as well as he wanted. As a matter of fact, he only compiled 25 points in 86 games, in his first two seasons. He, also, went through a coaching change in his first year, from Guy Carbonneau to Jacques Martin, and that didn’t help his development as he was having a hard time adapting and was often assigned to a 4th-line role with limited ice-time.
After a disappointing start of his second season, Pacioretty asked to be sent back down to the AHL to get more ice-time and to get his confidence back. On March 23rd, 2009, he was granted that wish and got the chance to dominate the AHL, putting up 43 points in 45 games with the Bulldogs. The American forward only came back in the lineup with the Canadiens in December for the next season. But this time, he was there to stay.
Since that call-up, Pacioretty has scored 134 goals in 301 games and recorded three 30-goal-seasons.
An aspect that helped his development is that, during the last few seasons, Max Pacioretty has played on the Canadiens’ first line and had the chance to play with a few veterans that have served as role models in different ways for Pacioretty. He had expressed that he took advice from Erik Cole, Mike Cammalleri and Thomas Vanek on how to be a successful player and to improve his style of play.
Pacioretty’s biggest weapon is his wrist shot that often looks like a quick snapshot because release is extremely fast, crisp and deceptive. That shot can be unleashed from his stick at various areas of the ice and he does not need a lot of preparation before the shot comes off, which makes it very hard for the goaltenders to get ready for his shot. Aside from his goal-scoring abilities, Pacioretty is also very good on the forecheck as he has the speed to go with his big frame.
Now, onto this current season, Max Pacioretty has brought his game to a whole new level. He does not only lead the team in scoring with his 33 goals, but he has also developed his defensive game to an extent that head coach Michel Therrien uses Pacioretty on the penalty kill and on purely defensive situations.
Pacioretty currently leads the NHL in the plus-minus category at plus-37. Just to make myself clear here, I usually do not put a lot of weight in this statistic, as it can be a very misleading one because it does not directly indicate any precise aspect of a player’s game. That said, it is pretty impressive when you consider that he leads his own team in this category by at least 16 units.
Initially, Pacioretty wasn’t known for his defensive capabilities earlier in his career. In fact, the Central Scouting report had this to say about Pacioretty prior to the 2007 Draft :
“… He needs to improve his consistency around the net…effective on the penalty kill, but needs to improve his defensive anticipation…”
This season, Pacioretty really improved in those aspects. Lately, his defensive anticipation has been very accurate and has broken up some menacing plays on the back-check. Actually, he is now one of the regulars on the penalty kill as he averages 1:35 per game in that situation. He is often paired on with Tomas Plekanec to kill penalties and the two have added some potential to counter-attack on the special unit. They combined for 6 points on the penalty kill.
Max Pacioretty wears the “A” on his jersey as an assistant captain this season and the general feeling amongst fans and the media is that he is a prime candidate for the captain position. He is certainly making a case for himself as he is showing leadership, leading by example and being vocal in the locker-room. But, that is still up for debate as a few other players could also be qualified for the job.
Élise, widow of Jean Béliveau, has weighed on the captaincy in telling the Journal de Montréal, “[Max Pacioretty] is in the same genre as Jean. When he met me on the morning of the funeral, I told him: ‘I hope you’re going to be captain, you have what it takes.’ He was almost embarrassed.”
One thing for sure, at 4.5 million per year for three more years, he is one of the best bargains in the NHL, and he is still getting better.
Sources:
NHL.com: http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm
Pacioretty’s initial scouting report : http://goo.gl/NnjWPM
HockeyDB: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=99420
Canadiens.nhl.com : http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=639666