With the NHL Expansion Draft on June 21st, the Montreal Canadiens writers on Last Word on Hockey are going to go in depth to see which players the Habs should expose or protect from the Vegas Golden Knights. Here are the rules of the expansion draft if you need a refresher. With Carey Price and Jeff Petry having no-movement clauses in their contracts, they are automatically included in the protected list. For the sake of this series, the Habs will protect four forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie. Also, here is a list of players on the Habs that are exempt from the expansion draft.
Thanks to @CapFriendly for providing list of Montreal Canadiens who don’t need to be protected in Expansion Draft because they’re exempt: pic.twitter.com/rQWG0WvK4Y
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) May 1, 2017
With all that out of the way, lets take a look at the Captain of the Montreal Canadiens, Max Pacioretty
Protect or Expose: Max Pacioretty
Position: Forward (Left Wing)
Age: 28
Height/Weight: 6’2” 215 pounds
Cap Number: $4,500,000 – 2 year left
Why to Expose
The biggest strike against Pacioretty is his lack of playoff production. In his career, he has 10 goals and 19 points in 38 games. As a player the Habs depend on for production, his ineffectiveness in the playoffs is concerning. He is coming off an especially poor 2016-217 playoffs with no goals and only one point in the Canadiens first round loss to the New York Rangers. While most goal scorers are streaky, Pacioretty does go through extremes. For example, through the first two months of the season, 23 games, he netted five goals and 15 points.
Pacioretty also had a very cold end to the season, scoring four goals in the last 23 games (including playoffs) and ended his season on a 10-game goalless streak. Pacioretty also seems to have some difficulty consistency producing against playoff teams during the regular season. In 2016-2017, of his 35 goals and 67 points, he scored 11 goals and 22 points in 41 games against playoff teams. His production almost doubles against non-playoff teams, scoring 24 goals and 45 points.
Why to Protect
It would be quite a story if the Habs left Pacioretty unprotected. Having a perennial 30-goal scorer signed to a contract that small is probably Marc Bergevin‘s greatest achievement as the Habs general manager so far.
His contract alone should require the Habs to protect him. Apart from his contract, he is Montreal’s top scoring threat on a team that struggles to produce goals. Even though he is streaky, the Habs would still need to replace his goal scoring. In the last six seasons Pacioretty has averaged 31 goals. Pacioretty basically drives the Habs offence and averaged 2.6 points-per-60 minutes in 2016-2017. The Habs have nobody in the organization that can replace that kind of production.
Verdict
Protect
This is another no-brainer. Pacioretty is simply too valuable to the Canadiens. On a team that struggles to score goals, his goal scoring is something the Canadiens cannot afford to lose for nothing. His contract ($4,500,000 cap hit) makes him extra valuable when considering other players contracts with similar goal production, such as Jamie Benn (cap hit $9,500,000), Joe Pavelski (cap hit $6,000,000) and Patrick Kane (cap hit $10,500,000). Pacioretty is only just entering his prime at 28-years old and should have a lot of productive years ahead. All this, coupled with the fact that he is the team captain, and Max Pacioretty is a lock to be protected.
In the next instalment, we will look at the always-grinning super pest, Brendan Gallagher.
Protected List seven forwards, three defensemen, one goalie:
G: Carey Price (NMC)
D: Jeff Petry (NMC)
D: Shea Weber (June 2)
D: TBA
F: TBA
F: TBA
F: TBA
F: TBA
Expose: Coming Soon
All salary information courtesy www.capfriendly.com
Main Photo:
