{"id":449658,"date":"2024-08-30T07:11:21","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T11:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=449658"},"modified":"2024-08-29T21:48:23","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T01:48:23","slug":"nhl-rumours-major-market-team-interested-in-former-captain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/08\/30\/nhl-rumours-major-market-team-interested-in-former-captain\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: Major Market Team Interested In Former Captain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to the latest of NHL Rumours! There have been more updates in the free agency of veteran forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/pacioma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Max Pacioretty<\/a>. It appears that a potential suitor has been identified.<\/p>\n<h2>NHL Rumours<\/h2>\n<h3>Rumour: Maple Leafs Interested In Forward<\/h3>\n<p>The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a very busy 2024 free agency. General Manager Brad Treliving is apparently looking to make one more move before the season starts.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Hearing same re Leafs\/Pacioretty. This would be a SPC, not a PTO, if they agree to terms. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CNJA8Y2KWR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/CNJA8Y2KWR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheFourthPeriod\/status\/1829167169013526931?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<em>Rumour: According to David Pagnotta and Nick Alberga, the Toronto Maple Leafs are apparently interested in signing Max Pacioretty to a standard player contract, if they can agree to terms<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>This is the first of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/08\/23\/nhl-rumours-update-on-veteran-free-agent-forward\/\" target=\"_self\">three potential suitors that were reported recently<\/a>\u00a0to be identified.<\/p>\n<p>Pacioretty, 35, has struggled to stay healthy over the past few years. He has seen only 52 games since the 2022-2023 season.<\/p>\n<h3>What He Can Bring To Toronto<\/h3>\n<p>Although the Maple Leafs spent most of this offseason <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nhl\/teams\/TOR\/toronto-maple-leafs\/transactions\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fixing the defense and goaltending<\/a>, bringing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/tanevch01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Tanev<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/mermida01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dakota Mermis<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hakanja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jani Hakanp\u00e4\u00e4. The <\/a>Leafs could still bring in a veteran left wing to add to the forward depth. The position has seen an influx of rookies over the past few seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Although Pacioretty doesn&#8217;t have the same production as he did in Montreal, he does still provide a valuable presence in the locker room. He comes from his experience as the captain of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/canadiens\/\" target=\"_self\">Montreal Canadiens<\/a> and an assistant captain with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/vegas-golden-knights\/\" target=\"_self\">Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/records.nhl.com\/franchises\/vegas-golden-knights\/season-by-season-record\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">during their runs to the Western Conference Final.<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">There also is the fact that Toronto has brought in several players over 35 on close to league minimum deas; with the best examples being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/spezzja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jason Spezza<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/giordma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mark Giordano<\/a>, who both played well above the small cap hit they each carried. If Pacioretty can stay healthy, he could have a similar outcome in the market.<\/p>\n<h3>The Downsides<\/h3>\n<p>The problem with Pacioretty signing in Toronto is the most obvious one; his health.<\/p>\n<p>As mentioned earlier, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2022\/08\/10\/max-pacioretty-sidelined-with-injury\/\" target=\"_self\">he has struggled to stay on the ic<\/a>e, especially within the last few seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Considering the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/08\/10\/options-toronto-maple-leafs-utilize-cap-space\/\" target=\"_self\">Leafs still struggle with cap issues<\/a> and need to spend money wisely before any big shakeup within the core four, spending the money and a roster spot on Pacioretty considering his injury history is a big risk.<\/p>\n<h3>Benefits<\/h3>\n<p>One major benefit of signing Pacioretty to a veteran role is that he has played in a big market, arguable one of the hardest in the league to play in due to the pressure.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s an all too familiar story in Toronto, especially with social media as prevalent as it is. With as big of a market as it is, and considering that the Maple Leafs are trying to contend, bringing in someone who has experience being a leader in such a large market isn&#8217;t such a bad idea.<\/p>\n<p>If Pacioretty can bring in better production to what he did in Washington last season, where he put up 23 points in 47 games, it&#8217;ll be somewhat successful.<\/p>\n<p>MAIN PHOTO: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to the latest of NHL Rumours! There have been more updates in the free agency of veteran forward Max Pacioretty. It appears that a potential suitor has been identified. NHL Rumours Rumour: Maple Leafs Interested In Forward The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a very busy 2024 free agency. General Manager Brad Treliving is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4073,"featured_media":449794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4547,4548,4321,18],"tags":[353,662,72],"class_list":["post-449658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-rumours","category-leafs","tag-max-pacioretty","tag-nhl-free-agency","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"modified_by":"Tommy Bennett","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}