Washington Capitals forward Max Pacioretty left Saturday evening’s loss to the Dallas Stars early and did not return due to a lower-body injury. Given Pacioretty’s recent injury history, which includes two Achilles tendon surgeries in less than two years, there was major concern about his longterm status.
The Capitals are normally vague and non-revealing when announcing injuries, but they went a little further on Saturday, having Spencer Carbery say that it was non-Achilles related.
Now Pacioretty’s agent, Allan Walsh, is getting involved. Sunday, Pacioretty’s rep took to Twitter to bypass the Capitals and announce the following.
“For those asking, Caps forward Max Pacioretty left last nights game for precautionary reasons completely unrelated to his previous Achilles injury and is expected to be in the lineup for the Caps next game,” Walsh said.
For those asking, Caps forward Max Pacioretty left last nights game for precautionary reasons completely unrelated to his previous Achilles injury and is expected to be in the lineup for the Caps next game.
— Allan Walsh🏒 (@walsha) January 28, 2024
The long-time agent is no stranger to inserting himself into NHL team matters. Famously, back in 2020, Walsh tweeted out a photo of his client Marc-Andre Fleury being impaled by a sword with then Vegas Golden Knights head coach Pete DeBoer’s name inscribed on the blade.
Walsh tweeted out the image after Fleury had been announced to be Robin Lehner’s backup for a second-round playoff game.
“He stands up for his players and that is admirable…but that was a personal assault on Peter DeBoer…offside in every single regard.”@CraigJButton on Allan Walsh’s tweet of client Marc-Andre Fleury with a ‘DeBoer’ sword through his back: https://t.co/qGNNdENpyO#TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/7BORLop6ms
— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) August 23, 2020
Walsh has even had beef with the Capitals in the past. Back in 2014, Walsh criticized then head coach Adam Oates for openly discussing a conversation that the bench boss had with Walsh’s client Jaroslav Halak.
“A private conversation between a player and coach should stay private and not be discussed with the media,” Walsh stated then. “I am bewildered that a coach would break that trust especially when those comments the coach publicly attributed to Jaro are not accurate.”
While there is no explicit ire being targeted at the Capitals a decade later, it’s unusual for a player’s agent to be declaring anything about a team’s lineup choices. But, expect the unexpected is usually the policy with Walsh.
One of the main reasons why he may be so confident about Pacioretty’s status is that the Capitals are off for the next nine days and do not play next until February 6 against the Montreal Canadiens. The team is in its bye week and then the whole league breaks for All-Star Weekend at the start of next month.
Walsh’s social media proclamation regarding the team’s lineup is the second this season coming from an outside source after TJ Oshie’s wife, Lauren, let everyone know about Oshie’s return from injury earlier this month.
