Max Pacioretty made a comeback in 2023-24, but goals didn’t come with it.
By the Numbers
| Summary | |
|---|---|
| 4 | goals |
| 19 | assists |
| 47 | games played |
| 14.4 | average ice time |
| On-ice percentages | |
| 47.2 | 5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage |
| 48.7 | 5-on-5 expected goal percentage |
| 40.0 | 5-on-5 actual goal percentage |
Isolated Impact by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This image by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows how the player has impacted play when on the ice. At the top of the image is the team’s offense (even strength at left, power play at right) and at bottom is the team’s defense (with penalty kill at bottom right). In each case, red/orange blobs mean teams shoot for more from that location on the ice, and blue/purple means less. In general, a good player should have red/orange blobs near the opponent’s net at top, and blue/purple bobs near their own team’s net at bottom. The distributions in middle show how the player compares to league average at individual finishing, setting up teammates to score, and taking and drawing penalties. The number at center is Synthetic Goals: a catch-all number for the player’s impact.
Player Card by All Three Zones
About this player card: This image from Corey Sznajder of All Three Zones shows how the player compares to league averages in different microstats in the defensive, neutral, and offensive zones. Blue bars mean the player has a higher rate in that statistic compared to league average, and orange means a lower rate. The numbers are Z-scores, also known as standard deviations, indicating how far the number is from league average, where more than two standard deviations means the player is on the extreme edge of the league.
Player Card by Evolving Hockey
About this player card: This card from Josh and Luke of Evolving Hockey compares the player to league averages based on their impact on on-ice statistics. GAR means “goals above replacement,” where “replacement” means an average player called up from the AHL. xGAR is the same figure but assuming league-average goaltending. The numbers at top are the player’s percentile ranks overall and then for offense and defense alone.
Player Overview by NHL Edge
About this visualization: The NHL’s advanced statistics program, Edge, tracks player and puck movement. At left are the player’s numbers in various statistics along with the average number for that same stat among players of the same position and the player’s percentile rank in it. At right is a radar chart for various statistics, where the bigger the shape the better the player performs in those measures.
Fan Happiness Survey
About this visualization: At three times during the season, RMNB shared an open survey with fans, asking the following question for each player: “On a scale from 1 to 5, how HAPPY are you to have this player on the team?” The numbers above show the average score for the player in each survey period.
Peter’s Take
Back when Alex Ovechkin was still in his peak years, Max Pacioretty was in Montreal, reliably racking up 30-goal seasons. It was hard to miss him back then: a tough, high-volume winger and team leader. He was Ovechkin if Ovechkin were mortal.
It was unreasonable to think that Pacioretty, one decade and two achilles injuries on, would still have the stuff. But his shot volume has dropped only by one quarter from his career peak, and Pacioretty ended up a dependable assist-getter. It’s just the goals that are gone.
And boy are they gone. He shot 4.2 percent this season, less than half of what he used to. For me, it’s hard to untangle Pacioretty’s offense from his speed, which is also utterly gone. Again, I don’t know what we could expect from a player with such a brutal injury history, having missed like two-thirds of the last three seasons to devastating achilles problems. Expectations seemed similarly unclear to general manager Brian MacLellan when he signed Pacioretty to a low-risk, one-year deal worth $2 million. That was one of MacLellan’s many missed gambles this year, and it will cut a bit deeper with all those bonus payouts getting triggered.
It was a neat idea. It didn’t work out. I don’t think we’ll see Max again – here or anywhere else.
Player Summary by ChatGPT
In the long and storied history of N.H.L. hockey, Max Pacioretty’s name will sing from the hilltops for many years yet to come. His achievements, which include a Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey earned in the 2011-12 campaign, are only some of his accomplishments that will survive unmarred by the ravages of age and injury that have plagued Pacioretty so.
Yea, much like the Achilles of yore, Pacioretty finally succumbed to multiple surgeries to treat the tendon rupture which is an injury that is usually painful and likely to affect your ability to walk. With alas just four grapes in the 2023-24 campaign, have we seen the last of this mighty player? Be that as it may, he will remain a legend in sport.
Patches on RMNB
- Pacioretty didn’t play until January as he recovered from his achilles tendon injury. We had like a dozen stories of “he’s almost ready, he’s so close you guys.”
- By mid-December he was actually practicing in what I like to call a “contact jersey” to annoy Ian.
- Pacioretty played his first game against the Devils on January 3.
- It was bad. On his debut: “At the end of the day it probably couldn’t get any worse than it did tonight for me. So, got to just get better.”
- To the team, after he scored his first point in 362 days: “That was a rough two years for me boys, and if I learned one thing, it’s not to take things for granted.”
- For a minute, Pacioretty did well with Strome and Ovechkin. (I would have liked to see more of that.)
After long comeback, Max Pacioretty scores first goal in NHL in over a year
- Right before the break, Pacioretty suffered a lower-body injury. A highly placed source said it wasn’t serious.
- Pacioretty had trade buzz before the deadline. But he’d have to waive his no-move clause. And it’d have to be to the right team. For example, Florida.
- And he and Carbery appeared to be sometimes at odds.
- Pacioretty had a big bonus built into his deal, triggered in February.
- The Caps might have had a deal ready with the Rangers, but Pacioretty didn’t want it. (So he could have played for either of the ECF teams.)
Your Turn
A simple one: Will he play again? Surely not here, but anywhere?
