Buffalo Sabres: Impact of Max Pacioretty trade
The Montreal Canadiens, one of the Buffalo Sabres Atlantic Division foes, made a huge move in the early morning on Monday as they traded Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights. In return for Pacioretty, the Canadiens received Tomas Tatar, Nick Suzuki, and a 2019 second round draft pick.
Max Pacioretty has long been rumored to be traded and he has been a hot topic of discussion since at least Spring’s trade deadline. After the trade was made, Canadiens’ leadership confirmed that Pacioretty wanted out of Montreal.
"“We’re just going to focus on telling the truth, and that’s that a request was made. It’s been going on several months now that we’ve been trying to make this happen.” – Canadiens owner Geoff Molson"
The big question for the Montreal Canadiens, as well as their division rivals including the Buffalo Sabres, is whether or not Tomas Tatar can replace Max Pacioretty’s production. Over the last 5 seasons, Pacioretty has led the team in goals and points by a wide margin. Additionally his points per game is also at top of the list over the same period.
The Canadiens have acquired forwards Tomas Tatar and Nick Suzuki, and a 2nd round pick in 2019 from the Vegas Golden Knights (Columbus’ pick previously acquired by Vegas), in return for Max Pacioretty. pic.twitter.com/HEt3uEXOo5
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 10, 2018
The Canadiens are a team that cannot afford to lose offense. Last season, a season in which Pacioretty missed 18 games, the Canadiens were third from last in the league in goals scored and GF/60, and second to last in even strength goals. They will also need to replace Alex Galchenyuk‘s 19 goals as he was traded to the Arizona Coyotes this summer for Max Domi.
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Tomas Tatar has never been as dynamic of a player as Max Pacioretty. Whereas Pacioretty has topped 30 goals and 60 points in a season 5 times, Tatar’s best season was 29 goals and 56 points and that was 4 years ago. Tatar’s production has slowly declined since his best year in 2014-15 and he only played in 8 games during Vegas’ 20 game Stanley Cup playoff run last year. Even with this recent drop in production, Tatar is still projected to play on the top line along with Jonathan Drouin and Brendan Gallagher.
In addition to the Canadiens’ lackluster offense, the defense is in poor shape as well. Once you get past the top pairing of Shea Weber and Jeff Petry, who was fourth on the team in points last season, there is a severe drop in the Canadiens’ defenseman. They are saved by elite goaltender Carey Price, although he has missed substantial time 2 of the last 3 seasons and the Canadiens absolutely need Price in net to be even remotely competitive.
The Atlantic Division has three very strong teams at the top with Boston, Tampa Bay, and Toronto and it will be a tough battle to crack the top 3 to make the playoffs. With a strong Prospects Challenge carrying them into training camp, the Buffalo Sabres are poised to be at top of the second tier of teams in the division. It is now especially hard to imagine the Montreal Canadiens being one of the Sabres’ tougher challengers in the Atlantic Division.
All statistics from hockey-reference.com and corsicahockey.com.
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