Montreal Canadiens Should Not Trade Max Pacioretty

The Montreal Canadiens made the Saturday Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada for their usage of captain of Max Pacioretty. Though trading him for a top defenceman is tempting, the Canadiens should not move their best goal scorer.

The Montreal Canadiens have made the “Saturday Headlines” once again. The weekly insider segment featuring Hockey Night in Canada’s best insiders Elliotte Friedman and Nick Kypreos were discussing the possibility of the Habs trading Max Pacioretty.

Now, they didn’t come out and say that the Canadiens are shopping Pacioretty and want him out of town. However, they did point out that the Habs captain has been put in a reduced role and there appears to be friction between him and the head coach Michel Therrien.

The HNIC gang also mentioned the Habs could upgrade their blue line by moving out Pacioretty, suggesting a top left shooting defender to play with Shea Weber would be the tip of player they would want in return.

We heard this chatter before with P.K. Subban and the team’s coach, and I think we all remember how that ended. Should the Canadiens do the same with Pacioretty?

In a word, the answer is, no. The Canadiens are leading their division, are among the best teams in the league and should be looking to improve their roster. Trading away your best goal scorer on a team starved for goals does not make that team better.

Sure, Pacioretty is not having the best goal scoring season of his career. But is that a good reason to give up on him? He has been the Canadiens best goal scorer since becoming a full-time NHL player in 2011-12. A 24 game stretch is not enough to give up on him.

Giving up on Pacioretty now makes no sense

If the Canadiens were stocked with young NHL ready goal scorers and weren’t desperate for Pacioretty’s offence, maybe they could trade him. This isn’t the case, and the Canadiens are going to have to wait for Pacioretty’s goals, rather than trading him away when his value has dipped for the first time in his career.

There are signs that tell us it shouldn’t be long before pucks start going in for Pacioretty. For starters, his possession numbers remain extremely high. His Corsi-For percentage (CF%) of 54.1 is the best on the Canadiens among players who skated in more than five games.

This would suggest has strong two-way game has not diminished. At age 28, you wouldn’t expect his goal scoring abilities to disappear, so what is happening this year?

Pacioretty’s inability to score is made all the more astonishing by how remarkably consistent he has been in his career. Since joining the Canadiens full-time in 2011-12, his points-per game each year has been 0.823, 0.886, 0.822, 0.837 and .780.

Basically, if Pacioretty had played 82 games every season for the past five years, he would have scored between 64 and 72 points each year. This season, he is on pace for 51, including just 17 goals. Does this season sound like a mirage or a sign of things to come?

Why such a long slump from such a consistent scorer?

Again, at 28 year old, it can only be described at this point as a prolonged slump. So who is to blame for his lengthy stint as a middling point producer?

Pacioretty should eat some of the blame for sure, but don’t discount the men who have been trusted to set up the Habs sniper. Pacioretty has long staked his claim as an excellent goal scorer who can handle a tough matchup and play against anyone in his own end.

Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

However, every good goal scorer needs a setup man. The Habs captain hasn’t had one of those this year. David Desharnais was entrusted with those duties for years. Even at his best, he wasn’t exactly Adam Oates but this year Desharnais is finding new lows.

Desharnais has seven points in 23 games this season. He has played 66 minutes at 5 on 5 with Pacioretty and in that time, Desharnais has one goal and zero assists. That’s not one assist from the “setup man.”

Pacioretty has also played often with Tomas Plekanec this season. Plekanec is also having a dreadful year offensively. In 24 games, the Czech Republic native has one goal and seven points. In more than 100 minutes with Pacioretty at even strength, Plekanec has zero goals and two assists.

Desharnais and Plekanec are supposed to be able to bring offence to this team. However, neither of them has been able to outscore fourth line center Torrey Mitchell thus far. All three centers are stuck at 7 points and we are nearly a third of the way through the NHL schedule.

Galchenyuk is only center that can bring offence on the Habs

The only Canadiens center that has been bringing offence to the table is Alex Galchenyuk. He plays on the top line with Alexander Radulov and Paul Byron. Galchenyuk is lapping the field when it comes to offence from Habs centers. In fact, his 23 points is two more than Desharnais, Plekanec and Mitchell combined.

Pacioretty has played 91 minutes with Galchenyuk at 5 on 5, and has scored four of his 10 even strength points in that time. Four points in a full game and a half of ice time doesn’t sound like a ton, but it’s where Pacioretty has been by far the most productive.

The American left winger has also been among the league’s best bargains for the past three seasons. His $4.5 million cap hit is set to expire after the 2018-19 season. How many players in the league have been automatic 30 goals scorers, and have a cap hit less than many third liners?

It’s not time for the Canadiens to think about trading away their captain. Giving it time, the 28 year old will start to score again. It’s time for them to find him a center who can get him the puck. If they are not going to put him on a line with Galchenyuk, general manager Marc Bergevin better be working the phones trying to find a second line center who can pass the puck.