The Canadiens Dodged a Bullet in the Pacioretty Trade

When Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin traded his captain to the Vegas Golden Knights, he wanted Cody Glass to be part of the return, but Vegas GM George McPhee wouldn’t have it and sent Nick Suzuki to Montreal instead.

The Trade

The full trade was the disgruntled Max Pacioretty in return for a 2019 second-round pick, prospect Suzuki and Tomas Tatar. The latter being a throw in to clear some cap space in Vegas, as least that’s how he was seen originally.

Bergevin moved the second-round pick for picks 64th and 126th at the 2019 draft which turned into Mattias Norlinder and Jacob LeGuerrier. The former was not tendered a qualifying offer this Summer and therefore became a free agent while the latter is no longer part of the organization (he was diagnosed with myocarditis, a condition that causes the heart muscle to become inflamed and affects the organ’s ability to pump blood. He developed this health issue following a bout with COVID-19). Trading for picks is always hit and miss and this time it was a miss, which I’m sure Bergevin had no issue living with considering how the rest of the trade turned out.

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The Aftermath

As for Tatar, as soon as he arrived in Montreal he started looking like the player who had been successful in Detroit and found a spot on the Canadiens’ first line, becoming the perfect complement to Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher. Say what you will about that line, but at five-on-five it was one of the league’s best units in controlling percentage of shots.

He had the best two seasons of his career in his first couple of years in Montreal putting up 58 and 61 points. Unfortunately, things went south in his third year and he was a healthy scratch for most of the Canadiens’ run to the 2021 Stanley Cup final. Still, considering he wasn’t the main piece of the deal, Bergevin made out like a bandit on that one.

Funnily enough though, the best player the Canadiens’ got in the deal was the one they didn’t want. Suzuki graduated to the NHL a year after being traded and took to it like a fish to water. In his first two seasons, he posted 41 points (although that was over 56 games only in 2020-2021 thanks to the pandemic shortened season) and that was largely due to being sheltered a bit and not getting enough ice-time, Daunault being the most trusted pivot back then.

As soon as Danault left for Los Angeles, Suzuki’s ice-time, duties and opportunities increased. As a result his point total shot up to 61 points in his third year, 66 in his fourth and 77 in his latest. It’s also worth mentioning over the course of those three seasons, he has not missed a single game and needless to say he is now that Canadiens’ leader and captain.

Related: Canadiens: What Will Suzuki’s Point Total Be?

Meanwhile, in Vegas, Pacioretty suited up for the Knights for part of four seasons, struggling with injuries, never surpassing his personal best in points in a season with Montreal (67) but he did come close once, gathering 66 points in 2019-2020.

Vegas being Vegas, they giftwrapped the former Habs captain and sent him to Carolina for future considerations, becoming a casualty of Kelly McCrimmon’s infatuation with Jack Eichel. Since Pacioretty was on LTIR when the former Sabres star was acquired, his contract wasn’t an issue, but once healthy, there was just no room for him anymore.

Pacioretty was injured again in Carolina and signed with Washington as a free agent the next season. Right now he remains unsigned. At 35 years-old and with a lot of injury issues of late, that’s hardly surprising.

As Luck Would Have It…

More importantly though, Cody Glass, the prospect Bergevin was so eager to get has only played 187 games in the NHL so far and has 71 points to show for it. Last week, the Nashville Predators sent him to the Pittsburgh Penguins for two draft picks (third-round in 2025 and sixth-round in 2026).

While this ended up being an excellent trade for the former Canadiens GM, it could have been anything but. It almost makes you wonder if George McPhee thinks about Suzuki as the one that got away…

Related

Canadiens: The Heartbreak of the 2010 Off-Season
Canadiens: The Trade That Bit Back
Canadiens: Out With the Young, In With the Old

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