Montreal Canadiens: Pacioretty trade questionable for Bergevin

The Montreal Canadiens have made yet another questionable decision thanks to Marc Bergevin.

The reigning king of questionable trades has done it again as Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin finally traded Max Pacioretty days before the opening of training camp.

Pacioretty trade rumors had surrounded Montreal for over a year but the former captain of the Canadiens was finally dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights. The move adds another questionable deal to Bergevin’s trade resume after only being able to acquire Tomas Tatar, Nick Suzuki, and a 2019 second-round draft pick.

More from Puck Prose

• Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
• This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
• 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
• 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
• This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings

Unlike some of his other suspect deals, Bergevin was between a rock and a hard place when it came to trading Pacioretty. On one hand, he was trading away his captain and perennial 30-goal scorer. But on the other hand, he was trading a player with an expiring contract who is coming off an injury-plagued season where he was limited to only 17 goals and 37 points.

Pacioretty’s value couldn’t have been much lower and the Canadiens had flirted too much with trading him over the summer, making it impossible for him to return to Montreal.

This became painfully obvious during recent charity golf tournaments involving Canadiens players and management where Pacioretty trade talk dominated the events.  It would even lead to awkward exchanges between Pacioretty and Montreal management as both sides attempted to get along in the public eye.

As a result of the difficult situation, Bergevin’s ability to receive three assets in Tatar, Suzuki and a draft pick for Pacioretty could be viewed as a respectable return. However, considering Montreal lacks size, leadership, and significantly struggle to produce offense, losing Pacioretty is essentially losing exactly what Montreal needs most. The only factor left to make this worse for the Canadiens would be if he played center.

Tatar’s ceiling at-best is an inconsistent third-line winger. He’ll have his hot stretches but for the other 70 games of the season, he’ll have Montreal fans wondering how he’s earning a cap hit of $4.8 million for the next three years.

Losing Pacioretty was bad enough, but the former captain had one of the best bargain contracts in the league making only $4.5 million this season. There was no reason for Montreal to be forced into taking on salary.

Taking on Tatar’s contract, when he earns more than the best player involved in the deal, is certainly a head-scratching move.  It’s likely Vegas wasn’t going to include either Suzuki or the second-round draft pick unless Tatar was involved. Still, it’ll be a tough cap hit to swallow in future seasons when the Canadiens hope to improve despite having tough salaries to endure such Tatar’s, as well as Karl Alzner’s $4.6 million cap hit, Shea Weber’s $7.8 million cap hit, and even Andrew Shaw’s $3.9 million cap hit. With just the combine total salaries of Tatar, Alzner, Weber, and Shaw, the Canadiens will have over $20 million committed to those four players for the next three seasons.

Bergevin will argue Suzuki was the key to the deal and will be the player the Canadiens wanted most but that’ll only add tremendous pressure on the former 2017 first-round pick. He’ll be seen as the face of the trade by the Montreal fan base and the reason why the club agreed to pay Tatar for three seasons.

Suzuki has been a force in junior hockey but whether that can translate to the NHL in a tough market to play in like Montreal remains to be seen. He does have great offensive upside but his limited size puts him in the same boat as practically every other Canadiens center in the system.

It almost felt as if Bergevin took the best deal currently available after the recent awkardness at team events. Montreal management knew they were headed for a media disaster with training camp set to open and therefore traded Pacioretty for whatever was currently available to avoid it. Surely, some team could match or better a former recent first-round draft pick and future second-round pick without forcing the Canadiens to take on any salary.

Unfortunately, questions will remain as to whether Bergevin got enough for the franchise’s best forward. Bergevin has already been made to look foolish several times such as the P.K. Subban deal, trading Mikhail Sergachev, letting Alex Radulov walk in free agency, failing to find Pacioretty a center in order to maximize the winger’s talents, hanging onto Alex Galchenyuk for too long, and now taking on a bad contract in a deal for the club’s captain.

If Suzuki doesn’t pan out to a top-six forward, or the club fails to find a respectable player with the second-round pick acquired from Vegas, then this deal could be the worst one yet for Bergevin.