The Washington Capitals are in a very important stretch of the season and they couldn't have gotten their offseason prize back into the lineup at a better time. Max Pacioretty is known and established around the league. He can score goals and he's a beast when healthy.
But the last two seasons, Pacioretty hurt his achilles. He came back the first time, played five games for the Carolina Hurricanes then ruptured his achilles again.
While Pacioretty was still an attractive free agent add, fans and critics had questions on whether or not it will work. It's still early so let's predict.
Pacioretty so far is six games into his Capitals tenure. He has three points with a goal and two assists. Last year he had three goals in five games before the reinjury. Before the initial injury he had 19 goals in 39 games with the Vegas Golden Knights. As recently as 2019-20, Pacioretty finished with 32 goals while scoring 24 in the shortened season in 48 games.
This prediction will be tricky. The ones we like to do before the season we like to have a little fun with depending on the player. The Caps are now 41 games into the season which means there's a half season to go. Predicting someone at this point in the season is crazy but we'll do it anyway.
I could see Pacioretty finishing with around eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points so that means he'll score about seven more goals. Will they come soon or will they come later as he continues to adjust remains to be seen.
But the most important quality Patches has is that he can lead and he can inspire like his postgame message to the boys eight days ago about not taking things for granted. No better example than what he's gone through and Caps fans everywhere are glad he's healthy and back.