'I Feel Like I'm There And I Can't Wait To Prove It: Max Pacioretty Aims to Show He's Overcome Achilles Injuries and Can Contribute to the Maple Leafs
Pacioretty participated in his first training camp practice since signing a PTO with Toronto.
Max Pacioretty never let retirement cross his mind when he injured his Achilles for the second time (time), but he acknowledged it was a possibility.
"I never wanted to do that but I told myself I'll listen to my body and if my body tells me that I can't go on then I'll listen to my body," he said.
Speaking for the first time since signing a professional tryout with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Pacioretty took part in his first practice with the team. Like many players, he's aiming to prove he belongs.
The 35-year-old suffered his first Achilles injury while training in the off-season in 2022. When he returned with the Carolina Hurricanes, Pacioretty re-injured his Achilles after playing just five games.
Pacioretty says he's passed the mental side of dealing with a major injury and a devastating setback.
He returned from his second Achilles injury in the middle of last season with the Washington Capitals where he was limited to four goals and 19 assists in 47 games. Pacioretty felt his conditioning wasn't up to par. So he took the summer to see if he can get back to the form that saw him score 30+ goals in five different seasons.
"That's why this kind of took so long from both sides this summer is because I'm over the mental side of it, I wanted to see physically where I was at, I owed it to myself to see if I could get up to a level where I thought I could compete to where I was before the injury," He explained. "It wasn't perfect when I first started training, I realized how deconditioned my body really was through the almost three years, two-plus years of being injured and being on the couch and what not so the mental side is gone, physically I really like where I'm at, what's cool about right now in this day and age is you have the measurements to show you that everything is strong, I'm where I was before in terms of strength and power and I'm looking to prove that on the ice."
Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving also pointed out that they brought Pacioretty to Toronto last month to see him skate and the decision was ultimately made to sign a PTO.
Pacioretty skated at practice alongside Pontus Holmberg and Nikita Grebenkin.
Although there is every intention of Pacioretty signing a contract with the Leafs when camp is over, there is still hefty competition with wingers like fellow PTO Steven Lorentz, Nick Robertson, Bobby McMann, and even Grebenkin, battling for spots
"Pacioretty has been an elite scorer in this league for a long time," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube explained. "He's feeling healthy and big, strong guy, can score, hang on the pucks."
Pacioretty arrived in Toronto the day before training camp. He wasn't out of place as virtually every player was put through the gauntlet of a compete-filled session by the new Leafs coach.
If he can regain his old form, Pacioretty cited the high-end talent of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares as factors for choosing to go to Toronto.
"Clearly it's top heavy and everyone knows that you have three, four of the best forwards in the world in this line-up and oftentimes you need guys to kind of plugin and help complement them," Pacioretty said. "There's roles throughout the line-up that there's going to be competition for and I see myself competing every day to try and grab one of those roles and yeah it's no secret that they've had a lot of success with their top guys but you know I need to get over the hump and I'm looking to push everybody just as much as they're looking to push me."
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