Obsessed by a drive to make sure he can be a solid contributor following a pair of Achilles injuries, Pacioretty is leaning hard into a vigilant Leafs performance staff to help him get there.
Obsessed by a drive to make sure he can be a solid contributor following a pair of Achilles injuries, Pacioretty is leaning hard into a vigilant Leafs performance staff to help him get there.
As he came off the ice following practice on Monday, Max Pacioretty gave a fairly blunt assessment of his first three games with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"It's always tough to come into a new team and get acclimated especially quickly," Pacioretty told The Hockey News. "I liked my first two games. (I) definitely didn't like my last game, personally."
It turns out the Leafs' performance staff didn't like what they saw, either. The staff had noticed points in his stride that seemed to affect his posture and acceleration, a constant battle the player is going through as he avoids compensation issues from having gone through Achilles surgery three times in the last two years.
"They came up to me and said, 'What do you feel?' And from what I told them it was right on par with what they saw that I can improve on.
Before practice began on Monday, Pacioretty spent about 30 minutes with skating consultants Paul Matheson and Michele Moore Davidson. They gave him pointers on his stride before breaking off to the side.
When Pacioretty returned from his second Achilles injury midway through last season while with the Washington Capitals, he wasn't at the point where he could work on his skating and other issues arose. Essentially, some compensation developed in the foot and the rest of his leg, and it's been an ongoing process to correct some compensation.
"When you come back and you jump in the middle of the season for the first time in two years, things are going to change. Your muscles are going to compensate to make up for something else. And they found something right away in my skating that wasn't there before."
To say that Pacioretty is being cautious about re-injuring his Achilles for a third time would be an understatement. But he's also aware that overthinking can disrupt him from being an effective player on the ice.
Pacioretty implemented some of those tips from Matheson and Davidson for the first 30 minutes of practice where he got roasted by his teammates on the first drill.
"That's all part of it, right, is working on it and trusting it and then tinkering with it. So I'm excited to keep working at it," Pacioretty said. "I feel like there's a lot of areas to improve in my skating and it's not just my overall speed and power. It's more so body position and posture."
Pacioretty had options with other NHL clubs but one thing that drew him to Toronto beyond the talented core was the skills and performance staff who can help keep him honest when he might be compensating when he doesn't realize it.
'I've never had skill analysis to this kind of depth," he admitted.
He signed a PTO with the understanding it would be converted to a contract, which it was the day before the regular season officially began, with a one-year deal that can go as high as $1.5 million if certain games played bonuses are hit.
Pacioretty is over the mental aspect of his previous Achilles injuries but admits it's not something he can ignore. He's got to be conscious of every step on the ice, but not to the point of where overthinking affects his ability to contribute to the Leafs.
Midway through the club's 4-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, Pacioretty was limited to just three shifts in the third period, but on Thursday he was the first Leafs player to score a goal this season, parking himself in front of the net in a 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J3HmlVblBE[/embed]
"A little up and down, but overall not bad," Maple Leafs' head coach Craig Berube said about Pacioretty' play through three games. "He got a big goal in Jersey, That's, you know, his bread and butter on the net and scoring goals and things like that."
Before the first Achilles injury, Pacioretty was a point-per-game player in his last two seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights. It's not clear if he will get back to that form, but the Leafs' performance staff is going to make sure they get the most out of him, and they'll do it by watching his every move on the ice so that he doesn't have to think about every step.
"The more I can work on it in practice or before practice and whatnot, the better off and the less thinking I'm going to have to do when I'm put in those situations," Pacioretty said.
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