'Not Everybody Can Play Every Night': Maple Leafs Head Coach Craig Berube Explains Decision to Bench Veteran Max Pacioretty Against Kings
Pacioretty, who signed a one-year incentive-ladened deal last week, was scratched for the first time this season.
Max Pacioretty was a healthy scratch for the first time — perhaps in his career — when the Toronto Maple Leafs elected not to play the veteran in the club's fourth game of the season on Wednesday.
Pacioretty, who signed a one-year contract with the Maple Leafs after joining the club on a professional tryout, admitted over the last couple of days that his performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4-2 victory was not his best of the season.
"I like my first game. (The) second game was pretty good. Didn't like my last game. So I want to start trending in the right direction and try and build some games together," Pacioretty said on Wednesday. But at the same time, I've mentioned before that's going to be different, I guess, some different roles and whatnot and different ways to try and help the team win. And I'm excited about doing that.
With William Nylander a game-time decision due to illness, it was clear someone was going to have to sit out when it became apparent during the team's warmup that the star forward was going to play.
That led Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube to make the call to scratch Pacioretty and he explained why following the club's 5-2 victory against the Los Angeles Kings.
"We have extra players, and not everybody can play every night. That's the bottom line," Berube said. "He's been fine when he's played. But I've got to make decisions as a coach, and I'm going to make those decisions based on what I think is best for the team."
Pacioretty scored the Leafs' first goal of the season in a 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 9. The 35-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Leafs worth $873,770 with performance bonuses that can extend his salary up to $1.5 million based on games-played thresholds. He is coming off two Achilles injuries and has been working to get his game back to where it was before they took place.
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