Max Pacioretty Signs With Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals are taking a potential high-reward gamble on winger Max Pacioretty. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports it’s a one-year, $2MM deal with an additional $2MM in potential performance bonuses. Per PuckPedia, the contract carries a no-movement clause. CapFriendly reports he’ll earn $1MM in bonuses for 10 games played, an additional $500K if he hits 15 games played, and the full $2MM in bonuses if he hits 20 games played.

A bonus-laden contract was always going to be what Pacioretty would have to settle with. After starting the season in January due to his recovery of a torn Achilles tendon, Pacioretty would then, unfortunately, tear the same tendon just two weeks later. In his first recovery battle, it only took four months for Pacioretty to return to NHL action; but this time, it will likely take a full six months to heal.

Although the contract for Pacioretty is unsurprising, the team that he eventually landed with, is. Entering this offseason, Washington had a pressing need in finding players to put the puck in the net. Only averaging 3.09 GF/G during the 2022-23 season, it was a depressed number for a team already sporting one of the greatest goal-scorers of all time. In the Capitals’ defense, they will have a much healthier Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom to start the year, but something more surefire than Pacioretty would have been a better play.

In the goal-scoring category, Pacioretty has been one of the better ones over the last several years, scoring anywhere between 25-35 a season in a healthy year. However, the hard truth of the matter is that there is a potential that Pacioretty never touches the ice with Washington. Suffering two Achilles tears in less than a year is not something easy to come back from, and with the Capitals aging core, they need to surround their top players with talent immediately if they have any chance of competing for the Cup again.