Toronto Maple Leafs Insider Gives Update Regarding Max Pacioretty's Injury Status
Max Pacioretty left Tuesday's game vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets with a lower-body injury, now a Leafs insider has given a positive update on the veteran forward.
Max Pacioretty has had a hot and cold start to the season, kicking off the year scoring Toronto's first goal of the season, then finding himself a healthy scratch for the next two Leafs games. Entrusted to bring more veteran scoring to the bottom half of the Toronto lineup, Pacioretty has been able to score twice so far this season, but ended up leaving Tuesday's game against the Blue Jackets with an injury. A lot of exasperated sighs were heard as it's yet again another injury to not only the Maple Leafs (who have had their fair share already this season) but for Pacioretty. Suffering through two years with a debilitating Achilles injury, Pacioretty going down again in such a short amount of time is worrying.
But Toronto fans can breathe a little bit easier as it was revealed by The Leafs Nation's Nick Alberga that Pacioretty's injury was nothing serious and the veteran forward is day-to-day:
It's a huge sigh of relief as Pacioretty looked to rebound this year after those two aforementioned rough seasons. Between his time in Carolina and Washington, Pacioretty only scored seven goals and 26 points over 52 games and was often out of the lineup due to injury. However, Pacioretty is not too far removed from his goal-scoring outburst in Vegas where he averaged over 24 goals over four seasons with the Golden Knights and Toronto needs him to get back to that level if they are going to succeed in the playoffs.
Pacioretty has been a solid and consistent player throughout his now 17th year in the NHL. Registering 332 goals and 338 assists (including his two this season) in his career, Pacioretty could always be relied on no matter the situation, and come playoff time, the consistency is there as well with an equal split of 25 goals and 25 assists in 78 playoff games. The former Montreal Canadiens captain will be a key piece to the Maple Leafs if they want to get past the first round, but he needs to avoid injury scares like this. Pacioretty is a big guy and isn't shy about throwing his body around at times, but given the higher risk of him injuring himself, he may want to slow down a notch on the physicality.
Pacioretty's status will no doubt be updated in the coming days and he should be ready to go for Toronto's next game which isn't until Thursday night against head coach Craig Berube's former squad, the St. Louis Blues, so hopefully a day and a half of recovery will be enough for Max to touch the ice and be the contributor that both he and the Maple Leafs know he can be.
| POLL | ||
Will Max Pacioretty be healthy in time for the Maple Leafs next game? | ||
