Determining Max Pacioretty’s Return Date for the Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights star winger, Max Pacioretty, traveled with the team this past Saturday to Washington D.C. And has remained on the trip as they head down the coast to take on the Carolina Hurricanes.

So, I’m sure you may be asking about the significance of him traveling with the team. Furthermore, asking why it was even mentioned? Well, in order for this article to make sense we have to go back to December 30th, 2021.

Looking back to that date, it was clear prior to that Max Pacioretty wasn’t healthy. Now, in hockey, we just know what the organization tells us. It’s not like the MLB, NFL, or NBA that actually release what the injury is. When it comes to injuries in the NHL, we usually just get told rather it’s upper body or lower body. However, that wasn’t the case for Max Pacioretty.

The Vegas Golden Knights need Max Pacioretty back on this road trip. With his elite scoring, and leadership, it’s going to be very important during this week if they want to keep up with these teams.

After Max Pacioretty stopped going to morning skate’s for the Vegas Golden Knights, it was clear that something was up. However, then we would see him on the ice for the game and as fans of the Knights- we would think everything was okay.

Shortly after a morning skate on December 30th, the Vegas Golden Knights did their usual post skate interviews. Assistant head coach, Steve Spott took the post conference interviews while Pete DeBoer was out with COVID.

In that press conference, he stated that Mark Stone, Robin Lehner, and Max Pacioretty were all day-to-day. Later that afternoon, it broke that Max Pacioretty just received wrist surgery and was out indefinitely. So, now it’s time for us to fast forward to today.

It’s been about a month since Pacioretty received his surgery and now it’s looking as though his return isn’t that far away. Now, Pete DeBoer was pretty broad when it comes to his update on Pacioretty. Nonetheless, I’d assume that he is going to return on this road trip.

He’s been skating on his own before or after the Knights practice, and although we see too much of him, we did get a glimpse of him.

This was captured by Jesse Granger of The Athletic. As you can see, It clearly shows Max Pacioretty out there with some teammates. So when could he actually return?

Although Max Pacioretty has been skating on his own, it doesn’t quite mean that he can shoot, handle the puck, take hits, or even pass the puck. Wrist surgery is a big deal when it comes to getting back on the ice.

Let’s look at it this way- Max Pacioretty’s best trait is his scoring. Can we all agree on that? Okay. Good. However, there are three different types of ways to shoot the puck: the Slap shot, Snap shot, and wrist shot.

So far this season, Max Pacioretty has scored a greater majority of his goals through the use of his wrist shot or snap shot. Both of these techniques heavily involve the wrist which is why it’s so difficult to estimate his return.

However, knowing Max Pacioretty’s toughness, and the fact that I’m sure he want’s to be out there. I’d say that we could probably seem him against the Florida Panthers this upcoming Thursday.