Remembering the Nick Suzuki trade between the Vegas Golden Knights and Canadiens

The overall impact of the Max Pacioretty and Nick Suzuki trade

In the short term, the Max Pacioretty trade helped the Vegas Golden Knights. They got their superstar goal-scorer who had a booming shot and speed to boot. It continued an ongoing legacy of being a formidable playoff team. In fact, they won the Stanley Cup a season after trading him to the Carolina Hurricanes.

However, they're stuck with an older roster that lost numerous offensive pieces during the summer. The Golden Knights lost notable stars such as Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson, leaving them lighter in their top six. Granted, in-house players like Pavel Dorofeyev have emerged as viable options. There have also been key players such as Noah Hanifin and Tomas Hertl entering the picture. However, the team has dealt with the harsh reality of finding balance within the salary cap. They could've used a player like Suzuki to fill in a slot.

Meanwhile, the Canadiens have a good young core to build around, with Nick Suzuki and Caufield at the forefront. With newer pieces like Juraj Slafkovsky entering the picture, they're ready to take the next step. The only problem is Montreal plays in a tough Atlantic Division that features the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers. When teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are also roaming around, that makes building a viable franchise rough.

Still, there are some positives to this situation. The Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in 2022-23 and offloaded Pacioretty. They have their franchise center in Jack Eichel and are still Stanley Cup Playoffs contenders. Meanwhile, Montreal hasn't made the playoffs since that Cinderella run, with the team sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic Division. Sometimes, life has a funny way of working things out.