Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving speaks about Max Pacioretty's path to make the team

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been working to overhaul the depth on their NHL roster this season. The latest move in pursuit of this goal has been to sign NHL veteran Max Pacioretty to a Player Tryout contract (PTO).

Since this move was made fans have been up in arms about the way that the Toronto Maple Leafs are handling the situation. Many fans believe the only reason Max Pacioretty was signed to a PTO was to give the Maple Leafs more time to create salary cap space.

With this in mind, Brad Treliving has come out with another statement to clarify his initial thoughts about Max Pacioretty making the NHL roster.

In a new statement during an interview, Brad Treliving was asked about Max Pacioretty and where he fits into the Toronto Maple Leafs plans. Brad Treliving was extremely careful about the words he used when discussing the future of Max Pacioretty.

Now heading into the NHL preseason the Toronto Maple Leafs will still need to create salary cap space to fit Max Pacioretty into the lineup. He likely will only be a depth forward as that is the role he played last season with the Washington Capitals when he played 47 games and tallied 23 points.

The biggest thing for Max Pacioretty will be staying healthy. He has not had a season where he played 70 games since the 2019-20 season. At his peak, Max Pacioretty was a 65-plus point power forward and captain of the Maple Leafs rival the Montreal Canadiens.

If this signing is going to make sense for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Max Pacioretty will not only need to stay healthy but also find a way to reach the 30-40 point level. As a bottom-six forward, reaching that point plateau and bringing his veteran leadership could end up being an absolute steal of a contract. If not it could be added to the long list of veteran swings and misses that the Maple Leafs have had in recent years.

Source: Maple Leafs Daily

Source: Hockey Reference