Max Pacioretty and his agent Allan Walsh revealed two surprising details about his contract and his decision to sign with the Maple Leafs.
When Pacioretty signed his PTO with the Leafs , Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman believed that it was just a formality and he already had a handshake deal in place for a standard player contract.
On the latest edition of ‘Agent Provocateur’, co-hosted by Pacioretty’s agent, Allan Walsh, Walsh revealed they had held discussions with the Leafs in July, well before anything was finalized and that part of the agreement was that there was already a contract in place.
‘We started talking – Max and I – with Toronto, probably around the middle of July. By very early August, there was a level of interest by Toronto, where it looked very much like there was a really good fit here. Max went into Toronto very quietly, he met with Chief (Craig Berube) and he met with Brad and he met with the Leafs doctors who spent considerable time with him. Their strength and performance people, Max went on the ice and skated with them and they asked him to do specific things, and whatever was asked of him, he was happy to do. At the end of this two-day process of talking, meeting with doctors, strength coaches, performance people, and actually being out on the ice, we came together with the framework of a deal. That deal was basically done since the beginning of August.’
Pacioretty’s deal was made official on October 7th and was performance bonus based. His base salary came in at $873,770 for the season with a pair of performance bonuses worth $313,115, bringing his total salary to $1.5M.
On Monday, following practice, Pacioretty himself confirmed that one of the biggest reasons he signed with the Leafs was due to the in-depth analysis he got from the medical and sport science team.
‘I’ve never had skill analysis to this kind of depth,’ revealed Pacioretty, who spent time before Monday’s practice working on his skating.
Through three games in a Leafs uniform, Pacioretty has just 1 goal while playing slightly more than 11 minutes per game, but was benched in the third period of Saturday’s victory and could see himself being yo-yoed in and out of the lineup. It may not be strictly for poor performance, but rather for load management as the 35-year-old continues to rebuild his skating after two achillies injuries.