Colorado Avalanche avoided potential major disaster by passing on Max Pacioretty in free agency

When free agency began this past offseason, the Colorado Avalanche had some significant holes for the 2024-25 season. They managed to fill up their roster with some unknowns, as well as re-signing Jonathan Drouin—the latter being something that many did not expect, especially given what he re-signed for.

One player that was linked to the Avalanche was forward Max Pacioretty, formerly of the Montreal Canadians, Vegas Golden Knights, Carolina Hurricanes, and Washington Capitals. He opted to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

That move, up to this point, doesn’t seem like it will end up being what the Leafs hoped for. After just 13 games, Pacioretty was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and was deemed week-to-week in his recovery.

Of course, nobody can truly know when a player will get injured. However, Pacioretty has been irregular in lineups for several years, and hasn’t played more than 45 games since the 2020-21 season. Before that, he played in 71 games in 2019-20.

Although Pacioretty signed for a cheap one-year deal of $1.5 million with the Maple Leafs, despite the cheap deal, it was smart of Avalanche General Manager Chris MacFarland to not go after an often-injured player. Even if he signed with the Avalanche at the same terms, it feels to me like it would have been a waste.

The Avalanche have enough to deal with in terms of injured players. Gabriel Landeskog (who knows when he’ll actually be back?), Valeri Nichushkin suspension, Miles Wood (placed on injured reserve with what appears to be an arm injury), Ross Colton’s broken foot. Those are some of the major injuries the Avs have had to deal with this season.

Colorado is trying its best to get back to the Stanley Cup Final, and adding another injury-prone player just would not have been smart business.