Max Pacioretty Will Require Some Patience
By Chris Baker
I am as elated as you about Max Pacioretty joining the Carolina Hurricanes lineup as soon as possible. But, I am a fully prepared to be prodigiously patient for the productive boom in the Hurricanes offense already expected from his debut.
Battleships are already floating on the ink used to hype Pacioretty’s debut with the Carolina Hurricanes. Where does he start? Who does he bump?
It’s fun to speculate. Even more fun to watch others speculate.
Some in the Hurricane nation are heralding Max Pacioretty as the anointed savior Carolina’s offense needs. An extra gear to be kicked in at the finish line in a close race.
I hope all of this, and more, is true!
I want to see Max Pacioretty on every Canes social media feed, the headline of the Raleigh News and Observer’s sports page daily, celebratory days scheduled, keys to the city awarded, and babies named for him with saintly reverence.
But, let’s be real. Pacioretty will need quality ice time with a lot of different line combinations before he finds the right groove. This will take some patience on the part of notoriously impatient Canes fans.
Where the rubber will meet the road is the third or fourth experimental line Pacioretty plays with. Those lines Rod Brind’Amour tries that don’t initially seem logical. That’s where the magic is going to take place.
Patience in the Brind’Amour process is paramount. And the likelihood of less than desirable outcomes is high. Some call that failure.
But this is going to be the good kind of failure. Learning failure.
I fully expect to see some big time individual play out of Max Pacioretty right out of the gate. He’s that talented. Carolina brought him here exactly for his offensive spark.
Still that individual play needs to fit into the team effort and style. Rod Brind’Amour won’t rest until Carolina Hurricane version of Pacioretty is inculcated with the team’s style of play.
Max Pacioretty, the offensive juggernaut, will be a boon for the Hurricane offense. On that we can all agree. Where he is going to be the biggest benefit though, is his ability to blend in with a line and play pure Carolina Hurricanes hockey.
Prognosticate all you please, but patience for Max Pacioretty will lead to profitable progress.