While things continue to be filled with promise and high expectations in Boston with a young Bruins team on the rise, the hits just keep on coming for their arch-rivals in Montreal. The Canadiens kicked off this week’s opening of training camp with an 11th-hour trade of their captain, Max Pacioretty, to the Vegas Golden Knights after his situation hovered like a dark cloud over the Habs all summer long.
The Canadiens got Tomas Tatar, prospect Nick Suzuki and a second-round pick for Pacioretty, who topped 30 goals and 60 points in each of the previous four seasons prior to slumping to 17 goals and 37 points in 64 games last year. Suzuki was a first-round pick in 2017 and has been a scoring demon with the Owen Sound Attack, Tatar has been a consistent 20-goal scorer for the past five seasons and a second-round pick certainly has plenty of value.
- MORE BRUINS - Countdown to Camp: Can Bergeron stay healthy?
But one also has to think that Montreal GM Marc Bergevin would have received more for Pacioretty if the entire NHL hadn’t known that the marriage was about to break up and that Montreal’s star left winger needed to be moved.
So what does this all mean for the Bruins?
It means that Montreal has spiraled even further into a long-term rebuild after moving Pacioretty and PK Subban the past few years, and that they’ll be pretty far down in the Atlantic Division pecking order this season. Pacioretty had his battles with the Black and Gold over the years and is perhaps best known in Boston lore as the unfortunate victim of a Zdeno Chara hit into a Bell Centre stanchion back in the 2010-11 Stanley Cup championship season.
- MORE BRUINS - Rookies to watch in training camp
Montreal won only 29 games in 2017-18 and it was a long, frustrating season with the Habs getting kicked around by the Bruins and, well, just about everybody else as well. It was downright sad to watch Claude Julien wax poetic about Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand after the duo had teamed to beat Montreal in their own barn in the regular season, then watch the Habs get blown out in his first return to Boston as the Habs head coach.
Now, a team that was ranked 29th in the NHL in offense last season while averaging 2.5 goals per game was forced to ship out their most accomplished goal-scorer because it was clear he didn’t want to remain with the Canadiens beyond this season.
Boston Bruins
Find the latest Boston Bruins news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Boston.
With Pacioretty getting shipped out on the eve of camp, it sure looks like the misery and the losses are going to continue this season unless banged up Carey Price puts up one of the best goaltending seasons of all-time. The Habs’ woes certainly aren’t going to break the hearts of anybody here in Boston, however.