{"id":67207,"date":"2025-08-14T08:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T08:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/67207\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T08:44:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T08:44:12","slug":"best-last-minute-max-pacioretty-destinations-in-2025-nhl-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/67207\/","title":{"rendered":"Best last-minute Max Pacioretty destinations in 2025 NHL Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post Best last-minute Max Pacioretty destinations in 2025 NHL Free Agency<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every year, there are players who linger on the NHL Free Agency market who seek any opportunity they can get. Last year, one of those players was Max Pacioretty<\/a>. The veteran forward sought a chance to make a roster and win a Stanley Cup. He signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a>, and ended up making the team. However, he is once again unsigned late into free agency this summer.<\/p>\n

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Pacioretty certainly isn\u2019t the player he used to be. He only played 37 games this past season, scoring five goals and 13 points. In saying this, he did come up big in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He scored the game-winning goal in Game 6 against the Ottawa Senators<\/a> in the first round of the playoffs, for example.<\/p>\n

There are certainly reasons for him remaining on the market to this point. However, he has shown that he can adapt. He became more of a physical presence down the lineup. In fact, the 2024-25 campaign marked his first season with more than 100 hits since 2018-19, his first campaign with the Vegas Golden Knights.<\/p>\n

There are teams out there who can use Pacioretty\u2019s services. He is a bottom-six depth piece at this point. But he\u2019s cheap depth, and that\u2019s something teams covet late in NHL Free Agency. With this in mind, here are two potential landing spots for Pacioretty before the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs reunion can\u2019t be ruled out\"Nick<\/p>\n

Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs were the team to take a chance on Pacioretty. As a result, they are the team that knows this player the best. Toronto has made some other moves this summer. But there is an avenue where Pacioretty returns to the Maple Leafs in 2025 NHL Free Agency.<\/p>\n

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Toronto shuffled the deck among its forwards this summer. Mitch Marner, Ryan Reaves, and Pontus Holmberg all left this offseason. Coming into Toronto are Matias Maccelli, Dakota Joshua, and Nicolas Roy. The Maple Leafs could still use a bit of scoring depth down the lineup.<\/p>\n

Again, Max Pacioretty is not the player he used to be. However, he can still provide some goals down the lineup. If he can remain healthy, he could realistically score 10-15 goals. This is useful scoring depth for a team with Stanley Cup ambitions in 2026.<\/p>\n

Red Wings could be fit for Max Pacioretty<\/p>\n

Last summer, the <\/a>Detroit Red Wings<\/a> were one team that pursued Pacioretty. Eventually, he chose the Maple Leafs. However, there is something they saw in the veteran forward that could make him a useful player in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

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Detroit struggled hard with scoring depth in 2024-25. Only three player scored more than 25 goals this past season. Only five players scored more than 15 goals, as well. The Red Wings did make some signings to help address this. James van Riemsdyk and Mason Appleton joined in NHL Free Agency this summer. And they still have a ton of cap space<\/a> to work with.<\/p>\n

Pacioretty won\u2019t hit 25 goals unless he seriously turns the clock back. But he could certainly still chip in some offense in the Motor City. He could play with some of the team\u2019s young stars and help them along, as well.<\/p>\n

The Red Wings would also appreciate his newfound physicality. Only four players in 2024-25 recorded more than 100 hits. Adding another player who is not afraid to get physical is something Detroit certainly needs. All in all, it\u2019s not a bad gamble for the Red Wings to make as they look to contend for the playoffs in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

Related: Best last-minute Evgeny Kuznetsov destinations in 2025 NHL Free Agency<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Best last-minute Matt Grzelcyk destinations in 2025 NHL Free Agency<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post Best last-minute Max Pacioretty destinations in 2025 NHL Free Agency appeared first on ClutchPoints. Every year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,7237,53440,53441,53438,33454,6505,575,7320,53439,6597,53437,53436,9854,85,2137,2370,7529],"class_list":["post-67207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dakota-joshua","tag-james-van-riemsdyk","tag-mason-appleton","tag-matias-maccelli","tag-max-pacioretty","tag-mitch-marner","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-free-agency","tag-nicolas-roy","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-pontus-holmberg","tag-red-wings","tag-ryan-reaves","tag-sports","tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-vegas-golden-knights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}