Max Pacioretty trade details: Hurricanes acquire scoring winger as Golden Knights clear cap space

Hours after the Hurricanes traded for defenseman Brent Burns from the Sharks, GM Don Waddell made a second big move in acquiring forward Max Pacioretty, along with defenseman Dylan Coghlan, from the Golden Knights. 

Vegas gets future considerations from Carolina in return https://t.co/AJv9fprO7v

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 13, 2022

Going back the other way is future considerations, as this move was strictly for Vegas to clear up cap space. Pacioretty carries a $7 million cap hit. 

A fleecing seems too light of a word to describe this. The Golden Knights wanted to re-sign Reilly Smith, but were going to have to move some money around to do it. The Hurricanes took advantage, getting an elite scoring winger for next to nothing, in addition to a young defenseman. 

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Pacioretty spent the last four season in Vegas. He's coming off a 2021-22 season where he only played 39 games, but recorded 37 points. 

Max Pacioretty trade details

• Hurricanes get: F Max Pacioretty, D Dylan Coghlan
• Golden Knights get: Future considerations

It really is amazing that we live in a world where Max Pacioretty, a perennial 30-goal scorer when healthy, gets traded for almost nothing. However, this is the game the Golden Knights have chosen to play. 

Vegas' cap concerns have been known some time. They had already shipped off Evgenii Dadonov earlier in the offseason to create some relief and now, have about $5 million left for the Smith extension, in addition to their RFAs Nicolas Hague, Nicolas Roy and Keegan Kolesar. It's not a ton to work with and perhaps another move needs to be made, but Vegas some wiggle room. 

On the other side is a Hurricanes team that benefits from the Golden Knights' financial circus and gets a scorer that they've been lacking. There's no questioning the defensive deficiencies of the Hurricanes, but they struggled with scoring last season. Now, they add one of the best shooters in the game in Pacioretty to their top-six. 

Max Pacioretty stats 

As mentioned, Pacioretty has dealt with some injuries over the last few seasons, but when he's on the ice, he's dangerous. 

He's hovered either right above or below a point-per-game the last three seasons, and if he's paired with a player like Sebastian Aho, I would expect those numbers to be maintained at the very least.