Carolina Hurricanes forward Max Pacioretty exited Thursday’s 6-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets with a lower-body injury. He left during the first period of the game, logging just 3:02 of ice time. The Hurricanes did confirm that the injury is unrelated to his previous one.
The 34-year-old just returned to the lineup following an Achilles injury that held him out for the first 38 games of the 2022-23 season. He underwent offseason surgery to repair the torn Achilles. The surgery occurred on Aug. 10, and he was sidelined for five months in what is normally a six-month recovery timeline.
Pacioretty was acquired in a trade along with defenseman Dylan Coghlan from the Vegas Golden Knights last summer. Pacioretty has three goals in three games to start his Hurricanes campaign. He scored two goals in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Blue Jackets on Jan. 8. Since returning to the lineup, Pacioretty has already been playing in the top six alongside Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho. He is also situated on the first powerplay unit with Jarvis, Aho, Teuvo Teravainen and Brett Pesce.
The 2007 first-round pick spent the last four seasons with the Golden Knights. In 2021-22, he had 37 points (19G, 18A) in 39 games, along with 12 power-play points and a plus-8 rating. He has reached the 30-goal marker six times throughout his 850-game career so far with the Montreal Canadiens and Golden Knights. Pacioretty is currently in the last year of a four-year $28 million contract extension he signed with the Golden Knights in 2018. The contract has an average annual value (AAV) of $7 million, and he will become an unrestricted free agent (UFA) come the end of the 2022-23 season.
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