Max Pacioretty slams the Golden Knights and reveals why they struggle to run an NHL team

Max Pacioretty is no longer part of the Vegas Golden Knights. He was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes along with Dylan Coghlan for future considerations and cap space, and now that he is not wearing the golden jersey anymore, he went on to slam the culture surrounding his former team.

Earlier this week, on the air of the Raw Knuckles Podcast with Chris Nilan and Tim Stapleton, Pacioretty revealed what takes place between the scenes in Vegas. While it is well known that Patches felt the pressure to perform with the Canadiens prior to his trade to Vegas, as Montreal is a huge hockey market, Pacioretty revealed how the Golden Knights have no accountability with losing.

Which might explained why they missed out on the postseason this past spring…

“When I first got to Vegas, it was weird that there was, like, no accountability. And I’m not talking about in the team; I’m talking about like ever. You couldn’t feel pressure coming off anyone else, from the coach to the management,” said Pacioretty.

While the Golden Knights could blame injuries to underperforming players to straight luck on why they missed out on a playoff berth, Pacioretty believes accountability is the main reason, going as far as to say that he even missed the pressure that he had in Montreal “a tiny bit when things went wrong this year.”

I mentioned that at the end of the year that no one is really holding us accountable. If we have a bad year like this, the city would be half on fire in Montreal. Here in Vegas, it’s 80 degrees, and it’s sunny. We’re getting our car washed and getting our organic food, and going to play golf. I was kind of like, ‘we’ve got to police this thing a little better amongst each other.’ I don’t want to say it was a country club, but you have no one from the outside holding you accountable.”

Max Pacioretty 

The veteran forward also mentioned how some other players on the Vegas’ roster “don’t know really what it’s like,” to have mounting pressure on them as they “haven’t played somewhere else.”

This comes on top of the Golden Knights making several questionable trades in the past season, including not only Pacioretty’s but certainly the move that shipped out beloved goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to the Chicago Blackhawks last summer. Fans have begun to question how the team is run, and Pacioretty’s comments surely point to some issues in the front office…