When Max Pacioretty was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights at 1 am ET, the late-night jokes started rolling in.
It was only right that Pacioretty was traded to a city that never sleeps late at night, despite what employees of media companies and members of the media will tell you. Even though it only being around 10 pm local time in Vegas when news of the trade broke, the timing of it caught everyone off guard, as if the Habs tried to ship their captain out of town in the middle of the night.
The 31-year-old sniper was officially welcomed to Sin City on Tuesday afternoon and did some sightseeing around Vegas before heading to the rink to meet his teammates and doing interviews with the local media.
Multiple casinos and hotels around the city reached welcomed Pacioretty by dressing up their signs to make him feel right at home in his new hockey town in the most Vegas way possible.
A change of scenery to scorching hot Vegas climate from the hockey hotbed that is Montreal could do wonders for the former Habs captain, as he failed to reach the 20-goal mark after posting four straight seasons of 30 goals or more. Pacioretty notched 17 goals and 20 assists in 64 games with the Habs last year and will be counted along with free-agent signee Paul Statsny to replace the offence from James Neal and David Perron, who both left Vegas for greener pastures this offseason.
Although it's unlikely that Vegas will name a captain this season, Pacioretty's name could be in the running considering his experience of handling the role in a much more scrutinized city like Montreal.
"I feel I have the opportunity right now to just get back to what I loved doing as a kid, and that's just going out there and having fun and playing hockey," Pacioretty said to reporters on Tuesday.
"They play a fast game, they're all on the same page every single night and they play for each other. They mentioned that there's going to be 23 captains on the team this year, and I could feel that today with the energy in the room and the camaraderie of the guys. I'm just excited to be a part of that."
"If I had got taken by Vegas in the expansion draft, I wouldn't be feeling the way I am today," Pacioretty said. "Everyone had a lot of question marks about what this franchise was going to be like. Nobody knew this was going to turn into a hockey town. I'm very excited to be in Vegas, this is a new chapter of my life. I'm ready to be a part of something that they're building here in Vegas that's very special, so I'm very honoured to be here."
