Source: Max Pacioretty won’t negotiate new contract during regular season

MONTREAL—Sources have confirmed to Sportsnet that Max Pacioretty, who’s entering the final season of a six-year, $27 million contract, will hold off on all negotiations of a contract extension once the NHL’s regular season begins.

“Not just with the Montreal Canadiens, he won’t negotiate with anyone once the season begins,” said a source close to Pacioretty’s camp.

Pacioretty’s agent Allan Walsh was reached by Sportsnet, but he declined to comment.

On Wednesday the Journal de Montreal’s Marc De Foy reported that Pacioretty had put a deadline on potential negotiations.

“Expect it to be confirmed in short order,” wrote De Foy.

At Pacioretty’s charity golf tournament on August 28, he divulged that there had been no contract negotiations with the Canadiens.

The situation hasn’t changed to date.

Two days after Pacioretty’s tournament, Radio Canada’s Martin Leclerc reported that Pacioretty had requested a trade out of Montreal several times throughout the 2017-18 season and had also done so once during the 2013-14 season.

That story was denied outright by Walsh.

Pacioretty scored just 17 goals and 37 points in 64 games last season. He led the Canadiens in goals each of the five seasons prior and led them in points each of the previous six.

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