Max Pacioretty, captain of the Montreal Canadiens team, in Vegas

While most of the world of hockey slept and dreamed of having their team hoist the Stanley Cup in June 2019, the Montreal Canadiens and the Golden Knights of Vegas have made one of the biggest offers of the season off to 1 pm ET Fans on both sides woke Monday morning in their teams and the coming seasons seemed very different.

The timing may be strange, but it's not shocking. The fact that things happened between Max Pacioretty and Montreal did not help. After one of its worst seasons in the NHL, it was announced in early July that the Canadiens did not want to re-sign the former 29-year-old after his contract expired following the 2018-19 campaign.

With this decision, the problem for Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin was to ensure that he would get a solid return for a leader who has scored 30 goals or more in four of the past five seasons and who will hit a sexy cap of only $ 4.5 million. this season.

Montreal had not offered anything they liked and the news on Pacioretty's front remained quite quiet for a while. Then, reports that he would have asked for exchanges several times last season began to surface in the last two weeks. His agent, Allan Walsh, quickly defended himself and extinguished the fire. After that, we heard nothing until Canadians confirmed the trade with Vegas (very) early Monday morning.

There is no doubt that the Golden Knights have secured a star. Despite having a 37-goal regular season and 37 disappointing points with injuries, Pacioretty's ability to score with the best in the world can not be denied.

He is in the beginning of his career and we can only hope that he will be able to bounce once the puck has fallen in early October. Being away from the intense headlamps associated with being captain of a large-scale franchise such as Montreal should also help him get back on track.

Pacioretty wore the "C" for the Canadiens over the past three seasons. During this period, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs twice and lost in the first round against the New York Rangers in 2017.

With the way things were going, any change of scenery would have been beneficial. But when this change of scenery turns out to be the last of the Stanley Cup finalists, it's even better. The idea of ​​Pacioretty playing regularly alongside William Karlsson, Paul Stastny, Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault should make you participate in many Golden Knights games this season.

The next step is for Vegas general manager George McPhee to expand with his new addition. Expect this to happen before the start of the season, as Pacioretty said he does not want to be distracted by negotiating at this meeting, regardless of the team he is dealing with.

Size what Montreal receives in return

Do not tell the casinos, because this business sent a real headache to Sin City. However, did Bergevin really have a strong comeback?

Tomas Tatar, 27, has always been a fun player to watch. He has speed to burn and impressive offensive skills. However, it seems that he has never been able to reach his full potential.

The Golden Knights picked him up in Detroit on last season's deadline for three draft picks, including a first round in 2019, thinking the Slovak could be the missing piece to win at Lord Stanley's Cup . Vegas (obviously) made this race, but Tatar can hardly take credit.

In 20 regular seasons with the Golden Knights, he has only four goals and six points. Worse than that, he was regularly scratched in the playoffs.

Vegas may not have been the right person for him and he has never been able to settle there. If that were the case, it would be better to go north of the border. As the Canadiens' second-best forward with his $ 5.3 million cap for the next three seasons, he should be contributing.

The story continues