Washington Capitals’ Max Pacioretty participates in full practice for first time this season

Max Pacioretty seems to be inching closer to a return.

The Washington Capitals winger participated in a full practice for the first time this season on Wednesday morning. However, it doesn’t mean that a return is imminent, as he was still in a non-contact jersey, but it appears that he’s at least getting closer to form.

Pacioretty, 35, has missed most of the past two seasons due to multiple tears to his Achilles tendon. He first injured it during the 2022 offseason while training, and then after finally returning to the lineup in January during the 2022-23 season, he injured it again after just five games. Based on the current timeline for return for Pacioretty, it will have been almost a full year since he last played a game by the time he returns to action.

Despite only playing five games with the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2022-23 season, he was still effective in that short span with three goals. Pacioretty’s been one of the better goal scorers in the league when healthy, as his 1.38 5v5 goals per 60 minutes since 2021 is ranked fourth in the league among players with 1000 minutes played behind just Auston Matthews, David Pastrnak and Jakub Vrana.

Pacioretty was a former 22nd-overall pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 2007 NHL Draft, and spent 10 seasons with the Habs before he was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2018 offseason. After four seasons with Vegas, he was dealt as a cap dump to the Hurricanes, but only got the five games with them due to his Achilles injuries. Pacioretty then signed his current contract with the Capitals in the 2023 offseason, a one-year, $2 million contract with an additional $2 million in performance bonuses based on how many games he plays this season.

The Caps will look to build on back-to-back wins when they head to Philadelphia on Thursday to take on the Flyers at 7 p.m. EST. They currently sit in fourth in the Metropolitan Division with a 14-8-3 record, and hold the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.