Earlier today the Vegas Golden Knights signed Max Comtois to a PTO, and he will take part in training camp to compete for a roster spot.
The Anaheim Ducks opted not to tender a qualifying offer to Comtois, and he has been a free agent all summer long. The 6’2″, 210-pounder was selected in the 2nd round of the 2017 draft, and posted a line of 38-48-86 in 210 games with the Ducks. His best individual season saw him tally 16 goals and 17 assists for 33 points in 55 games, and over the last two seasons he’s posted a line of 15-20-35 in 116 games.
Here’s a quick look at Comtois’ most recent player card.
These results aren’t all that great, and even though he’s 24 with upside it isn’t hard to see why teams weren’t jumping to sign him.
*TW/SA for the next section*
There is also the possibility that teams were simply keeping distance from free agents who were part of Team Canada at the 2018 World Junior Championship because of the investigation into an alleged sexual assault that took place at a team gala.
Comtois released this statement back in 2022 on the matter.
At this moment there is no update on a resolution to the investigation, other than the final report should be out shortly. And to that point, there’s no telling what will happen following that.
You would hope that the Vegas Golden Knights’ front office did their due diligence on this matter, and are confident that when the findings are released it will show that Comtois truly had no involvement, hence their comfortability in signing him to a PTO this late in the offseason.
With that said, we don’t have any conclusive answers on who the perpetrators were. I only bring up Comtois’ involvement with Team Canada because it is an ongoing story that is high profile in nature, and one that he has commented on previously. We shall see where things go.