Max Pacioretty has officially joined the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The veteran of 902 NHL games signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract on Monday – two days before the start of the Leafs season – as he continues to stage a comeback from multiple surgeries on his Achilles tendon.

Pacioretty’s new contract has a low base salary ($873,770) but includes $626,230 in game bonuses, increasing to $1.5 million under a 35-year-old contract structure. Pacioretty had a similar contract structure with the Washington Capitals last season, earning $2 million for surpassing the 20-game mark.

The advantage for the Leafs is that the bonuses will not count against the salary cap until they are reached, and they can be rolled over to next season if they result in Toronto being over the salary cap at the end of the season. Right now, Pacioretty is only counting his base salary against the cap, which gives them some wiggle room.

Pacioretty was in the Leafs’ training camp as part of a professional tryout agreement, but the general terms of that contract were agreed upon the summer before his arrival in Toronto. He spent most of camp on the third line, playing with John Tavares and Nick Robertson.

In addition to Pacioretty, the Leafs also signed forward Steven Lorentz on Monday to a one-year, $775,000 league deal. They also extended future defenseman Cade Webber’s contract for another two years at $825,000 per season.

Pacioretty tied for the Leafs’ lead in points in the preseason with two goals and three assists. Lorentz, meanwhile, had found a home on a powerful fourth line with David Kampf and Ryan Reaves after winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers last season.

For Pacioretty, the Leafs deal is part of a difficult, ongoing comeback attempt. The 35-year-old has only played 91 games in the last three seasons due to injuries and scored just four goals in 47 games for the Capitals last season.

But heading into the 2022-23 season, Pacioretty was one of the league’s most reliable scorers, scoring 303 goals over his last 11 seasons, tied for the seventh-most of any NHL player.

It remains to be seen how much of that scoring output he can still provide, but the Leafs can use some extra help on the wing as they lost Tyler Bertuzzi to free agency in the offseason and don’t have many scoring wingers other than Mitch Marner and William Nylander.

The Leafs also placed goaltender Matt Murray and defenseman Marshall Rifai on waivers on Sunday to stay under the $88 million salary cap and 23-player roster limit.

The Leafs start the season with additional expenses of $4.3 million over the cap. They placed three players on long-term injured reserve (Calle Jarnkrok $2 million, Jani Hakanpaa $1.47 million and Dakota Mermis $775,000) and one on regular injured reserve (Connor Dewar $1.18 million ) in order to get within 1 US dollar of the limit in advance. Registration closes on Monday at 5:00 p.m.

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(Photo: Dan Hamilton / Imagn Images)