"He cracked one joke saying that he can win the Lady Byng now because he won't have to try and cross-check me in the face again," Pacioretty responded with a laugh when asked how the two cleared the air.
Pacioretty and Burns, both members of the leadership group for their now-former Pacific Division clubs, hashed out their differences on the call and quickly got to talking about their mutual excitement to be coming to Carolina.
"They have a lot of skill in the lineup. Aho, Svechnikov, Teravainen, Kotkaniemi, and I like Jarvis - he really impressed me a lot," Pacioretty raved of what he knew about the existing lineup. "The back end could be one of the best in the league. Great goaltenders. This is what it takes to win."
"The team already has tremendous leadership, that's known around the league. From management, coaches, owner, players, down, I mean everybody knows that this team has a buy-in mentality," he continued.
At 33 years old with just one year remaining on his current contract, the expectation is that Pacioretty will add to the group with a dose of goal scoring.
"My job is to put the puck in the net and I've done a really good job of that over the course of my career. I work at my craft every day to try and make sure that my offense doesn't dry up, especially as I get older," the New Canaan, CT-born forward continued. "In fact, I think the last couple of years I've gotten even better at that - whether it being a little bit smarter on or off the ice, [taking care of] my body and whatnot. So I feel like there's so much I can contribute to this team."
"He's a veteran player, you know what you're getting," Head Coach Rod Brind'Amour chimed in when asked about the trade Thursday morning. "It's not like we're hoping a guy can play. We know what we have. Now it's just a matter of making sure he fits in with the right linemates, finding the right groove and getting the best out of him. We know what he's capable of."
Pacioretty's numbers do reflect that his game has gone to a new level over the course of the last several seasons, with 429 of his 642 career points coming since the start of the 2014-15 campaign. To further, Pacioretty produced 19 goals last season, which becomes more impressive when taking into account that he only played in 39 games.
The soon-to-be 15th-year pro battled a handful of injuries in what would become his final season in Vegas, but none that are expected to hinder the start of his time in Raleigh.
"I'm 100%. I had foot and hand injuries that got corrected right away because they were bone injuries," he elaborated. "Then I had a little trouble diagnosing an injury at the end of the year, but it only took about a week, week and a half once we figured it out. Then I was able to finish out the year and I felt better about my game than ever before. So I'm looking forward to taking that momentum into this year."
Again, an unrestricted free agent after next season, Pacioretty, like Burns, understands where he is at in his career and his new club's desire to win now.
"This team is really close. And I've been on teams that are close and you're just one or two pieces away. When you're one game away and you just need to add one or two guys to help out your depth tremendously. Burns is a guy that plays huge minutes. That's an area where he can help the team. A lot was made of the power play and scoring goals of the playoffs, that's where I'm hoping to help out," the veteran stated. "Once the dust settled and we focused on the hockey aspect of it, I got really excited about the opportunity that's in front of me."
