I finally had the chance to see a Sochi game. Personally, after seeing Petersson live, I have mixed feelings about his play.
On the other hand, this guy has very, very good offensive tools. The guy is a great skater, he has great hands and his IQ/vision allows him to make some great plays. He's especially deadly on the PP, where he gets to take advantage of his shot, which has a surprising amount of kick to it. He had two PP goals and an assist in tonight's game vs Vladivostok, which means he now leads the league in points after 7 or 8 games (7 games, 6 goals, 13 points). It's pretty remarkable, considering that there are guys like Kovalchuk, Datsyuk, Voynov, Shipachev, etc. in the league.
Then again, the guy has a very inconsistent 5 on 5 game. There were times when he looked like a dominant star player, only to disappear off the face of the earth the moment after. Of all Sochi's forwards, he had the 2nd highest TOI, so it's not like he doesn't get ice time either. I was also unimpressed with his lack of physicality and mediocre to poor defensive play, even though he does have a high work ethic. I found it curious that Sochi's coach sometimes relied on Petersson to do (defensive) zone exits and breakouts, wonder what that's all about.
I also thought that Vladimir Tkachev had an excellent game for Vladivostok. He ended up having two goals, while being a constant threat on the ice. He now has 6 goals and 9 points in 6 games, so he's having an excellent start as well. The guy just oozes skill, I can't believe he was never drafted (even though the Oilers ex-management did try to sign him
).For those who are interested, I was able to find a video of the Sochi - Khabarovsk game played on September 6th. IIRC, Petersson had a couple of assists in this one (game starts at around 32 minutes, look for blue #20):
), etc.
