Elias Pettersson.. Playoff Ghost

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

He's been slumping since the end of February, no question.

But to extrapolate that it either means he 'sux' or that he doesn't care about hockey/the Canucks/etc, to me just shows a fundamental misunderstanding of hockey or human nature.

I'm not saying that it's not a slim possibility just like it's possible that you're gonna get that date with Scarlett Johansson. I'm just saying it's exceedingly unlikely and much more likely, he will either come out of it this year, or in one of the coming years we will see a thread for Petey like we see for Barkov now where he's 'finally a playoff player'.

There's a learning curve in this stuff. Not just for how the game is played, but the psychology and the stakes.

Petey is a precision player, he's not bigger or faster, he has superlative instincts and hands.

When he's hesitating and not trusting his reads, he's just another guy out there.

He needs to figure out how to get out of his slumps more quickly and/or make his C game look a little closer to his B game, because when he's off it's rough.

But I have faith he will do so.

But I get that it's incredibly frustrating to be in a tied series after next to no success over the last decade and know that if our star was playing like himself we could easily be up 3-1.

You may be right. The only thing we can do is wait and see.

I sincerely hope you are. Pettersson has been my favorite player since his rookie season. His signed jersey is framed on my wall.

 

[Jay26]

Eh, grain of salt. Not in their best interest to tell people if he is hurt.

I keep saying this theory doesn't cut it because if this was the case he wouldn't go and call out Pettersson in the same breath.

 

[Grifter3511]

Let's not forget that he is 24 years old. Some players are relatively finished products by 24, some aren't remotely close (eg. JT Miller) and some are somewhere in between. Pettersson seems to be in that inbetween place. We've seen the skill and the abilities from the beginning, but we haven't seen consistency and we haven't seen him become the guy the team turns to when they need something to happen.

I firmly believe he will continue to develop into a (close to) game in, game out player. The issue is that he will begin getting paid as if he is that guy next year. How much rope can you give a player making 11.6 mil?

I keep saying this theory doesn't cut it because if this was the case he wouldn't go and call out Pettersson in the same breath.

That's just how Tocchet plays chess.

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

You may be right. The only thing we can do is wait and see.

I sincerely hope you are. Pettersson has been my favorite player since his rookie season. His signed jersey is framed on my wall.

He's my favorite player as well and i know how maddening that makes his struggles.

But have faith, he'll figure it out. Maybe not this year, unfortunately, but he will figure it out for sure.

 

[Devilsfan118]

... Yikes

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

... Yikes

He is complacent. He's not THE guy, just being paid like one. Bozo is probably the real leader.

 

[iFan]

if he knew why he would be changing it, he didn't answer it because he doesn't have an answer for it. I don't think there's anything wrong with his reply.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

... Yikes

Thinking about beaches boats and a bag full of money , i respect it

 

[Cats2TheCup]

There’s nothing wrong with him. It’s who he is.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

if he knew why he would be changing it, he didn't answer it because he doesn't have an answer for it. I don't think there's anything wrong with his reply.

It's lazy. Lazy play, lazy answer.

If he can't even be bothered to answer a question properly, how can anyone feel confident he'll make efforts to get on the scoreboard when he's needed?

 

[matsqq]

We just have to wait and see what happens.

But I do think that he should play with the best players ( I haven't seen to many games so I'm not sure which line mates he got now but a while ago I thought it didn't look too good) ,

His style of play is that he is a very smart/skilled player but he hasn't got the acceleration of Nylander nor the strength of a power forward.

But he is very skilled with his shot and has superb technique,

I think it's up to the coach to find what suits him best.

Failure to do so will cost Vancouver a lot.

 

[Cats2TheCup]

A 11.6M player should be an all out premier player who can make players around him better in all situations.

If yall didn’t want Mitch Marner yall shouldn’t a paid him Mitch Marner money. He’s insulted and playing like it.

 

[bossram]

It's lazy. Lazy play, lazy answer.

If he can't even be bothered to answer a question properly, how can anyone feel confident he'll make efforts to get on the scoreboard when he's needed?

Trying to divinate the psychology of a player from some bland interview answers seems pretty foolish. What's he gonna say?

And actually watching the games, his play hasn't been "lazy". He's largely been playing well defensively and trying to be responsible. He hasn't been impactful because offensively he's off. For whatever reason that is, we don't know. His linemates certainly aren't helping.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Trying to divinate the psychology of a player from some bland interview answers seems pretty foolish. What's he gonna say?

And actually watching the games, his play hasn't been "lazy". He's largely been playing well defensively and trying to be responsible. He hasn't been impactful because offensively he's off. For whatever reason that is, we don't know. His linemates certainly aren't helping.

Not trying to figure out his psychology, just commenting on how he looks and sounds.

 

[notsocommonsense]

He's more physical than people give him credit for.

Goddamn, I hate Don Cherry and what he's done to perceptions of 'soft Euros.'

He is actually quite physical. He seems pretty frickin fragile mentally though

 

[canadianmagpie]

If only Petey had a 40 goal scorer he was playing with last season

I was hoping that Mikheyev was sent to Calgary in the deal instead of Kuzmenko. Said so at the time as it was obvious that when Kuzmenko was benched, Pettersson's production went down.

 

[WiLBoY]

I was hoping that Mikheyev was sent to Calgary in the deal instead of Kuzmenko. Said so at the time as it was obvious that when Kuzmenko was benched, Pettersson's production went down.

Would Calgary want Mikheyev though? The guy has no upside. Fans always think that other teams are willing to take their team's garbage players

 

[crazychimp]

Petey looks high asf in that presser lol

 

[CanucksSayEh]

I was hoping that Mikheyev was sent to Calgary in the deal instead of Kuzmenko. Said so at the time as it was obvious that when Kuzmenko was benched, Pettersson's production went down.

Oddly, this is an unpopular take around here, despite being painfully obvious at the time. Kuzmenkos late season surge, and EP's decline was as predictable as a Leafs OT loss in game 7.

They just needed someone to make the $ work, and maybe an extra middling pick to make up the difference. Mikheyev wasn't a 1 goal in over half a season player at the time neither.

But Tocchet was mad cuz Bali or some shit.

 

[Leafs87]

Is he playing through something, nursing an injury perhaps?

The Marnitis

 

[Kimota]

He went full Leafs. Never go full Leafs.

 

[Zanon]

He is actually quite physical. He seems pretty frickin fragile mentally though

In Game 2 Pettersson went to finish a check on Nurse and it was the sissiest attempt I have ever seen. He can be physical, I have seen it before out of him. But what I saw that night leads me to believe he is being too careful out there because he’s hurt…that or he was just afraid of Nurse lol.

 

[thekernel]

In Game 2 Pettersson went to finish a check on Nurse and it was the sissiest attempt I have ever seen. He can be physical, I have seen it before out of him. But what I saw that night leads me to believe he is being too careful out there because he’s hurt…that or he was just afraid of Nurse lol.

What do you think is more likely: someone being afraid of Darnell Nurse, or someone playing hurt in the playoffs

Pretty clear to me what's going on

 

[theVladiator]

I think this thread is a good example of why pointing a finger like Tocchet did (even if he was baited) is a bad idea. Welcome to the cesspool of negativity, also known as "Toronto model".

 

[Leafshater67]

Dude is a twig. He should put on 20 pounds of muscle. He can’t do much out there because he’s not strong enough to make his own space and doesn’t have anyone to make it for him.