I'm not sure what is this "he's not performing as he should, but it's not his fault" thing is, honestly.
In my neck of the woods, you get exactly what you deserve, nothing more and nothing less.
He needs to correct a few things to improve and that will come with more work in these areas.
It’s not about “deserve.” The underlying numbers are there. A player with 314 shots ‘should’ score more than 28 goals, especially when it’s from as in close as he is. Most likely the surgery affected his shooting.
Hopefully he can fully heal and quickly. That’s something I can’t answer.
Teams adjust to the opposition and now he isn't getting the same looks as he did in his first year and a half.
If teams had adjusted to him he wouldn’t have the shots he does. He wouldn’t be shooting from in close as he is. That’s not the problem. Teams haven’t been effective at containing him, his shot just isn’t as good as it was.
He was actually more successful at getting in close this year. All but eight of his goals this year came from in close. The biggest difference Is from the midrange of the ice. Last season his bread and butter was from the midrange of the ice. From there, he shot at 18 percent. This year he put up 160 shots from that area and… shot at a putrid five percent. That is abysmal, almost impossibly bad. And it really suggests that his shot lost some zip. It has nothing to do with teams “adjusting” to him. He was more effective at creating chances in close this year than last. The problem was that his shot simply wasn’t as effective from the midrange of the ice.
That was the big difference from one season to the next. Normally that’d be his office that he could score a ton from. But that fell way off. Fortunately, he made adjustments to shoot from in closer than he normally does. It’d be one thing if he didn’t have the chances he does or if his shots fell off… that’s not happening. The chances are there. He’s been more effective at penetrating opposing defenses. He just didn’t convert this year.