The Canucks are pretty much stuck with Pettersson. What a strange sentence to write about a player who had 412 points in his first 407 career games
The difference, of course, is that this year Pettersson is mired in a season-long funk. Last year, his slow February came on the back of a 14-goal, 21-point January.
Remember those days? Most of us do.
He would do well to remember those days too.
Another thing to remember: Pettersson had 41 shots during that epic January. Shoot the puck, kid.
You know what else is annoying? A reporter covering a team whose best-paid player — that’s $11.6 million for those in the back — has struggled to make an impact all season. And if you are wondering if some of his teammates are finding his lack of scoring “annoying,” it’s a safe bet they are.
That’s inevitable when you are the fifth-best paid player in the league. You would think getting paid that much would deliver motivation all in its own. And players are not immune to thinking like how the fans think.
That’s the baffling part in all this: Pettersson has deep pride in his game. He wants to be the best.
He once told me the reason he works so hard on the back check was because he doesn’t like not having the puck. When he has the puck, shock of shocks, that’s when he is having the most fun.
What happened to that player?
He’s still doing good work on defence, but the Canucks aren’t paying him to be the second coming of Manny Malhotra. They are paying him to be the heir to Henrik Sedin. Speaking of which … Pettersson should dig into the wisdom of the Canucks’ great. He knows a thing or two about finding success under pressure in the NHL.
Put your pride aside, kid, and listen to the people trying to help you. And see that your teammates are looking to you to take them to the promised land. That’s where you want to go, after all. It’s a positive feedback loop to be fed there.
Pettersson playing with more oomph, more energy, will motivate his teammates and take the whole team to a new level.
Of course, if none of this is fixable, the Canucks will have to look at moving on — but this isn’t the moment to move on. A player paid this much is hard to move at the best of times, but a player paid this much who is lacking in motivation and production?
It’s hard to fathom another team making any kind of reasonable trade offer in this situation.
The Canucks are pretty much stuck with Pettersson.
What a strange sentence to write about a player who had 412 points in his first 407 career games. Imagine being “stuck” with a player who has produced like that.
A player who had the hardest shot in the NHL’s all-star competition just two years ago.
Does he remember that? If he does, he’s not showing it. He is shooting less this season than he ever has before. It’s baffling.
And that brings us back to Tocchet’s point off the top.
The answer is on Pettersson’s stick, literally. Stop seeing all the barriers between him and the goalie — start seeing the white netting behind the goalie and put the puck there.
Pretty simple, isn’t it?