My point is that appealing to mgmt on anything related to how they're handling an injured player doesn't work after how bad Mik was bungled. Anything.
That's poor logic though. One issue is a medical issue, and one is a PR issue. Very clearly different people and different expertise are involved and to assume that because one is poor the other is poor is illogical.
I did, at least that part of the clip. Saying "I'm fine" does not negate talking about how he has an ongoing, nagging, chronic injury that he worked around all summer and still is working around.
He had to work around it in the offseason and still has to work around it. That is, by definition, significant.
For sure he was working through it in the off season. Presumably he was trying not to exasperate the patellar tendinitis and was doing physiotherapy focused on strengthening the surrounding muscles. That's what my physiotherapy recommended for my patellar tendinitis.
But that doesn't mean the injury is "significant", and when you listen to the interview Pettersson very clearly doesn't think it is:
Petey: i don't know exactly how to explain it, but its like a nagging injury, don't want to go around it easy, but we figured out a way to work around it
Reporter: is part of that maybe some rest in camp
Petey: we'll see, I don't feel any pain right now or after so its....
its not a big thing, the knee is fine
If the injury was "significant", in Pettersson's eyes, he wouldn't say it wasn't "a big thing", unless you think he was lying for whatever reason.
Referencing that clip as proof that EP thinks he's fine is like referencing Hronek saying he wasn't injured in the playoffs.
I already discussed this with
@pitseleh , but no, I don't think those are analogous. I get why players lie about not being injured as they don't want to use it as an excuse, or be targeted as a result, but I don't know why Pettersson would be honest about the injury and then lie about its severity? Like, why not just lie and say he was healthy at this point? I think the most likely explanation is that Pettersson is just telling the truth.
Look you're just wrong on Garland. He has not been consistent since getting here. His performance was massively different in his first vs second season and it's born out in the ES points plus the eye test.
He was carrying the second line and scoring like a 9m borderline star player when he arrived until Green beat him down, and it took about around 1.5 years to get his mojo back.
I brought him into this because he's a perfect example of how getting f***ed around on the ice can transfer into a long term slump and confidence problems, even in a vet, even in a vet whose calling card is heart and drive and all that good stuff.
Again, my point is that getting screwed around on the ice can directly cause a slump that doesn't instantly go away when you get put back in the correct role/line/ice time. We saw this over and over and over again with Green.
I believe my initial point on Garland wasthat he never looked, relatively speaking, anywhere near as bad as Pettersson has looked, and that's the main reason why I didn't think the comparison was great. And I stand by that. But this is a pretty minor point and I don't really care much to debate it further since we don't fundamentally disagree on the point that linemates matter.
I am absolutely ruling confidence out as an initial cause. I'm sure it's a problem now, and I'm sure at some point last season it was a problem, but it didn't start the fire.
Perhaps you are right. Of course you don't know and it really isn't prudent, logically speaking, to rule things out unless you know for certain that they are not applicable.
You don't randomly get your confidence gutted as a first order effect in the middle of a career season in a contract year. Something causes that first.
There are a ton of other external factors though, like the pressures surrounding the negotiation of his new contract, Tochett's defensive system, Kuzmenko as a linemate cratering. I agree that confidence/mental issues probably weren't the sole first factors though.
The leap of logic to assume with 100% certainty to the point that you're 10000 words into it with me that the documented and well supported still ongoing chronic injury was absolutely not a factor just seems insane to me.
This is a total strawman though. It doesn't reflect my opinion accurately at all, and frankly, its pretty frustrating that we could have this indepth of a debate and you could, whether intentionally or unintentionally, so incorrectly frame my argument. Literally just earlierin the day you posted I said I didn't know the severity of Pettersson's injury and that only Pettersson knows how severe the injury is. Never have I stated that I was certain on this, and my general argument, which I think I have been relatively consistent on, is that I thought and think, that on a balance of probabilities, an injury is not the predominant or primary factor in why Pettersson is playing so poorly.
Same with thinking that a random confidence drop out of nowhere with no reason for it to start during a career year, at the exact same time as the reported injury, is somehow more plausible than the reported injury.
My issue was you conclusively ruling out confidence or mental health as being the cause of the slump. I think that's what I initially took issue with. The bolded, I think, is just another strawman unless I am missing an argument I previously made? I don't recall weighing in on what was the most plausible cause of his slump but perhaps I am wrong.
Could it be that you're just dug in after committing to him not being injured during the playoffs and literally nothing that comes out at this point can change your mind?
Again, this is just a big strawman that you are creating for whatever reason.
The whole idea that I have always rejected that he's injured is just total bullshit.
On May 3rd you and I literally were discussing whether Pettersson was injured:
I said I would be very surprised if he wasn't injured, not that injuries explain away all of his struggles.
Me in reply: Most players have some injury at this time of year. That isn't exactly uncommon or surprising. Good players play through injuries and get good results.
Now, ignoring that, on a balance of probabilities, I find it unlikely that Pettersson's injuries are the primary reason why he has been playing poorly since like February or whatever.
What would change your mind that his injury was significant?
If Pettersson or the team described it as something that was significant then I'd accept that. I've never proclaimed to have certainty on this, and have used the phrase "balance of probabilities" many times and for good reason.