Elias Pettersson.. Playoff Ghost

McFlyingV

Registered User
Feb 22, 2013
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Edmonton, Alberta
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.
Mikheyev at that cap hit is a negative value contract. You'd need to give up a 1st minimum for a team to take him on at nearly 5 mil for another 2 years.
 

nowhereman

Registered User
Jan 24, 2010
9,444
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Los Angeles


... Yikes

I'm sorry, that's just pathetic. Everyone in this thread defending the guy needs to give their heads a shake. This is the response you would expect from a 16 year old; not a 25 year old professional athlete. Even if you're frustrated, just give a professional answer that isn't "yeah, that's a good question".

And people wonder why fans are hard on the guy...
 
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Lawzy

Registered User
May 27, 2011
3,508
1,863
BC
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 think I'm somewhere between you and OP. Much like the rest of Pettersson's game, he's very Jekyll or Hyde. I can recall several instances of him ducking the corners and just as many instances of excellent defense and hard north-south play.

Up until last night I would have agreed with the "he's probably injured" camp but I have a very hard time coming to terms with the idea of Tocchet knowingly throwing an injured player under the bus. Guy needs MacKinnon's sports psychologist yesterday.
 

Snauen

Registered User
Dec 27, 2017
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Looks and sounds like a depressed teenager. Hope he’s able to figure it out, maybe use the offseason to reset mentally. Seems like he is really suffering in that interview.
Agreed, Im no mental coach or anthropologist and he is probably going to bounce back and score 3 goals the next game.. Yet, he looks and acts, on and of the ice, like hes got an exhaustion syndrome. Arent there mental coaches employed in every NHL-club theese days? Players are humans, not machines or AI-hubs. The mental part is as important as the physical in most elite sports
 
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super6646

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Apr 16, 2018
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It's a major concern and something a handful of posters noticed around end of Feb. It's gotten significantly worse.

The injury excuse was laid to rest by the head coach. He has all but checked out for this season. His body language, lack of engagement and all out effort is abysmal. A 11.6M player should be an all out premier player who can make players around him better in all situations. He simply cannot elevate anybody he is with.

He should be trade bait this summer. Does that seem drastic? Yes, but this is a majorly depreciating asset as of right now.

Could extend Lindholm, Joshua and Z with the 11.6M cap savings. Management would be crazy to not have already started to think about it.
This is such a horrible idea. Good god. 3 depth players vs a franchise star lol.

It’s stunning how fans can be swayed by small sample sizes. I’m sure I’ve done it in the past too, but it’s definitely more noticeable when looking at it from an external perspective.
 

HairyKneel

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Jun 5, 2023
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He's a really poor playoff performer. Can tell he's rattled by the physical intensity, shades of Matthews/Marner. Canucks fans were mad at me for suggesting that Pettersson could struggle in his first real try at playoff hockey (2020 bubble doesn't count)
Why doesn’t it count? You all plugged in with the players and they’ve communicated this to you? So Tampa’s cup doesn’t count. What a dumb comment.
 

PokeyTheCat

Registered User
Jul 23, 2021
176
169
His most consistent winger is Mikheyev. Edmonton could leave him unmarked and the worst he could do is a shot into the crest of the goalie. Even Skinner could stop all his shots!

Mikheyev is okay defensively but he's an offensive blackhole. For a visual representation, Mikheyev is like this:

View attachment 871111
“Put it away! Put it away!”
IMG_3285.png
 
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David71

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Dec 27, 2008
17,690
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vancouver
he needs to see a sports pyschologist in the offseason. forget the injury or linemates excuse. its his confidence. something isnt right since after the all star break.
 

Despote

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Mar 21, 2023
1,358
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Why doesn’t it count? You all plugged in with the players and they’ve communicated this to you? So Tampa’s cup doesn’t count. What a dumb comment.
Because it's not proper playoff hockey with rusty teams coming off a 6 month break? Obviously the defensive coverage is nowhere near as strict as it's after a regular season that has prepared teams to execute their systems and all the players are in top game shape.
 

TropicOfNoReturn

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May 30, 2021
1,056
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He has said all along that he wants to play for a winning team.
Now that the Canucks finally are competitive, he's nowhere to be found.

And he gives and interview like this.

I've been a die hard Canucks fan for 30 years, and the fact that this whiny adolescent isn't participating when my team has the best shot they've had at success in 12 years is a major disappointment.

And that's not even to mention the next 8 years with this guy. What a waste.

Canuck luck, I suppose.
 

bossram

Registered User
Sep 25, 2013
16,626
17,002
Victoria
I think I'm somewhere between you and OP. Much like the rest of Pettersson's game, he's very Jekyll or Hyde. I can recall several instances of him ducking the corners and just as many instances of excellent defense and hard north-south play.

Up until last night I would have agreed with the "he's probably injured" camp but I have a very hard time coming to terms with the idea of Tocchet knowingly throwing an injured player under the bus. Guy needs MacKinnon's sports psychologist yesterday.
I dunno. When Tocchet said last week, "we don't lie here" and then basically goes "Petey's not injured"....uh, seems like a big tell there. No team is going to come out and say what injury a player has.

Yes, Petey's confidence is definitely shaken. But what he also needs are linemates that can actually make a play. Or like, pass a puck. Petey's looked good on the few shifts he's found himself in the OZ without his scrub linemates. The series-winning goal against Nashville is a hilarious example. He gets one shift with Suter and Boeser and they create a goal. He's never going to get a point setting up Mikheyev and his 0% shooting. He's really never going to receive a pass in a scoring position from any of Mikheyev, Lafferty, or Hoglander.

The Mackinnon comparable is funny. He's also very mercurial. Gets very visibly frustrated and gives up on plays often, shrugging his shoulder and lolligagging on the backcheck to complain to the ref. Once he gets frustrated he'll repeatedly make dumb plays. Despite the win and getting two points in G5, Mackinnon was awful. Truly looked terrible. But he plays with vastly superior linemates so he'll still get his cookies.
 
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HairyKneel

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Jun 5, 2023
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Because it's not proper playoff hockey with rusty teams coming off a 6 month break? Obviously the defensive coverage is nowhere near as strict as it's after a regular season that has prepared teams to execute their systems and all the players are in top game shape.
Played a lot of NHL playoff games have you?
 

bossram

Registered User
Sep 25, 2013
16,626
17,002
Victoria
I'm sorry, that's just pathetic. Everyone in this thread defending the guy needs to give their heads a shake. This is the response you would expect from a 16 year old; not a 25 year old professional athlete. Even if you're frustrated, just give a professional answer that isn't "yeah, that's a good question".

And people wonder why fans are hard on the guy...
"Petey, why do you suck? Why won't you fix it?"

He basically got that 20x from the press pool. What's he supposed to say?

There is no question he needs to be better. But there is truly less than zero value trying to divinate any meaning from his interview answers. He's always been a somewhat muted and prickly guy to interview to boot.
 

Sergei Shirokov

Registered User
Jul 27, 2012
16,897
7,942
British Columbia
I'm sorry, that's just pathetic. Everyone in this thread defending the guy needs to give their heads a shake. This is the response you would expect from a 16 year old; not a 25 year old professional athlete. Even if you're frustrated, just give a professional answer that isn't "yeah, that's a good question".

And people wonder why fans are hard on the guy...

???

You don't think this guy is beating himself up every moment.

Have Canucks fans even been following his career?? Everyone knows hes not an overpowering player, his success comes from having more intelligence & skill than his opponents. Those attributes have still shown on the defensive end but the production part generally coincides with confidence.

He's completely in his head right now. Maybe injured too but being in his head is 100% the problem. When he's confident he's out smarting players & having the belief to take a shot to beat the goalie or make a play that isn't obvious, right now he's not playing on that instinct because his confidence is shot

I wouldn't have put him out there to be further lambasted, it's not going to help.
 

bossram

Registered User
Sep 25, 2013
16,626
17,002
Victoria
He has said all along that he wants to play for a winning team.
Now that the Canucks finally are competitive, he's nowhere to be found.

And he gives and interview like this.

I've been a die hard Canucks fan for 30 years, and the fact that this whiny adolescent isn't participating when my team has the best shot they've had at success in 12 years is a major disappointment.

And that's not even to mention the next 8 years with this guy. What a waste.

Canuck luck, I suppose.
This level of hyberolic vitriol is wild.
 

ijuka

Registered User
May 14, 2016
23,145
16,355
Looks and sounds like a depressed teenager. Hope he’s able to figure it out, maybe use the offseason to reset mentally. Seems like he is really suffering in that interview.
Looks like he's high.

"Petey, why do you suck? Why won't you fix it?"

He basically got that 20x from the press pool. What's he supposed to say?

There is no question he needs to be better. But there is truly less than zero value trying to divinate any meaning from his interview answers. He's always been a somewhat muted and prickly guy to interview to boot.
He could talk about what he thinks the problem is and how he's trying to fix it. It's not that difficult.
 

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