His play has been terrible for a few months now - this isnt a brain dead take or witchhunt like youre making it out to be.
He just got a 100 million dollar + Canadian dollar contract to play hockey. He doesn’t get months off any more without criticism.
Don’t want the criticism don’t ask for the pay cheque. It’s simple. He wants to be the man now own the role.
I think most people are concerned that he's been hot trash the last couple months+. I think it's fair to talk about
Brain dead Petey take #1
Do points like the one he had today really mean anything.
Meanwhile guys like Garland and Joshua bust their ass every night even though it doesn’t always show up on the scoreboard.
Petey is complete shit right now. He’s paid to be the best forward on the team. He’s nowhere near it. End of story.
The guy is wildly inconsistent and frequently underwhelms, to the point where you're exclaiming that he's "f***ing around", and you still think it's "brain dead" to hold him accountable for a career's worth of lacklustre play?
I haven't seen such an up-and-down, "I'll play when I feel like it" player since the likes of Yashin and Kovalev. These types are infuriating, especially since they still manage to get their points and tease you with what could be.
He had one of the best, if not, the best rookie season this franchise has ever had.
The following year he followed it up by being this teams hardest working player and was showing glimpses of prime Kopitar Selke level of play, went through a couple of growing pains, but was consistent for most of the year.
He followed that season up by being our most trusted and complete forward during the bubble playoffs.
He then had an injury riddled season during the covid shortened gimmicky season where he was playing injured and was shutdown for the year.
He had a terrible 2.5 months the following season after a long contract holdout that caused him to miss some training camp time, this coming from also playing a mere 21 injury riddled games in 18 months.
From late December 2021 through January 2024, he had been on a 105 point pace the entire time, was one of the best 5 on 5 players in the league, was giving us Selke level performances night after night, hadn’t gone more than 3 games without a point, he driving play as a center who elevated his less talented linemates, some who had or paced career years playing alongside him (2nd year Hoglander, Beauvillier, Kuzmenko, rookie year Podkolzin, Mikheyev, Chiasson, etc), finished 7th in Selke votes on a bottom feeding team last season, tied for team lead in goals for 3 seasons and lead for another season. I could go on.
His recent play as of late deserves criticism there’s no argument there. But when I hear “a careers worth of lacklustre play”, “he’s never elevated his linemates”, “he’s never been a play driver”, “he is overpaid” talk, it tells me all I need to know about how much you really don’t know shit about hockey.
Down years happen all the time. Matthews had one last year. Panarin was terrible last season and a complete no show in the playoffs, ask any Rangers fan. Miller was absolute dogshit last season legitimately quitting on plays, being a defensive liability and pouting like a whiny bitch until Tocchet set him on straight.
His play the last couple years warrants him the benefit of the doubt. These braindead takes have gotten far out of hand. His recent level of play is a cause for concern and a talking point, but let’s not completely make shit up with revisionist history.