Of course it is mental.
The team president and GM both came out publicly and stated they have had multiple discussions regarding commitment and training issues not being up to the standards expected.
The issue imo, is why did they commit the contract they did to a player they had questions about? I would not have signed Petey at all, as he is not my type of player to invest long term in. But with the stated issues? The deal is insane. Even if he comes back to a point a game player, his physical commitment and mental buy in do not scream build a team around me.
So this brings it to why was he resigned? and the most logical answer is ownership. Aqua the Meddler is the real problem with this team.
- carsonagenic

It sounds like you're referring to the comments Allvin made around beginning of Jan.2025. https://theprovince.com/s...son-talk-could-mean-trade

I don't ever remember his "lack of commitment or training" coming up or "multiple discussions" about it before - so not sure thats accurate.

Did he ever show up for training camp in poor shape and not ready to go?? Committing to the long term contract was never in question of his preparedness.

Sounds more like your "player type preference" than everything else, and not so much valid argument reasons.

The deal is not really that insane - it's 1-2mil too much per year. But its based on his first 6 years of production which is in line with/around the 10mil mark.

Physical commitment, mental buy-in, meddling ownership - You're projecting a lot on speculation.

It sounds like you're referring to the comments Allvin made around beginning of Jan.2025. https://theprovince.com/s...son-talk-could-mean-trade

I don't ever remember his "lack of commitment or training" coming up or "multiple discussions" about it before - so not sure thats accurate.

Did he ever show up for training camp in poor shape and not ready to go?? Committing to the long term contract was never in question of his preparedness.

Sounds more like your "player type preference" than everything else, and not so much valid argument reasons.

The deal is not really that insane - it's 1-2mil too much per year. But its based on his first 6 years of production which is in line with/around the 10mil mark.

Physical commitment, mental buy-in, meddling ownership - You're projecting a lot on speculation.
- Brooks_Light

Were on a hockey chat, we ALL project speculation

Were on a hockey chat, we ALL project speculation
- carsonagenic

Of course, but you (in your post) were making finite decisions based on them being true - rather than, speculative.

Hughes unlikely to play:
- NewYorkNuck

Wanna bet one of those dmen get a last minute “illness”?

Of course, but you (in your post) were making finite decisions based on them being true - rather than, speculative.
- Brooks_Light

"He needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don’t go well"
Can we just agree that this is a concerning comment from management regarding a cornerstone piece of the team? And based off this comment and his play for a calendar year there is major questions of dealing with this player as NTC kicks in?
Myself, there is no way I would role the dice on this player. You, sounds like you would.
Agree to disagree on the path forward for the team.

"He needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don’t go well"
Can we just agree that this is a concerning comment from management regarding a cornerstone piece of the team? And based off this comment and his play for a calendar year there is major questions of dealing with this player as NTC kicks in?
Myself, there is no way I would role the dice on this player. You, sounds like you would.
Agree to disagree on the path forward for the team.
- carsonagenic

"He needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don’t go well"
Can we just agree that this is a concerning comment from management regarding a cornerstone piece of the team? And based off this comment and his play for a calendar year there is major questions of dealing with this player as NTC kicks in?
Myself, there is no way I would role the dice on this player. You, sounds like you would.
Agree to disagree on the path forward for the team.
- carsonagenic

Pretty much sums it up. Absolute gamble and I'm with you. I don't think the make up is there to deal with a busy market. That's OK but just move him

"He needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don’t go well"
Can we just agree that this is a concerning comment from management regarding a cornerstone piece of the team? And based off this comment and his play for a calendar year there is major questions of dealing with this player as NTC kicks in?
Myself, there is no way I would role the dice on this player. You, sounds like you would.
Agree to disagree on the path forward for the team.
- carsonagenic

Allvin said that about a month ago, so it's not like this is some long standing issue. Clearly it is now though as he's not the player he was even last year for most of the year. Something is wrong!!

Personally, I would keep him as I don't think you're going to get a solid return on him considering how he's performing. If Columbus offers Sillinger, a defensive prospect, and a pick, I would pass. That doesn't make the team better in the Hughes window. Even if you now have a ton of cap money, what are you going to do with it? Do people think someone is just going to gift you a great player to chew up that money?

Man, there's been a lot of great Swedish players in the NHL who've either won Cups or individual awards, Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Peter Forsberg, Hedman, Sedins, Pelle Lindbergh, Henrik Lundqvist, Mats Näslund, Markus Näslund, Sundin, Alfredsson, Tomas Holmstrom, Kronwall, etc.

EP40 has the potential to be an all time great Swede, but at this point he could flame out too.....what to do?

"He needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don’t go well"
Can we just agree that this is a concerning comment from management regarding a cornerstone piece of the team? And based off this comment and his play for a calendar year there is major questions of dealing with this player as NTC kicks in?
Myself, there is no way I would role the dice on this player. You, sounds like you would.
Agree to disagree on the path forward for the team.
- carsonagenic

They've already rolled the dice by giving him the contact. If this is how he repays the show of faith by the organization, they need to move him. If he's actually hurt, he needs to sit to protect the investment long term. It's not looking good though. Nobody in their right mind is gonna want to pay 11.6 mil per on the cap for the next 7 years.

Also, the kid cashed a 12 mil signing bonus this season and is due another 10 mil bonus next year. Who's gonna want to pay that with the way he's performing? It's an absolute fucking mess that's only getting worse as we progress toward his NMC kicking in.

Allvin said that about a month ago, so it's not like this is some long standing issue. Clearly it is now though as he's not the player he was even last year for most of the year. Something is wrong!!

Personally, I would keep him as I don't think you're going to get a solid return on him considering how he's performing. If Columbus offers Sillinger, a defensive prospect, and a pick, I would pass. That doesn't make the team better in the Hughes window. Even if you now have a ton of cap money, what are you going to do with it? Do people think someone is just going to gift you a great player to chew up that money?

Man, there's been a lot of great Swedish players in the NHL who've either won Cups or individual awards, Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Peter Forsberg, Hedman, Sedins, Pelle Lindbergh, Henrik Lundqvist, Mats Näslund, Markus Näslund, Sundin, Alfredsson, Tomas Holmstrom, Kronwall, etc.

EP40 has the potential to be an all time great Swede, but at this point he could flame out too.....what to do?
- Pacificgem

Honestly, the time to trade EP would have been last TDL, before he was signed, you would have gotten a huge boatload for him and been better off. Now you're stuck with him because even if you manage to trade him you'd be getting pennies on the dollar for him and even if he never gets back to what he was you're worse off and if he does get to be what he was somewhere else then it's worse than the Cam Neely trade.

They've already rolled the dice by giving him the contact. If this is how he repays the show of faith by the organization, they need to move him. If he's actually hurt, he needs to sit to protect the investment long term. It's not looking good though. Nobody in their right mind is gonna want to pay 11.6 mil per on the cap for the next 7 years.

Also, the kid cashed a 12 mil signing bonus this season and is due another 10 mil bonus next year. Who's gonna want to pay that with the way he's performing? It's an absolute fucking mess that's only getting worse as we progress toward his NMC kicking in.
- Load Management

When I was salmon fishing up around Dundas Island the captain used to say, "stick and stay and make it pay"..... this is the way forward with Petey.

I caught a 50lb white spring up there one time and won the DeWalt Fishing Derby, when I was accepting the trophy in front of the crowd they asked where I caught it, I grabbed the mike and said "right in the fuckin mouth".... captain told me never to tell anyone where we caught it.

I'm not defending his contract at all, I never even inferred that, those are your words. I'm simply saying good players have down years on occasion, which you're seeing with Pettersson this season and last playoffs. He also hasn't been struggling for a full calendar year, those claims have been proven false, but we keep talking about it.

Did he just get bad all of a sudden, highly unlikely, is he injured to the point he probably won't recover, again, unlikely, but that's possible. As I've said, they have to gamble on him recovering his health and his game.

Drew Doughty is another example of a guy who's highly paid and had a couple down years, now he's seems to have recovered his game and the Kings are still good.

The hysteria on the Canucks being good only if Pettersson is a top five player in the league is laughable. I hope he recovers his game, but if he doesn't, all hope is not lost.
- Pacificgem

No they haven't. You posted some stats, a few months back, but didn't consider many things, like PP points, in which he was the beneficiary of Miller, Hughes and Boeser scoring, heck, several times I pointed out that he didn't even touch the puck, but was given a point, which I was lectured about on why I would care if they were giving out extra points for nothing.
It was also raised by several, that his shooting, passing and skating had become issues. These points were all raised before he signed his contract. Now here we are, over 1 year later and 11
6 million, still trying to get you to realize how wrong you are.

Also, not sure if you remember, but #40 had been on a torrid pace early in the season and it was raised by some, daily, how he was on pace for well over 100 point season, then he fell off a cliff about mid-January

When I was salmon fishing up around Dundas Island the captain used to say, "stick and stay and make it pay"..... this is the way forward with Petey.

I caught a 50lb white spring up there one time and won the DeWalt Fishing Derby, when I was accepting the trophy in front of the crowd they asked where I caught it, I grabbed the mike and said "right in the fuckin mouth".... captain told me never to tell anyone where we caught it.
- Pacificgem

Did you win 11.6 million dollars?

"He needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don’t go well"
Can we just agree that this is a concerning comment from management regarding a cornerstone piece of the team? And based off this comment and his play for a calendar year there is major questions of dealing with this player as NTC kicks in?
Myself, there is no way I would role the dice on this player. You, sounds like you would.
Agree to disagree on the path forward for the team.
- carsonagenic

Yeah most 25/26 yr olds do need to mature. So many players find that level of maturity on the back half of their 20s. Most need to go thru tough seasons to figure it out. There's NO WAY EP is content with his play.

He's admitted that he needs to be better, he knows he's not performing up to expectations. Is that not facing the music/media? Isn't not facing the music more like a Hronek kinda thing? He walked out of the scrum with the Miller question, that was it.

His contract/NTC isn't the be all end all, trading him now would be insane and believing he's untradeable after the NTC kicks in is equally insane. I don't believe for a second this is the final version of EP, this is a blip, not the ceiling.

If he doesn't acknowledge or commit to fixing his skating/injury/training - whatever it is then THATS CONCERNING, but I see that happening.

Honestly, the time to trade EP would have been last TDL, before he was signed, you would have gotten a huge boatload for him and been better off. Now you're stuck with him because even if you manage to trade him you'd be getting pennies on the dollar for him and even if he never gets back to what he was you're worse off and if he does get to be what he was somewhere else then it's worse than the Cam Neely trade.
- DariusKnight

It was the same with Kuzmenko.
Could have dealt him for a good return at the deadline. Instead resign him, he shows his true colours, then have to trade him at a discount and sweetener.
While I like this management groups ability to admit a mistake and move on from it, I don't like the making of the mistake in the first place. And this is where I think Aqua must be having a say in the large contracts and not wanting to "cut bait" and move on.

Yeah most 25/26 yr olds do need to mature. So many players find that level of maturity on the back half of their 20s. Most need to go thru tough seasons to figure it out. There's NO WAY EP is content with his play.

He's admitted that he needs to be better, he knows he's not performing up to expectations. Is that not facing the music/media? Isn't not facing the music more like a Hronek kinda thing? He walked out of the scrum with the Miller question, that was it.

His contract/NTC isn't the be all end all, trading him now would be insane and believing he's untradeable after the NTC kicks in is equally insane. I don't believe for a second this is the final version of EP, this is a blip, not the ceiling.

If he doesn't acknowledge or commit to fixing his skating/injury/training - whatever it is then THATS CONCERNING, but I see that happening.
- Brooks_Light

"There's NO WAY EP is content with his play."
Sounds like you are projecting on a speculation...

Yeah most 25/26 yr olds do need to mature. So many players find that level of maturity on the back half of their 20s. Most need to go thru tough seasons to figure it out. There's NO WAY EP is content with his play.

He's admitted that he needs to be better, he knows he's not performing up to expectations. Is that not facing the music/media? Isn't not facing the music more like a Hronek kinda thing? He walked out of the scrum with the Miller question, that was it.

His contract/NTC isn't the be all end all, trading him now would be insane and believing he's untradeable after the NTC kicks in is equally insane. I don't believe for a second this is the final version of EP, this is a blip, not the ceiling.

If he doesn't acknowledge or commit to fixing his skating/injury/training - whatever it is then THATS CONCERNING, but I see that happening.
- Brooks_Light

It's not that, it's the risk of him not regaining form then having the ability to dictate the market by having the final say where he goes. He's had plenty of runway to acknowledge and commit. Which is why we are even discussing this situation in the first place.

No they haven't. You posted some stats, a few months back, but didn't consider many things, like PP points, in which he was the beneficiary of Miller, Hughes and Boeser scoring, heck, several times I pointed out that he didn't even touch the puck, but was given a point, which I was lectured about on why I would care if they were giving out extra points for nothing.
It was also raised by several, that his shooting, passing and skating had become issues. These points were all raised before he signed his contract. Now here we are, over 1 year later and 11
6 million, still trying to get you to realize how wrong you are.

Also, not sure if you remember, but #40 had been on a torrid pace early in the season and it was raised by some, daily, how he was on pace for well over 100 point season, then he fell off a cliff about mid-January
- Reubenkincade

None of this is true, even remotely. Also, Petey is a puck distributor, more often than not players are the benefactor of him either passing to them or creating space for them.

Petey had 21 points in 13 games in January of 2024, 14 goals 7 assists. 9 even strength goals and 5 power play goals...4 even strength assists and 3 power play assists. His shooting percentage was 34%, which is unsustainable, but he was shooting the puck, something he's not doing now.

January 15th to the end of the month the team played six games, he had 7 points in those six games, 5 goals 2 assists.

For the month of February he had 11 points in 13 games, he injured his wrist again if you look back at some of the highlights you can see it was taped up again, he had 2 goals and 7 assists. His shooting percentage went down to 7.7% because he stopped shooting the puck.

March he had 9 points in 11 games, 4 goals (2 EV 2 PP) and 5 assists (4 EV 1 PP) he started to shoot again, his shooting percentage climbed back up to 14.1%, which is more normal.

April is where he started to have issues again, his shooting percentage fell off a cliff again (6.3%) and his knee started hampering him.

"He needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don’t go well"
Can we just agree that this is a concerning comment from management regarding a cornerstone piece of the team? And based off this comment and his play for a calendar year there is major questions of dealing with this player as NTC kicks in?
Myself, there is no way I would role the dice on this player. You, sounds like you would.
Agree to disagree on the path forward for the team.
- carsonagenic

It sort of breaks down to:

Player who has a real bad year+ or so, looked like a shell of himself, but was also had a knee injury and locker room drama/bullying/whatever.

Versus

Player who won SHL Rookie of the Year, Forward of the Year, and playoff MVP. Then won the Calder after being drafted 5th overall. Then has played at pretty much a PPG clip for his NHL career, despite playing a whole trash year.

It's difficult to have those accolades and accomplishments while also having massive character defects. Depends on how much weight one gives this past year versus the entire body of work, and what one thinks that means going forward.

Did you win 11.6 million dollars?
- Load Management

I won a $600 box of Dewalt tools.

"He needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don’t go well"
Can we just agree that this is a concerning comment from management regarding a cornerstone piece of the team? And based off this comment and his play for a calendar year there is major questions of dealing with this player as NTC kicks in?
Myself, there is no way I would role the dice on this player. You, sounds like you would.
Agree to disagree on the path forward for the team.
- carsonagenic

Well said👏👏👏

It's not that, it's the risk of him not regaining form then having the ability to dictate the market by having the final say where he goes. He's had plenty of runway to acknowledge and commit. Which is why we are even discussing this situation in the first place.
- Load Management

If you roll the dice and he doesn't return to an 80+ point player, you've still got a very good player on your hands, sure it's bad money on the table but it's not like he doesn't do anything to help the franchise. I could pick 20 franchises right now that have bad money on their books, doesn't make it right, but it's also not out of the norm.

The Canucks can still win with a bad contract on their payroll. I'd rather pay Petey to play and score 60+ points while being a good responsible player than pay OEL 5 million dollars to not play for the club at all.

It's not that, it's the risk of him not regaining form then having the ability to dictate the market by having the final say where he goes. He's had plenty of runway to acknowledge and commit. Which is why we are even discussing this situation in the first place.
- Load Management

What if Petey is a real good hockey player, but doesn't really care about the career of it?
I go to work because I need money, the minute I don't need to work for money I will quit and go back to BC to fish, hunt, hike, golf, etc, as these are my passions.
Pure speculation here, but what if hockey is not his passion, but an end to a means? He has plenty of cash now to pursue his possible true passions (fashion, video games, etc). There are many cases of people in life, even ridiculously talented ones, of making their money and moving on.
Like I said, pure spitballing here on my part, so don't just loose your poop people.

"There's NO WAY EP is content with his play."
Sounds like you are projecting on a speculation...

- carsonagenic

"Of course, there’s pressure. I’m very happy with the contract I got, but with it comes expectations and performance pressure. I don’t think I’ve fully lived up to it, but what I’ve done up until now is done. I’m just trying to look ahead, and I know what kind of hockey I have in me. That’s what I’m focusing on," Pettersson said. (from interview before 4 Nations)

Sounds like he's not content.

None of this is true, even remotely. Also, Petey is a puck distributor, more often than not players are the benefactor of him either passing to them or creating space for them.

Petey had 21 points in 13 games in January of 2024, 14 goals 7 assists. 9 even strength goals and 5 power play goals...4 even strength assists and 3 power play assists. His shooting percentage was 34%, which is unsustainable, but he was shooting the puck, something he's not doing now.

January 15th to the end of the month the team played six games, he had 7 points in those six games, 5 goals 2 assists.

For the month of February he had 11 points in 13 games, he injured his wrist again if you look back at some of the highlights you can see it was taped up again, he had 2 goals and 7 assists. His shooting percentage went down to 7.7% because he stopped shooting the puck.

March he had 9 points in 11 games, 4 goals (2 EV 2 PP) and 5 assists (4 EV 1 PP)
he started to shoot again, his shooting percentage climbed back up to 14.1%, which is more normal.

April is where he started to have issues again, his shooting percentage fell off a cliff again (6.3%) and his knee started hampering him.
- Pacificgem

You were continually posting his stats last year and admittedly hadn't even watched the game.

Oh wait, I must be making this up

Trade the fucker asap, so I can enjoy watching Canucks games again.