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Petey is such a polarizing player.

If management hadn't rushed into signing him until the off season they could have made a case for a lower number. Elias stated repeatedly that he didn't want to make a deal until then. But the pressure was on. Between his agent and management ... they are a big part of this mess.

Many want to ship him out of town. He has stated he wants to stay and to be a part of the future here. Unlike some quitters we know of. He is hard working and has rounded out his overall game nicely. No doubt he would do better with some elite wingers. I think his contract was front loaded and should self correct through time from inflation but it put huge pressure on the kid. He may never reach his former offensive prowess but he is a player with unteachable vision that i think any team would love to have.

Having said that I would be okay if he were to be traded as long as we got a haul just to shut the haters up. Might be good for Petey too.

Early success and then the big contract have given Peter a swelled head, I'm afraid.

theman wrote: ↑Sun Feb 15, 2026 7:14 pm

Hockey Widow wrote: ↑Sun Feb 15, 2026 5:52 pm With LA's current cap space plus Fiala done for the season they can comfortably add Pettersson now and not have to wait until the off season when Kopitar is off the books. We won't get 2 1sts for him. Maybe if we throw in Kane 50% retained we might. That is if LA wants to make a push.

But a 1-2 punch of Kopitar and Pettersson ain't too shabby.

I also think a 2026 2nd and 2027 1st might be more realistic than 2 first plus the rest of the package.

Adding Kane to a possible package is something too.

Anything that gets that 11.6 x 6 off the books, no retention, would suit me fine.

Peter would definitely waive to go to LA, though. With that kind of weather, he could ride his scooter to practice every day.

Megaterio Llamas wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 7:37 am Early success and then the big contract have given Peter a swelled head, I'm afraid.

You're pretty rigid with the ongoing narrative Megs.

A little stiff at times but still worth a chuckle.

donlever wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 8:02 am

Megaterio Llamas wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 7:37 am Early success and then the big contract have given Peter a swelled head, I'm afraid.

You're pretty rigid with the ongoing narrative Megs.

A little stiff at times but still worth a chuckle.

You're right, Donny, I must be more flexible in my thinking.

I need to resign myself to the fact that the old explosive Peter is probably gone forever.

Still, you'd like him to knuckle down and squeeze a little juice from the lemon, so to speak.

Megaterio Llamas wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 8:49 am

donlever wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 8:02 am

Megaterio Llamas wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 7:37 am Early success and then the big contract have given Peter a swelled head, I'm afraid.

You're pretty rigid with the ongoing narrative Megs.

A little stiff at times but still worth a chuckle.

You're right, Donny, I must be more flexible in my thinking.

I need to resign myself to the fact that the old explosive Peter is probably gone forever.

Still, you'd like him to knuckle down and squeeze a little juice from the lemon, so to speak.

I think the ‘old Petey’ is gone forever too. As the cap keep rises, his cap hit won’t be as bad as before but he will not 100% earn that cap hit either. If the Cansucks can get out of his cap hit with no retention, they should. That’s pretty much my opinion.

I see Petey, at best, as a 70/80 point per season player now with a solid defensive game.

I must admit, too, that Peter hasn't wilted under the pressure of the Olympics, but has stood erect and met the challenge head-on.

theman wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 8:55 am

Megaterio Llamas wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 8:49 am

donlever wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 8:02 am

Megaterio Llamas wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 7:37 am Early success and then the big contract have given Peter a swelled head, I'm afraid.

You're pretty rigid with the ongoing narrative Megs.

A little stiff at times but still worth a chuckle.

You're right, Donny, I must be more flexible in my thinking.

I need to resign myself to the fact that the old explosive Peter is probably gone forever.

Still, you'd like him to knuckle down and squeeze a little juice from the lemon, so to speak.

I think the ‘old Petey’ is gone forever too. As the cap keep rises, his cap hit won’t be as bad as before but he will not 100% earn that cap hit either. If the Cansucks can get out of his cap hit with no retention, they should. That’s pretty much my opinion.

I see Petey, at best, as a 70/80 point per season player now with a solid defensive game.

I agree with that, theman, I would even say that if they did manage to move him without retention, they might not deserve to be called the Cansucks anymore.

I won't be surprised if there is a post-olympic bounce for Petey, but I also won't expect it to last long.

He may be re-energized playing with the likes of Forsberg and Johansson, but soon enough he'll be back with Kane, O'Connor, and DeBrusk - and those lines will get shuffled every night. He'll likely have found more chemistry in a two-week tournament than he has all season.

If we think back to the 'Lotto line' days, and we'll be thinking about 'old Petey'.

Petey is not a 'Quinn Hughes' who can own almost every shift. He needs capable linemates, and he won't be seeing any for at least a year or two in Vancouver.

griz wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 12:07 am Petey is such a polarizing player.

If management hadn't rushed into signing him until the off season they could have made a case for a lower number. Elias stated repeatedly that he didn't want to make a deal until then. But the pressure was on. Between his agent and management ... they are a big part of this mess.

Don’t forget the media fucking frenzy that was happening. They whipped the people into the said pressure with the ‘shades of Tkchuk’ narrative.

On EP40 -- sure, he only had a season and a half a very-impressive-output (2022-2024 ASG), but until that time he was a regular point producer who looked dangerous a lot and drew a ton of penalties. He was young in the days before, and had obvious offensive gifts -- the shot, the vision, dangles. The 100 point campaign didn't come out of nowhere.

I remember in his worst season until last year -- all Canadian year -- EP40 missed half the season (at least) to injury, and only had 21 points in 26 games. But he had 1 in his first 6 games; he was a PPG player after that and hit so many goalposts early in the season that the numbers could have turned out much different.

But he looks like a different player -- not all in bad ways, but absolutely a net negative in a world where he's there to provide the team's offense. There is so much less taking the game at the opponent. It got so bad that for times he stopped skating with the puck altogether. His tendency to look for the perfect shot has always been there, but when he (or his teammates) weren't working to create shots? Well, then that tendency is suffocating.

Then, from a basic skills level, he regressed. His skating form was never good, but in open ice skating was never a problem because he had speed, and when attacking on the rush, it wasn't a big problem because he had moves. But while the form remains awkward, the speed has declined.

His hands went from good to, well, bad. I mean, with possession, he's still decent, but I've never seen a player of his once-upon-a-time skill have so much trouble corralling passes. He might as well be Drew O'Connor or Kiefer Sherwood -- players that are always capped in their potential because they can't take any pass in their area code as can, say, Cole Caufield. Its like when a competent but not great beer leaguer has been using a 65 flex stick for years and is given a 100 flex stick. Except for Petey, the inability to settle and corral smoothly has been going on for years, reached its absolute nadir last season.

He's improved defensively, and he's put his increased strength to good use. But one also has to wonder whether increased weight not Sedin-distributed into the legs has contributed to a decline in speed and elusiveness. And one has to wonder if those bobbles relate to a hand or wrist injury that's never fully healed. The thing I believe is least likely that is his head is too big -- if anything, my armchair speculation would be that he's inside his head -- and so is Rick Tochett, who wanted him and everyone else to play more crashy and bangy and squeezed out creativity.

If you could combine the best parts of 2022-24 ASG Petey with the best parts of his game today, he'd be one hell of a player. Sadly, I don't think we will ever see that combination.

As an aside, does anyone actually know what is Rossi’s injury?

theman wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 9:59 am As an aside, does anyone actually know what is Rossi’s injury?

Blocked a shot - but should be back after the break.

griz wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 12:07 am Petey is such a polarizing player.

If management hadn't rushed into signing him until the off season they could have made a case for a lower number. Elias stated repeatedly that he didn't want to make a deal until then. But the pressure was on. Between his agent and management ... they are a big part of this mess.

A player gets the ultimate say on what they sign for. The agent just negotiated and tries to squeeze for more. An agent is obligated to take contract offers back to their client, the only time they don’t have to do this is when the player has already told them that the answer to $X is “no”.

Management certainly wears this. The agent just did his job. The player thought he was worth more than he is. That’s not intended as hater talk, just reality.

I think his contract was front loaded and should self correct through time from inflation but it put huge pressure on the kid.

I’ll never understand why people think front loading a contract matters in a cap world outside of making a player easier to trade later in the contract to a team where the real dollar values matter because of owner-imposed budgets. The cap hit remains the same. Pettersson will always count as $11.6M on the salary cap, and he holds a full NMC, so he also controls where he goes…..most cash strapped teams are not destinations players waive to unless they are ending their career or in the very last year of their contract and playoffs aren’t an option with their existing team.

Also, most teams are spending as close to the cap as they can unless they are outright rebuilding. The current cap is $95M, the only competitive team that is spending less than $90M is Carolina. Even when the cap is $105M, you can’t be spending 11% of that total on a guy who needs $8M calibre wingers to produce at a quality 2C level.

Even with cap inflation, $11.6M is too much for a guy who has gone from being paid to score 100 points to earning his cheque for blocking shots.

Just a reminder that we have "Petey" thread - viewtopic.php?p=607761#p607761