Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Forget what Pettersson chooses to do or not do in this regard for a moment. He is far and away already the Canucks's best player and is a front runner for the Calder Trophy. He is not just good enough to play NHL hockey, he is good enough to excel at it.
Shouldn't this be enough?
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No, imho this isn’t enough. To win a scoring race (or the Calder in this instance) requires a player to be rugged enough to survive a full season. Pettersson looks like he has the talent to be the Canucks best player and win the Calder, but if 6 games into the season you get manhandled leading to an extended injury break i’d say the player was rushed into the best/most competitive league before his body is ready for the rigours. If your team was a cup contender do you believe Pettersson is going to survive the 82 game season and 4 rounds of post season war?
As a Flames fan I worry about something similar happening to Gaudreau in round 2 of a promising run, only to have the team feel they’ve lost their game breaker and lose group confidence.
As a hockey fan I like that the team that wins the cup is usually built to be rugged and use physicality to their advantage. Based on the way things are going my preferences are probably Old School and will be outdated in the foreseeable future. In that foreseeable future the jerseys will be plastered head to toe with advertising, the game will be played by the best 18-25 yr olds, and the most physical interactions between players will be stick infractions. To each their own...