Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
Those guys are 5'11, and JP is 5'9.
You can find a lot of guys who are 5'11 and effective.
You can't find a lot of guys 5'9 that play that role.
Not saying it's impossible. But its the exception.
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And it isn't just height, but shorter players typically have shorter reach as well. This makes it harder to receive passes or using your stick to play defense. Some smaller players compensate by using longer sticks for a player of their height (Spurgeon for example). Typically if you are short, you need to either be really fast or really good at holding on to the puck, preferably both. Based on Pelletier's limited NHL games, we haven't really seen that yet. Fully recognizing that he has had injury issues. Even in the games he played in the NHL, it's hard to know if he was even 100% healthy.
I really want to see what he can do in the NHL next season if he is healthy. I am unconvinced of his upside, but not necessarily pessimistic. We just need to see more to really know.