Petry has struggled each game according to my movement tracker and each game it got worse. He and Peckham have been the worst defenders , so it was not a shock that Petry sat, and not a shock that Peckham took a seat in the press box.
In reality, though this is not a bad thing. There is an old hockey saying, "if you are a scorer, you have to score. If you are a fighter you had better fight" I will add if you are puck mover on the back end you better move the puck consistently and accurately. Jeff Petry is not there yet.
What I saw and tracked were the same, a player that did not move the puck at this level consistently and a player that was losing confidence. The play at this level is still too fast for Petry. This is a player that the Oilers want to develop as a top tier defender, a Whitney/Gilbert type defender that can log a lot of minutes and advance the puck. At the NHL level he is not there yet.
Getting bottom pairing minutes or sitting in the press box is not going to help Jeff Petry. He needs to play. Tom Renney made the right decision here.
More to come.....
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