Although he seems to have earned his place in the National Hockey League (NHL), Jakob Pelletier still has a lot to learn. It starts with managing its energy, which its trainer says has been lacking lately.
• Also read: Jonathan Huberdeau took Jakob Pelletier under his wing
Darryl Sutter has never been Quebec’s biggest supporter. Their relationship got off to a bad start when the veteran hockey player said he didn’t remember his name after meeting them.
“He’s 21 and has a long way to go,” Sutter said in January after the potential Calgary Flames fire was christened.
To change his crew, the driver left out young Pelletier and Walker Duehr on Thursday night. The Quebec native has no points in his seven games in March. A careless mistake also cost his team the game against the Arizona Coyotes.
He now accepts this passage in the press gallery with the intention of returning better. “It’s part of the process. We’re still young players, so we have to learn from the mistakes we made,” he told Sportsnet on Friday.
Lack of freshness
For Sutter, it was fatigue that caught up with Pelletier. With the Flames in the heat of the playoffs, the General doesn’t need soldiers chasing him.
“I also thought about not letting him play [Tempe], he said. I think his energy level went down. To be honest, I asked the coaches before the game [Tempe] over the two games at home and you could see he lacked energy. I wanted fresher guys.”
Pelletier, who is often fielded alongside Jonathan Huberdeau, has seven points in 22 games after having to wait until his sixth game to open his tally. The short forward, as he has done for the past two years in the AHL, wants to be a consistent offensive player in Calgary.
“I would love to be able to produce every game in the hope that that will happen when I sign again,” he said.
Sutter has yet to announce his plans for Saturday night’s game against the Dallas Stars, but with the Flames beating powerhouse Vegas Golden Knights 7-2 on Thursday, it would make sense to see Pelletier again.