NHL News: Elias Pettersson finds scoring touch as Canucks win again, and potential changes to Draft
Anthony Scultore
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The NHL action was light night with only two games on the docket. Elias Pettersson seems to be finding his touch again, while Nashville is starting to total up some wins.
NHL News: Elias Pettersson finding his game
Elias Pettersson had a rocky start to the season and even changed agents. So far in the 2020-21 campaign he has just 4 points in 9 contests, but 3 of those points have come in the last 3 games. It helped the Canucks (4-5) beat the Senators (1-5-1) 5-1.
“I heard a squeaking noise behind me,” Pettersson said after his first multi-point game of the year. “I was going to shoot it and I heard [Hughes] scream ‘Petey! Petey!’ so I dropped it and he made a good play to [Miller].”
The only other game last night saw the Predators (4-3) top the Blackhawks (2-3-3) 2-1 in a shootout. Goaltending was the tale in this one with Juuse Saros turning aside 29 of 30 and then all 3 shots in the shootout.
“I see guys that have taken a step in their commitment to playing both ways and blocking shots,” Matt Duchene said after the victory. “I think our leadership and our togetherness is even better this year than it was last year, and I feel guys are playing for each other. I think that’s so important.”
NHL Draft Changes Coming?
The NHL Draft is where every team’s scouting department proves their mettle and tries to select the next future star. Due to COVID-19 some young players will either barely play or not play at all.
To make things even more difficult, if they are playing, scouts have to make their assessments on video and that’s not going over well for them.
There are several brainstorms, including moving the draft back to December or January, and one idea I really love — two drafts in June 2022 in Montreal, several days apart. The first would be for late-2002/2003-borns, the second for the next year. The NHLPA has to approve this, and a significant problem would be about preventing some very talented players the possibility to be in the NHL next season. That’s why I wonder if a solution is one round in July, the rest later.
Elliotte Friedman
As was recently pointed out by Elliotte Friedman, there’s some discussion with regards to conducting two drafts in 2022. One for kids born in 2002-2003 and then another for the year later.
Back to back drafts? Isn’t that something all prospects connoisseurs will love.