Petes too good to be stuck in middle of the pack

The Petes’ time in the CHL Top 10 feels like a distant memory. A series of uninspired games has seen the Petes drop from the top spot in the Eastern Conference all the way down to seventh in points percentage.

The bulk of this season’s roster is made up of returnees from last year successful squad. Add in an additional year of experience for the group, impact rookie Nick Robertson and full seasons from Nikita Korostelev and Chris Paquette and the team should be advancing on last season’s success not falling back to the East division pack.

With the Petes struggling, the chatter in the stands and online inevitably turns to the coaches first. There have been some curious choices made – players spending entire games on the bench or shuttling from forward to defence mid game and lines shuffling with little rhyme or reason. You can make a case that opportunities have been missed to give Hunter Jones time in net.

That being said, Jody Hull is the same coach who led this team to 89 points and the Conference final last season and the same coach who was at the helm for the hot start this year.

The Petes organization hasn’t helped itself out in terms of the coaching picture. The fact that Hull’s contract wasn’t extended when GM Mike Oke’s was gives the appearance of a possible “lameduck” coach on the last year of his contract.

There is also a feeling that the offseason was handled poorly from the assistant coach standpoint with Jake Grimes and Kurtis Foster both leaving for almost lateral moves, or at least promotions that the Petes could have provided. With the Petes defence struggling early on in this season, perhaps the value of these coaches has been overlooked.

Injuries have played a role in the poor performances of late. For a time, the club was missing four of their Top 9 forwards, a tough task for any team to overcome. With most of the core back, the team came out flat again on the weekend but the cure for their struggles may simply be a full week of having a healthy team practicing together. It is concerning though that the Petes depth, thought to be the strength of the team, wasn’t able to step up while players were lost to injury.

In terms of goaltending, Dylan Wells has bailed out the Petes so many times the past year and a half that it almost seems unfair to mention but there have been nights where he hasn’t looked to be at his sharpest and when he’s not, the team in front of him hasn’t been successful in bailing him out.

The season is young but this team is simply too good to be sitting fourth in the East division. The Petes still lead the Conference in goals scored and the offense should be there all season long. Through 25 games last season, the Petes sat with a 10-11-4 record. Through 24 games this season, they sit at 12-111. On game 26 a year ago, the Petes won their first of 10 straight games and their momentum never waned from that point on. With a mostly healthy lineup, maybe the time is right for a similar run to begin.

NOTE: Defenceman Cole Fraser returns to the Petes lineup Thursday after a five-game suspension. Petes head coach Jody Hull said Tuesday that forward Adam Timleck could return to the line Thursday after missing six games with an injury.

Matt Campbell has been a Petes season ticket holder for 28 years. His column appears bi-weekly during the Petes season.