Petry: 'I was always the person that was the hardest on myself'

BROSSARD - Brendan Gallagher made a rather interesting statement regarding Jeff Petry on Monday, more specifically about the team that traded him to the Canadiens.

"If you look at his career, he had a tough go in Edmonton," said Gallagher, referencing the Oilers squad that parted ways with the then 27-year-old defenseman at the trade deadline in March 2015. "They didn't really quite realize what they had."
No, they certainly didn't, because all Petry has done since relocating to Montreal is steadily improve with every passing season to the point where he's playing the best hockey of his career at age 33 and is being praised as a possible Norris Trophy candidate this year.
His numbers really do speak for themselves. Not only does he currently lead the Canadiens with 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists) in 12 games, but he also ranks first among NHL defensemen in goals and second in points. And his plus-14 differential, which has him tied alongside blueline partner Joel Edmundson, leads all skaters as well.

Developing into one of the League's best and most respected at his position didn't happen overnight.
It's been a constant learning and maturation process for the Michigan State University grad, who has had the good fortune of sharing a dressing room with some of the best role models in the business.
"Webs [Shea Weber] and I constantly talk and I watch his game all the time, but if I had to think of somebody outside of our current roster right now, I think of a guy like Marky," said Petry, before expanding upon the elements of Andrei Markov's game that he quickly internalized. "Playing with him and seeing what he did with the puck, his eyes would be looking somewhere and he'd make a play to somebody he's not looking at. It was just little, minor movements with his hand on his stick to just create a lane or to get pucks to the net. That was one guy I watched since I got here."

Weber and Markov alike have unquestionably been positive influences on the 11-year NHL veteran, whose production has skyrocketed in Quebec. Petry had just 17 goals and 74 points in 295 outings with the Oilers as compared with 58 goals and 193 points in 397 appearances with the Canadiens, so the change of scenery clearly was beneficial production-wise.
But Montreal is also where Petry has made the most progress in terms of mastering the mental side of the game as well, learning to effectively handle the inevitable lows that come with playing the fastest game on ice.
The father of three insists that has made a world of difference in his performance.
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"If you ask anybody close to me or coaches that I've played for, they would tell you that I was always the person that was the hardest on myself. I was the guy that couldn't let go of the mistake, and that would translate into two or three more mistakes before I'd finally snap out of it. As I got more experience, and different coaches and different players coming through, and teaching and learning things, it's something that I've developed to kind of forget about," explained the former second-round selection, who was drafted 45th overall by Edmonton in 2006. "Just to have that mindset of mistakes are going to happen. That's something I learned over the years, to try to park things right away so they don't snowball."

The backstory behind Petry's ability to shake off errors and avoid them re-entering his headspace is an interesting one.
He credits "a handful of people" for guiding him in this particular aspect of his development.
"My wife is good friends with a Major League Baseball player. He gave her advice to pass along to me, and I started to do it a few years ago. If you have one of those tough games, write something down, if you have a notebook or into your phone after a game, write down that mistake. You kind of replay it in your head and you write down what actually happened, and then rewrite it down a couple of times how you would've done it differently so if that situation comes up again, it's in your mind, the way you're going to react," revealed Petry. "I've heard pretty much the same thing from my dad, being a pitcher. You throw and you know you missed your pitch, a guy hits a home run off you, you're going to learn from that and know you can't make that mistake again against that player. It's kind of that same mindset."
Assistant coach Luke Richardson has also proven to be a key figure in this department for the smooth-skating rearguard, keeping Petry and the rest of the team's rearguards' spirits up if things go awry.
That encouragement and support goes an extra long way.
"He's helped me throughout his time here. His calming presence behind the bench will help all the young guys as well," stressed Petry. "He does a good job at just calming you down and making sure that the mistake you made the shift before doesn't carry over to the next shift or the shift after that. The mistake is over and your next shift is most important."

At the end of the day, though, winning ultimately breeds the most confidence in any player, and the Canadiens have done a lot of that nearly one month into the 2021 campaign with eight victories on their resume already.
That success has truly done wonders for Petry's play.
"I think it all goes back to the team. Confidence in yourself and your play is a personal thing, but when a team's playing well, and when the team is playing on top of their game, it's a contagious thing that everyone around you is playing well, you feel good about the way the team's playing, and in the end, it makes you feel good about your game," he concluded. "There's going to be stretches where you have ups and downs, but overall, having a successful team and a team that's playing well helps everybody's mindset."