“I am Pezzetta, I am entering the coach’s office” – Antoine Roussel

Dose
Crédit:

The big news of the day for the Montreal Canadiens is the last-minute call-up of Owen Beck.

Since Michael Pezzetta has returned to the lineup, his playing time has been very limited and he was the one who gave up his spot for the young right-shot center.

We know that Pezzetta is not the one who will play 15 minutes per game, obviously. But in his last seven games, his highest total ice time in a game is 5:49 against the Blackhawks in Chicago.

Recently, he has been on the roster to replace injured or absent players.

Yesterday, against the Toronto Maple Leafs, his usage was worse than ever: less than three minutes…

Clearly, Pezzetta doesn’t hold a significant place in Martin St-Louis’s heart, but this is ridiculous… Why play him?

Following this match against Toronto, Antoine Roussel greatly lamented the situation while defending #55 on the post-game show on TVA Sports.

He even said that if he were Pezzetta, he would have gone to see MSL after the game to tell him that this isn’t right.

“Martin says I deserve to play. Excuse me, but 2 minutes and 58 seconds is not playing. Give me more, because you’re turning my career upside down, because I’m a proud guy and this is unacceptable.” – Antoine Roussel

As can be read in the TVA Sports article on this subject, Roussel even proposed a sort of ultimatum to support his point.

“Next game, you play me for 10 minutes and if I play poorly for one minute, send me to the stands, send me to Laval.”

That’s quite an ultimatum, but if that’s what it takes for Pezz to play more than five minutes per game, he has to go all out.

The agitator of the Tricolore is not there to sit on the bench. He is there to go into corners, in front of the net, stir things up and disturb opponents, but with so little ice time, he is of little use.

Seeing Owen Beck being called up to take his spot against the New York Rangers, one can understand that Pezzetta probably did not go to see the coach. Or perhaps St-Louis took it very badly and wanted to make him pay for his harsh words.

In brief

– A beautiful goal from the CH prospect.

– Matt Murray is on quite a run in the AHL.

– Worth reading.

– Incredible.