The old Jeff Petry had indeed returned in the final month or so of the season. Worked hard, played smart and put up some points to boot.
That still doesn’t erase what happened at the beginning of the season.
Jeff Petry showed his true colors at the beginning of the season when he started pouting because he didn’t want to play for Dominique Ducharme. For all the faults Ducharme has had during his short tenure as Canadiens head coach, he didn’t deserve to have players completely give up to a point where the safety of teammates were put at risk.
We’re all going to remember that Zack Kassian hit that nearly took out Samuel Montembeault as Petry was seen just gliding along and watching the whole thing unfold. His sarcastic and sometimes downright mean treatment to the media as he threw everyone but Youppi under the bus showed that his time here is done.
His wife Julie added fuel to the fire when she started criticizing Canada as a whole for their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, to a point where she packed up the kids and moved back to the United States. Petry had to finish the season without his wife and kids in the area.
Kent Hughes has stated more than once that he will try to trade Petry and make a trade that “made sense for everyone.” There were rumors that a trade was verbally agreed with the Flyers but that seemed to have dissipated now that the Flyers are also facing a full scale rebuild.
"The situation was definitely different than it is now. Since Marty took ove, I've started to find my game. Going to take some time, get back to my family, and we're going to have a conversation. I don't want to close the door on this organization." - Jeff Petry@MTLhockeynow
— Marco D'Amico (@mndamico) April 30, 2022
The Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars remain the apparent favorites to land the Michigan native.