\u2018He\u2019s going to get there’<\/p>\n
Fans in Tampa Bay also got to see Pelletier in five games this season. He averaged 9:16 of time on ice per game while sending four shots on goal. It marks the fourth straight season in which he earned time in the NHL following a career-best season in 2024-25.<\/p>\n
Pelletier scored seven goals and 19 points across 49 NHL appearances split between the Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers a season ago. The First Round pick by Calgary in the 2019 NHL Draft said that helped his mindset to allow for this season\u2019s production.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the confidence from last year that I brought into this year. Last year I played 50 games in the NHL and was happy with my game, so my confidence was high.\u201d<\/p>\n
His big focus this season was on the sport\u2019s finer details. After going three games without a point in early November, he sat down with Bouchard to talk about those details, and his game took another step shortly after. Some of that was defensively, particularly staying active with his stick.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not as good at keeping my stick on the puck at the start of the year when I was in the D zone or trying to retrieve the puck,\u201d Pelletier said. \u201cI started doing that a lot, started creating turnovers, and that leads to offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
The forward experienced the organization\u2019s winning culture both in the NHL and AHL this season, the first of a three-year contract he signed this past summer.<\/p>\n
Bouchard repeatedly witnessed Pelletier\u2019s excitement to join the Lightning depth chart, noting that he was quick to study and lean into that environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve committed as an organization to keep developing him as a player. He\u2019s still a prospect, and he really embraced everything,\u201d Bouchard said. \u201cHe\u2019s dedicated and he bought into everything that he and I talked about or even the team concepts. He\u2019s a leader on and off the ice, and he\u2019s just getting what he deserved in that he had a really strong performance throughout the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Younger players gravitated to Pelletier, who is already working on his game ahead of next season. Bouchard knows the player will again arrive ready to play when training camp opens in the fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun for our coaching staff and the players. He\u2019s a joy around the rink,\u201d Bouchard said. \u201cOur main goal is to always develop players. Even when players become a little older, their goal is set to be in the NHL. That\u2019s definitely his goal, and he\u2019s going to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
That remains Pelletier\u2019s focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be an NHL player and I want to be a difference-maker. I want to show to everybody that I belong there and I can be a significant player in the NHL.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018He\u2019s going to get there’ Fans in Tampa Bay also got to see Pelletier in five games this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-287005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}