Sean Shapiro offered a very different take on Jeff Petry’s introductory press conference on his Substack today–a human interest one:
Wednesday was the first chance for me to get to know Petry as a dad, and being the dad of a soon-to-be kindergartner myself, better appreciate some of the difficult limbo Jeff and Julie Petry dealt with as parents of four young kids since the Aug. 9 trade between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens.
While Canadiens GM Kent Hughes was open with Petry about a trade, and he asked for the defenders list of priority destinations, the Petry family had know idea where’d they’d be to start the school year.
If you have school-aged kids, you know it’s already a hectic time. Now imagine the possibility of moving at the equivalent of a dart throw on the map (Dallas for example, reportedly kicked tires on a deal for Petry). Thoughts start to dance in your head to about the possibility of dad moving and the family staying behind, at least for a little bit, something the Petry family dealt with in 2021 in Montreal — it isn’t fun.
“It was stressful,” Petry said. “This process of kind of when it started in Pittsburgh, to ending yesterday, is probably about three weeks. So it’s been a long three weeks … all situations went through our minds, so it was a big relief getting call to know I was gonna be here, and it makes everything a lot easier.”
Continued (paywall)
