This is probably the part that surprised me the most. When Petey entered the league, he looks and acts like a super confident kid that has the most (and well-deserved) trust in his ability. I guess leading the Swedish league in points as a teenager and winning the SHL championship helps, and having a hot start to his NHL career also doesn't hurt, but he has that swagger to him back then that makes him feel like a superstar the second he steps on the ice.
After a 100+ points season and a blistering hot first-half to the 2023-24 season, it seems so odd that all that swagger is gone. He seems like he has zero confidence all the sudden. It is like the alien from Space Jam just stole his mojo and now he knows he can't do anything. So hard to explain.
As for the "bad line mates" argument, I don't buy it. He was playing at an elite level last year with a rookie Kuzmenko and a partially-torn ACL Mikheyev, and he started the season with a "bad Kuzmenko" and various bottom 6ers still scoring over 100 pts pace, clearly he is not one to be held back by line mates. I don't even think he is all that good on the lotto line recently (at least not the last month or so). Something is very wrong here.