PHN Extra: Conor Sheary Report Card — Contract Pressure

“Maybe I was a little too hard on myself…”

Pittsburgh Hockey Now spoke with Conor Sheary in mid-March, after his season finally turned around. Sheary signed a three-year $9 million contract last summer, which he earned by scoring 53 points (23g, 30a) in 61 games in 2016-17. In his mind, there was pressure to live up to the contract. And, the pressure to be a top line winger. Here is our chat with Sheary from March.

It didn’t work out so well.

Sheary, 25, admittedly gripped his stick too tightly for much of the season, and his grip only got tighter as the points didn’t flow. The undrafted spark plug from UMass scored only 30 points (18, 12a). That’s a steep tumble from the nearly point-per-game pace of one season ago. And the struggles worsened, as the scoring slump affected his play.