Everyone wants Casey Mittelstadt to shoot the puck more — the Avalanche front office, the coaching staff, even the diehard in Section 320 yelling, "Shoot!"
Everyone, including Mittelstadt himself.
"I want to shoot more, for sure," the forward told The Denver Gazette. "I think everyone I've ever been coached by has told me that, so yeah, it's definitely a focus."
Mittelstadt at the moment is in the midst of a slump he hasn't experienced in the NHL — a slump he hasn't witnessed since he was "really young." Sure, he's had goal-scoring slumps before, even extended ones at the NHL level, but those slumps were different. He was getting shots and opportunities, but the puck just wasn't going in the net.
He's not getting those shots or opportunities at the moment. That's a big reason why he has only five points in his last 18 games. All five of those points were assists, which shouldn't come as a surprise when you dig a little deeper.
In eight of his last nine games, Mittelstadt has been held without a shot on net. In the last matchup against Utah, his frustration was visible. Mittelstadt was battling in the slot for the puck and it bounced over his stick right as he went to shoot, which caused the forward to fire a frustrated look toward the ceiling of the Delta Center.
To his credit, he's not making excuses. When asked if he's injured, he quickly shrugged it off.
"Sadly, just not my best hockey," he said.
While the Avalanche want Mittelstadt to shoot more, they knew his game when they acquired him. He's always been a player whose natural instinct is to set up a teammate as opposed to putting the puck on net himself.
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If that's the case, what more can the coaching staff do that it hasn't already done?
"There's not a lot," Jared Bednar said. "We've shown him some things from last year. I love the way he played for us last year when he came in. I liked the start of the year and it's gone cold, so it's obviously a confidence thing. There's a mental side of it that he has to take care of on his own."
While Mittelstadt might not look like a confident player at the moment, the coaching staff and his teammates are fully behind him.
"He knows that I really like him as a player," Bednar said. "I am a big fan. I'm a supporter of his and know what he's capable of, so he's just going to have to work through it. He's got his teammates support; he's got the coaching staff's support. He's going to have to work through it a little bit here to get his confidence back."
Putting in the work isn't an issue for Mittelstadt. He's still on the ice early and staying out late with Nathan MacKinnon. Even though he's going through it right now, he's trying to stay positive. He knows what he's doing on practice days will eventually transfer over to game days.
"I guess I'm not worried," Mittelstadt said. "I work hard, and my whole life pretty much revolves around this game, so I feel like that usually takes over and wins at some point."
His whole life revolving around hockey is an understatement. Over the NHL's Christmas break, the 26-year-old went home to Minnesota to be with friends and family. When asked what the weather was like, he said it was "great," claiming it was a brisk 25-degrees outside.
"Perfect pond hockey weather," he said.
A guy who thinks like that will eventually break through. The Avalanche — and Mittelstadt — are hoping it happens sooner rather than later.
