Jesse!
There are some murmurs out of the East that Montreal has some interest in our disgruntled Finnish man-child, Jesse Puljujarvi. Now, my French is spotty at best and I’m not going to attempt to use the same method that the old boys in Edmonton used last week with Pulju’s quotes, I’m going to dig WAY back in my headbone and simply use the gr.4-9 French class knowledge I haven’t forgotten and my powers of deduction to translate the quote below. If I’m wrong, I’m sure you’ll be first to let me know, right?
EXCLUSIF: Le #CH a bel et bien démontré de l’intérêt envers Jesse Puljujarvi. Le dossier ne serait pas clos même si Puljujarvi a déjà mentionné qu’il préférerait poursuivre sa carrière aux USA. "Préférer” ne veut pas dire fermer la porte au Canada. À suivre… #Habs #Canadiens
— Marc-Olivier Beaudoin (@MOBeaudoin1) August 23, 2019
According to the gentleman above, the Montreal Canadiens have interest in Puljujarvi and then something about there being some talk about Jesse wanting to continue his career in the USA but not shutting the door on another Canadian team. If you click on the tweet and read the thread, Mr. Beaudoin goes on to say that given the Finnish presence (Kotkaniemi, Lehkonen, and Armia) on the Habs, that might be something that would appeal to Pulju and that there’s room in the Habs’ top-6 on the right side.
To my knowledge, Beaudoin is an independent writer out of Montreal who gets the odd break from time to time. A Google search found that he’s had work posted on various Canadiens blogs and TSN’s sister station RDS.ca.
Elliotte Friedman was the one who I believe hinted that Puljujarvi didn’t want to go to a Canadian market, but that’s since been corrected. He said in his most recent media appearance that his goal is to play in North America this season. Last I checked, Canada is still in North America. So whoever might be saying that he won’t play in Canada, is wrong.
I do believe Montreal has had interest in Puljujarvi well before his trade request went public. But I’m not 100% sold that they need JP as much as Beaudoin is claiming. No doubt, they’d love to upgrade their right-wing, but I feel like they could get by with who they have there at this present time (Brendan Gallagher, Artturi Lehkonen, Jordan Weal, and Joel Armia).
My feeling is that IF a trade did go down between Montreal and Edmonton, the Oilers would have interest in Lehkonen but my spidey-sense tells me that maybe Ken Holland would try to target Jonathan Drouin given the Habs have Tomas Tatar and the emerging Ryan Poehling coming along. Drouin isn’t progressing into the high-end forward that most prognosticated him to be when he was drafted (weird, I’ve heard that one before.) and it wouldn’t shock me if he was available to the right GM. That’d be a massive addition to the Oilers top-6 but it’d cost a lot more than Puljujarvi. I’d go as far as to say that one of Darnell Nurse or Oscar Klefbom would have to be included in that sort of deal.
Just as an aside, I like Lehkonen quite a bit. He’s young (24) and skilled, he’s quick, he’s positionally fluid, he scores around 30pts a year, but he’s always in trade rumors out of Montreal. I believe he’s really undervalued by Marc Bergevin and the Oilers should be looking to pick him up and perhaps Charles Hudon as well. They’re excellent middle-6 options I reckon and much better than what the Oilers have on the farm right now in Joe Gambardella, Patrick Russell, and Cooper Marody.
If you were Oilers GM, how would you navigate a deal with the Habs? Would you simply try to grab a player like Lehkonen and be done with this whole saga or would you swing for the fences and try for Drouin? Let us know in the comments below!
Is Edmonton Really Puljujarvi’s Best Option?
Something that irritates me when listening to Oilers talk radio is this constant narrative that the only place in the entire NHL that Jesse has a good opportunity to play in the top-6 is in Edmonton. That’s a crock of shit and something you’d only hear from delusional Oilers fans. I’d love for him to continue his career in Edmonton because the roster does have an open spot ready for him, but I’m not thick enough to believe there aren’t other places with the same opportunities for the former World Junior Hockey Championship MVP.
I mean has anybody looked at Boston’s right-wing depth chart? It’s David Pastrnak, two AHLers, and the American version of Milan Lucic. They’ve got NOBODY… Nobody on the roster and nobody on the farm. Zach Senyshyn? Please… Plus, they’ve been interested in Puljujarvi as long as, or longer than, the Habs.
Problem with Boston is, who would you consider in return for Puljujarvi that they’d be willing to give up? I know one guy but it’d probably be a cold day in hell before they moved him… John Beecher. That kid is going to be a BEAST!
But let’s move on from Boston to another Eastern Conference team, the Ottawa Senators. Their RW depth chart goes thusly,
- Drake Batherson, Connor Brown, Bobby Ryan, Max Veronneau, and Anthony Duclair.
Not pretty folks. Puljujarvi would slide into that group and easily be one of the better players. I think I could find a player or two from the Sens (*Cough* Pageau *Cough*) that would fit into the Oilers plans, don’t you?
That’s two teams in addition to Edmonton and Montreal that could use Pulju. How about one more?
The San Jose Sharks have Kevin Labanc, Melker Karlsson, Dylan Gambrell, and Johnny Brodzinksi penciled in at right-wing. Are you telling me that Gambrell and Brodzinksi are even in the same universe as a fully healthy Jesse Puljujarvi? If you are, maybe stop huffing glue and come back to reality.
My only issue with trading with San Jose is the inter-divisional rivalry and they don’t really have a lot that I like and they’d be willing to let go of. In fact, the only player I’d probably like is Labanc and he’s not going anywhere. Man, could you imagine Doug Wilson trading him after making that team-friendly deal (wink, wink) with Labanc? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Labanc signed for a million dollars for the year and the speculation is that after January, I believe, the Sharks will extend him and give him the money he should have received this past summer.
That’s not the point though, I’m trying to present the notion that Edmonton isn’t the only team in the NHL where Jesse would be in a good spot.
If you’re wondering where I’m getting my depth chart info from, Dobber’s Fantasy Guide is a wonderful resource for this sort of stuff and it’s CHEAP. They’re not paying me for the plug, I’m just letting you know where you can fact-check me if you want to.
My feeling is that Tampa, Carolina, and the Rangers are still interested in Pulju, but some roster moves still have to be made in order to open things up. Either way, I hope that Jesse finds himself a team that truly values him as a human, first and foremost, then as a player and he can flourish in the manner he should’ve in Edmonton. How fitting for some would it be if he went to the Hurricanes and became a “Jerk”?
Patrick Marleau
Friend of former Edmonton Oiler Alex Petrovic, Josh Marshall, put out a tweet yesterday that said the Oilers and Marleau were speaking and that there’s mutual interest. This was cryptically confirmed by Cult of Hockey writer Kurt Leavins and more or less so by Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now.
Marshall has been on and off in the past with his proclamations but I get the feeling that he’s more “on” than “off” on this one given the follow up comments from Leavins and Stauffer.
On Twitter, I said that I was pretty skeptical of signing a player like this, but then I dove into his numbers a little bit and I think I’d be okay with the Oilers signing him. He’s still capable of scoring 15-20 goals and chipping in with 15-20 assists. Playing him 15 minutes a night doesn’t seem to look like a problem either. To add to that, I’d absolutely love the leadership he’d bring to that locker room. To me, it’s clear as day how desperately it is needed.
That being said, there are some things that concern me.
His underlying numbers are declining at an increasing rate. Just looking at 2017/18 to 2018/19, he’s going downhill.
G/60: 1.1 -> 0.61
Pts/60: 1.91 -> 1.36
CF/60: -0.61 -> -1.91
CF%: -0.95 -> -1.91
GF%: -4.32 -> -6.23
Yikes. It went so poorly for Marleau last season that Babcock went from starting him in the offensive zone around 50% of the time in 2017/18 to 60% of the time last year. So how would he be utilized in Edmonton if the Oilers were to sign him? Second unit PP and on a soft-minute 3rd line? Forget about the PK, he hasn’t featured regularly on one of those since ’15/16 and while he’s capable of winning a faceoff now and then, it’s not his deal. Last season he took 203 draws and won a shade over half.
But at the end of the day, he still managed to score 16 goals and 37 points for the Maple Leafs.
So what would the forward lineup look like with Old Man Marleau in it?
Draisaitl-McDavid-Kassian
Nygard-RNH-Neal
Marleau-Granlund-Chiasson
Khaira-Haas-Archibald
That leaves Gagner, Cave, Brodziak, Jurco (and obviously Puljujarvi but let’s leave him out of this exercise for now) on the outside looking in and you can’t have four guys on the taxi squad. At least two of those players would have to go to the minors and through waivers to get there and even if they arrived in Bakersfield, where would they play?
Gambardella-Malone-Russell
Benson-Marody-Yamamoto
Maksimov-McLeod-Safin
Vesey-Hebig-Currie
This is without adding any of the surplus players on the big club. Ostap Safin and Nolan Vesey are the only guys I could see getting sacrificed right now, you? Maybe Haas or Nygard don’t make it and head back to Europe. I’m not sure.
If you’re Ken Holland, do you blow the remainder of your budget on this Marleau? It’s best to have more than enough than not in most cases, but it’s hard to see how the Oilers could get everyone the adequate amount of ice-time if there are too many players and that leaves me wondering if a pre-season deal might be made to relieve some of the weight on this roster.
My wish is if that is the case, that they grab a really good third-line center and be done with it. Get the guy they want and move on. If that’s Pageau, so be it. But make sure it’s the right man so they aren’t re-visiting this year after year.
What do you think? Let us know down below!
Before we part ways, just a big shout out to all the fans of Beer League Heroes over at HF Boards! You guys are awesome! Don’t forget to pick up a shirt when you’ve got a free moment! OH, and just because I love you so much, I did up a coupon code but it’s only for the HF Boards guys who’ve been showing so much love lately. Click here to get your discount!
Marleau stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick
