A couple of days ago Bob Stauffer had Connor McDavid’s agent, Jeff Jackson (Wasserman/Orr Group), on his radio show, and they discussed a number of topics that included Jackson’s experience at the World Juniors with Team Canada in 1985, playing against Esa Tikkanen at that tournament, having Shayne Corson as a teammate in junior, as well as all of Wasserman/Orr’s clients that were participating in this year’s World Juniors in Edmonton.
But as interesting as all of that was, my ears perked when Stauffer brought up the name of Jesse Puljujarvi,
“How does an agency play a factor in working with their players to continue to grow and develop, I’m hearing (Evan) Bouchard’s in great shape and (Jesse) Puljujarvi’s really worked on his English, you guys play a factor in that?
Jackson’s reply,
“I think part of what we do is we negotiate contracts but we start working with these kids when they’re super young. So, they’re 14-15-16 and we go through the whole progression with them. In many ways we’re part sports psychologists, part player development coach.”
McDavid’s agent kind of goes off on a bit of a tangent regarding Dave Gagner and his value to Wasserman and how he’s helped with Evan Bouchard’s development and I’m not sure that was on purpose or not. Regardless, Stauffer picked up on it and pushed a little for more on Puljujarvi.
“Markus Lehto still represents Jesse Puljujarvi, but ACME came into your firm. Does that relationship assist in the process with the Oilers do you think? Jesse has come in, I would assert to you, it’s a good deal for Edmonton. It’s a two-year deal, it gives the Oilers and Jesse a chance to rebuild the relationship. Is that partially a bi-product of the fact that ACME is now part of Wasserman?
The retort,
“Well, I think you know we work very closely together, so Markus is a partner of ours now and we’re part of Wasserman Hockey. I spoke with Markus a lot about Jesse and he had his own relationship with Ken Holland and I have mine and through those discussions I think the decision to come back for Jesse was the right one.
He’s matured as a player, he’s matured as a young man and I think a lot of people forget that when he came over he was an 18yr old who spoke very little English. You think about putting a kid who’s 18 away from home for the first time and into the NHL, of all leagues, and not being able to communicate with teammates or really understand coaches sometimes, all that stuff. I don’t think helped him in his transition but now he’s that much older, he went and had a great year in Finland.
I think he’s a good fit with the Oilers and he’s in good shape, he’s a big strong kid who can shoot the puck, so all thinks point to him being successful and being part of this Oilers team which looks pretty good on paper right now.”
I remember back in June of 2020, after I’d read that ACME had joined Wasserman, I wondered aloud on the Twitter machine if Pulju’s situation would change with the formation of that partnership… Four months later Edmonton signed Jesse… So I guess my blind squirrel found a nut on that one.
“I think if you read between the lines, it’s entirely feasible that Jeff (Jackson) may have played a bit of a factor in Puljujarvi, though he wouldn’t necessarily say it.”
That is how Stauffer started his segment with NHL insider John Shannon and it didn’t stop there. The host of Oilers Now set forth this question for his guest,
“Do you agree with me that he may have played a factor in maybe helping smooth the waters a bit for Puljujarvi with Markus Lehto, you know, with Lehto’s old firm coming over and becoming part of Wasserman?
When I first heard that, I thought that Stauffer was saying that there was something going on between Pulju and his agent, do you read it that way? Not that I see it in that manner, but that would be some twist in the story if that were the case.
Here’s what Shannon had to say,
“I wouldn’t be surprised. You also wonder if Jeff (Jackson) might’ve played a role in smoothing the waters between players, too. Between Connor and Jesse. Which would be a positive as well. That’s not to say they disliked each other, but obviously at times, I think it would be fair to say there were some frustrations and that was an important part.
Jeff has become one of the most influential people within the game. He’s a powerbroker in this game and because he’s done so much as a player, and AGM, and now as a player agent. He does have some influence that way and so I wouldn’t be surprised at all.”
In a roundabout sort of way, one could argue that the Oilers’ captain had a hand in bringing Jesse Puljujarvi back to Edmonton, but it would probably be more fair to say that it wasn’t Markus Lehto or Ken Holland or even Jesse so much as it was Jeff Jackson that might’ve got the band back together and I, for one, couldn’t be happier!
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