Right now Jesse Puljujarvi is at home nursing a lower-body injury that not even he knows what it is or how he got it. The Edmonton Oilers simply told him he’s unable to play. Meanwhile, his agent, Markus Lehto, is making the rounds and getting in touch with other clients and GMs.
I don’t think a lot of fans know about this agent. What is he all about?
This article here from 2014 dives into Lehto’s past. It also discloses what kind of person he is and how he helps the players that he represents. Two quotes jump out at me that I feel are important.
“I think one part of the agent’s job is to be able to educate the client and the player about pro hockey,” Lehto said. “For example with [19-year-old] Teuvo, it’s pretty clear moving from the European culture to North America it takes time to get used to it. We are helping with that. He needs to understand what kind of hockey the NHL is. Coaches help with this, but the smaller details I can work with Teuvo to prepare for it physically and mentally.
“I know Teuvo is ready to play in the NHL. But is he going to play in 82 games with the Blackhawks, in the playoffs, is he going to get that spot with tough players to pass in the hierarchy? That remains to be seen. He needs to understand that, ‘Hey I’m going to fight for that spot, and I’m going to take it. If I don’t get it right way, yes, it means I’m going to be in the American League and I’m going to be the best player I can be, and I’ll get the NHL spot in November, December or January. That’s where the support comes in.”
I can only imagine how many times Lehto has had to tell young Jesse to relax and keep his nose to the grindstone with Hitchcock behind the bench…
This situation between Puljujarvi and the Oilers is one that is familiar to Lehto. He’s been in this position before with one of his clients.
TEUVO TERAVAINEN
Teuvo Teravainen wasn’t his usual cheerful self as he met with the media after the Rockford IceHogs’ game Sunday.
The 20-year-old Finn knew the questions before they were asked. As the Chicago Blackhawks‘ top prospect, he has become accustomed to queries about his development and his path to the NHL. He often has been more than happy to provide those answers.
But lately, it has been different for Teravainen. He expected to be in the NHL by now. Even when he was assigned to the AHL out of Blackhawks training camp, the center was optimistic his time in Rockford would be short. It hasn’t been. (source)
Back in 2014, Teravainen was upset that the Chicago Blackhawks still had him playing in the AHL, a league that didn’t quite adhere to the skilled puck-possession style of play that he was accustomed to. But the Blackhawks were preaching patience with him. They didn’t want him to change his game, just adapt to the way the game was played at that level.
“Teuvo is coming over [from Finland]. He’s 20 years old. This is a foreign country for him. He’s left a lot behind, his family. He’s learning the game on a smaller ice surface where things develop and happen a lot quicker…” – Mark Bernard, the Blackhawks’ hockey-administration director and minor league affiliations general manager (source)
This is how it should’ve been with Jesse but the Oilers shoved him right into the line up from day 1 and we’re left with similar problems that could’ve been alleviated had they brought him along properly.
This next quote from the agent (Lehto) is very interesting and that’s why I think this whole “Puljujarvi wants to be traded” schtick is a bunch of BS. Either someone in the organization wants Jesse gone or wants to undermine Gretzky and/or Nicholson and Pulju is the collateral damage.
“It’s about being mentally tough and seeing the big picture,” Lehto said. “No just floating around and going through the emotions and waiting for that day. ‘When is someone coming to pick me up?’ It’s not about that. It’s about playing hockey. It’s not NHL hockey, but you adjust.” (source)
The agent knows how the game works in North America for Europeans. He knows what the old hockey men want/expect and he passes that knowledge on to his young clients.
I think that this whole article, “Top Hawks prospect Teravainen dealing with frustration“, is a really good look at how Lehto handled a previously aggravated client.
For Teravainen, he had 12 goals and 22 assists in his first full year for Chicago before getting packaged along with the Milan Lucic of the time, Brian Bickell, in a cost-cutting trade to Carolina for two draft picks.
But after jerking him up and down the lineup in the 2015-16 regular season (and a playoff performance that admittedly wasn’t great in a 7-game series loss to the St. Louis Blues), Bowman elected to use Teravainen as the bait to get the Bryan Bickell contract off the books. (source)
That quote comes from a particularly interesting post from A Blackhawks blog called Second City Hockey. A bit of a “look back at what was and how it turned out to be” kind of post. Important if you’re one of those fans who has already made up their mind on Puljujarvi.
One difference I’d point out is that Chicago was actually good and had depth. They had the rope to do this kind of thing. The Oilers don’t have depth nor are they good… Yet.
I could see something akin to the Teravainen scenario going down for Puljujarvi in Edmonton. Maybe the Oilers send him to Bakersfield for the remainder of the season, although I don’t see the point if they’re going to be trading off the only wingers that score goals for them, and then they extend him this summer only to deal him next trade deadline.
What the Oilers should be hoping for is a Pulju breakout season so when they go to Ray Shero and tell them they’d like to trade for Taylor Hall, they have a tangible asset that they could dangle. Even if Shero said no, it wouldn’t matter because they’d still have a young winger on a good contract gaining value and producing for the club.
You’ll hear a lot about how “the player” doesn’t want to go to the AHL from the likes of Friedman and McKenzie and it’s just garble. No young player who’s spent as much time in the NHL as Pulju has wants to go to the AHL. So let’s not try and paint this young man into the same picture as Nail Yakupov. Got that Matheson?
KAPANEN, KASPERI
To a lesser extent, another client of Lehto’s, Kasperi Kapanen (TOR), has had his dark moments since he came to North America. It’s my understanding that he was very spoiled, described to me as a prima donna when he came over and needed to be set in his place by his player rep.
But he’s another young Finnish player that came over, had issues, was traded, It’s required some drastic actions to be taken in order for the player to get his head out of his ass in order to find his game, but in the end, things have seemingly worked out.
WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?
Some who are reading this might take what I’ve presented here as some sort of indictment on Markus Lehto. That’s the farthest thing from the truth. All I’m attempting to do here is present Puljujarvi’s camp in a light that we might not be getting from the boys with the press passes.
Jesse’s agent is the type to get things done quietly. He’s not an antagonist. Why would he be here? Koskinen’s deal just put that much more cash in his pocket. The only way that we are where we are is if the team (or someone in the organization) had an agenda and is trying to accomplish their goal by leaking bad info to the media. So the agent’s hand has been forced.
Remember when Frank Seravalli said the relationship between Milan Lucic and the Oilers had become untenable without anything but his word? Do you reckon Gerry Johansson (Lucic’s agent) got in touch with Frankie boy directly or indirectly and told him that the shit’s hit the fan in Edmonton, he has to get moved? Of course not! Bob Stauffer, who’s a friend of Johannson, has told us what kind of agent he is. He’s said in so many words that he wouldn’t put up with that kind of behavior from a client and to buck up and play better if you want out.
I don’t think this stuff about Jesse is true but that might not matter now.
