Wednesday, Jesse Puljujarvi’s agent, Markus Lehto, sent his third very public shot across the bow of the Edmonton Oilers’ boat using Darren Dreger and Mark Spector. Only this time the message was much more assertive,
“If he doesn’t get traded,” Lehto confirmed, “he will play in Europe next year. He will not play in Edmonton.” – source
When Ken Holland got wind of this, he fired his own shot back,
“At the end of the day, if you can do a deal that makes sense for the Edmonton Oilers, you do it,” said Holland, who spoke on Wednesday morning with Lehto. “If you can’t, you go over (to Europe) and watch him play, and hopefully he scores a lot of goals over there.” – source
Is Markus Lehto slow? He predictably goes to the press again (the draft and the trade deadline being the most popular times for GMs to make moves or plan future moves) to let the entire world know that he wants his client out of Edmonton with not even an ounce of leverage. I mean, is Lehto banking on his previous experiences with Kasperi Kapanen in Pittsburgh and Teuvo Teravainen in Chicago and thinking that this is going to be a piece of cake?
How in the world does he think that strong-arming one of the most experienced GMs in the NHL is going to go here?
Sad to say it, but Pulju’s value couldn’t be any lower right now considering the 7 goals he’s scored in the last 90 games for the Oilers and him coming off of double-hip surgery.
Jess was the 4th overall pick in 2016 and that’s great, but my man hasn’t turned the corner yet. Now, that doesn’t mean he won’t, it just means trading him and getting equal perceived value, won’t be an easy task nor is it even a fair ask.
Mark Spector wrote an article yesterday and he summed my thoughts up perfectly,
It is Lehto’s job to advise the player, but if I sat down next to Puljujarvi, this is what I’d say:
“Jesse, there isn’t a team that wants you to succeed more than the Oilers. They’ve got a high draft pick and a piece of their reputation invested in you. Sure, they mishandled your career by not letting you spend enough time in AHL Bakersfield. But, truth be told, you and your agent didn’t want to go there either, right?
I’m not convinced of this “refusal to go to the AHL” narrative going around. Jesse went down three times in three seasons. To me, that’s quite a bit in today’s age.
“You haven’t played much with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, or on the powerplay, but in the NHL you earn those prime spots. They don’t just get handed to you because of where you were drafted, most times.
Well, out of around 1000 minutes on the ice, he’s played the most with Milan Lucic and the 2nd most with Connor McDavid…
“Here’s what you should do: Have your agent negotiate a fair two-year deal with the new GM, Ken Holland. He’s an honest guy, and he’s saying you’ll get a full season on the third line, and a chance to learn how to play the NHL game under the new coach, Dave Tippett.
Yes!
“The Oilers are very lean on goal-scoring right-wingers. There probably isn’t a team in the league with a combination of better centremen and open spots on their flanks.
100%!
“Have Lehto get a handshake deal with Holland that, if we don’t like the way the 2019-20 season goes, he’ll trade you next summer. That way, he can say he tried to develop you, but the previous GM drafted you and it just wasn’t working.
“Give it one more year, take some of the blame for your slow development, then go out and prove you are a player. Score some goals, show the commitment that is necessary, and by Christmas you could be the No. 1 right-winger in Edmonton.
Seems like the right thing to do here. The other thing is, if he scores some goals, other GMs will want him even more.
“You’re just 21. This is the last place you’ll ever play that has as much invested in you as the Oilers have. Which, you’ll learn one day, is important.”
Sometimes it takes a while for young folk to mature. They can’t all be as collected as McDavid and Crosby, right?
As Ryan Rishaug has been saying for weeks, just through deductive reasoning, we can probably come to the conclusion that Puljujarvi’s problem with the team isn’t to do with the coaches or the medical staff or even the GM as most of those have been swapped out. It must be to do with the players because if you’re a young winger in the NHL that’s looking for one of the sweetest gigs in the league alongside Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and you STILL want out, then there’s a problem in the room.
I won’t put this all on Connor and the boys though. Jesse has to come out of his shell a bit and show some initiative but I can understand why he wouldn’t want to as well. The players he respects on the club don’t feel the same way maybe and that’s a deep cut for a young guy. He might not be as mature as the rest of the guys and thus he gets left out in the cold.
I wish I knew what kind of advice he was getting from the agent so we could have an opinion on who’s to blame here from that side because if Puljujarvi isn’t traded soon, he’s going to have to go through an entire summer with this cloud hanging over him and the close it gets to training camp, the more reporters and journalists are going to want to talk to him about “the trade request”, right?
As much as I love my man Jesse, I fully support the stance Ken Holland is taking. If Markus Lehto wants to play hardball, Kenny Holland won’t back down. Just ask Andreas Athanasiou who previously tried to hold out in Detroit but eventually came back to the NHL with his tail tucked between his legs and signed a two-year deal.
Pulju needs to come back and prove his worth to not only his teammates, the organization, the entire NHL, but also himself. Heading off to Europe until his wishes are met isn’t going to do that. It’s not going to help how he’s viewed neither. Then again, Milan Lucic has been asking out for three years and the boys still love him…
THE 2019 BLH MOCK DRAFT
- NJ – Jack Hughes – C – USNTDP (USHL/NCAA)
- NYR – Kaapo Kakko – RW – TPS Turku (FIN)
- CHI – Alex Turcotte – C – USNTDP (USHL/NCAA)
- COL (OTT) – Bowen Byram – LHD – Vancouver Giants
- LA – Cole Caufield – RW – USNTDP (USHL/NCAA)
- DET – Trevor Zegras – C – USNTDP (USHL/NCAA)
- BUF – Kirby Dach – C – Saskatoon (WHL)
- *VAN – Philip Broberg – LHD – AIK (SWE)
- ANH – Dylan Cozens – C – Lethbridge (WHL)
- *EDM – Matthew Boldy – W – USNTDP (USHL/NCAA)
- PHI – Peyton Krebs – C – Kootenay (WHL)
- MIN – Alex Newhook – C – Victoria (BCHL)
- FLA – Cam York – USNTDP (USHL/NCAA)
- ARI – Victor Soderstrom – RHD – Brynas (SHL)
- MTL – Arthur Kaliyev – LW – Hamilton (OHL)
- COL – Vasili Podkolzin – RW – SKA (VHL)
- VGK – Ville Heinola – LHD – Luuko (FIN)
- DAL – Raphael Lavoie – C – Halifax (QMJHL)
- OTT (CBJ) – Thomas Harley – LHD – Mississauga (OHL)
- WPG – Moritz Seider – RHD – Mannheim (DEL)
- PIT – Bobby Brink – C – Sioux City (USHL)
- LAK (TOR) – Ryan Suzuki – C – Barrie (OHL)
- NYI – Connor McMichael – C – London (OHL)
- NAS – Phil Tomasino – C – Niagara (OHL)
- WAS – Pavel Dorofeyev – LW – Magnitigorsk (RUS)
- CGY – Spencer Knight – G – USNTDP (USHL/NCAA)
- TB – Lassi Thomson – RHD – Kelowna (WHL)
- CAR – Jakob Pelletier – LW – Moncton (QMJHL)
- ANA (SJ) – Simon Holmstrom – RW – HV71 (SWE)
- BOS – Alex Vlasic – LHD – USNTDP (USHL/NCAA)
- BUF (STL) – Tobias Bjornfot – LHD – Djurgarden (SWE)
*I think there’s a high possibility that Edmonton and Vancouver swap picks. Perhaps in the oft-mentioned Lucic for Eriksson trade they’ll swap first rounders.
Rumor has it the Canucks are working feverishly to move up in the draft to pick Philip Broberg, but the problem is, they haven’t got a lot to work with. Chris Tanev might be their only real asset to trade and with his injury history, I don’t even know if he’s even considered a real asset now.
I hope the Oilers go with another forward in the 2nd round.
- John Beecher – C – USNDTP (USHL/NCAA): Might be the fastest power forward in the draft.
- Samuel Poulin – RW – Sherbrooke (QMJHL): Solidly built, hard-working winger whose dad was an NHLer. Strong shooter with good hockey IQ.
- Egor Afaneseyev – LW – Muskegon (USHL): BIG guy (6’4″ 200lbs) who scored 27 goals and 62 pts in the USHL.
- Albin Grewe – RW – Djurgarden (SWE): Highly skilled pest who’s been compared to Brad Marchand.
- Brayden Tracey – LW – Moose Jaw (WHL): Big time scorer in the WHL who can skate, has an excellent work ethic, and fears nobody.
That is a lot of wingers, if you’re more for the Oilers picking up a center in the 2nd round, I think that Brett Leason might tickle Bob Green’s fancy, the speedy Jamieson Rees should be available, the pint-size Karl Henriksson should definitely be there, and Ilya Nikolaev, a thick two-way forward as well.
Should you fancy a defender in the 2nd, there’ll be a plethora of those, no doubt. Flint’s Vladislav Kolyachonok, Matthew Robertson, a great all-around defender from the Edmonton Oil Kings MIGHT be there, smooth-skating Ryan Johnson from Sioux Falls could be available, and the massive hard-shooting Antti Tuomisto from Assat in Finland I reckon will be around then too.
Unless Spencer Knight somehow falls to 38th, I wouldn’t touch a goalie until the 3rd round or later.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!
