If the 2020-21 NHL season finally gets the green light, the Edmonton Oilers have a plethora of young stars, bounceback candidates, and under-the-radar players that could break out and assert their position in the league. Here are the three most likely from the Oilers,
Jesse Puljujarvi
I think it’s probably a bit obvious, maybe too obvious, to predict that Edmonton’s 4th overall pick in 2016, Jesse Puljujarvi, is due for a breakout.
The big Finn who never stops smiling can feel the ultimate sense of relief knowing that he won’t be coming back to Todd McLellan, Ken Hitchcock, or Peter Chiarelli anymore and that he’s in good hands with Coach Tippett and GM Ken Holland. Both veteran NHL men have put over a year into building a rapport with Puljujarvi and attempting to earn his trust so that he would feel comfortable enough to return and give the Oilers one more shot.
After leaving Edmonton and returning to Oulu Karpat, Pulju racked up 65 points in 71 games with nearly half of those being goals (31). This number is still rising as he hasn’t left the Finnish club as of yet.
When he’s inserted into the Oilers lineup, the expectations are that he’ll start on the 3rd line with long-time NHLers Kyle Turris (a former 3rd overall pick in 2007) and Tyler Ennis. He’ll be getting the kind of linemates he should’ve had all along in Edmonton in his first three seasons, skaters who have the skill to play with him, and he’ll be able to provide some muscle on the walls in addition to being able to open up ice for Turris and Ennis.
Maybe most importantly, he’ll be playing with a couple of gentlemen who are willing to be on the same line as him.
I also expect Jesse to get some time on the 2nd unit PP as well as some TOI on the penalty kill. It can’t be said as to how much, but I believe Coach Tippett will at least give it a go.
It’s tough to predict what kind of production he could bring with the season unlikely to be 82-games long, but just to save time, IF there was a full season, a goal of 15 ginos and 15 apples is not a stretch for me. In fact, 20 goals (or the prorated equivalent of) is well within reach for Puljujarvi.
Caleb Jones
When Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear were running the show in Bakersfield, it might shock you to know, but it was Jones who was the better defender at that level (in my opinion). His playing style at that level was similar to that of former Edmonton Oilers Andrej Sekera. The young American was on Bakersfield’s top pair and I’d describe him as a smooth operator who could skate, pass, get the puck on net, lug it down the ice, and play sound defense. In addition to all of that, he played both his strong side and his weak side, and very well I might add.
Now, last year was a bit of a revelation for almost everyone with regards to the former Portland Winterhawk. We were all watching Ethan Bear have this outstanding season and then, as they do in Edmonton, injuries happened and Jones was forced to play 20-minutes a game for a few nights. He tackled that challenge admirably and that is what is leading many to predict that he’s ready for 2nd-pairing TOI, including me.
Ideally, I’d love to see him start on the 3rd pairing and work his way up for one more year but as they say, only the player can tell you if he’s ready. If CJ is good to go, they get that boy up on the 2nd pair and let him work his magic, baby!
Fact check time. We’re five years into this investment and just starting to have some dividends paid out. I have a great feeling that Jones will have a really solid prorated 20-25pt campaign in 2020-21, but I’m not 100% certain he’ll be an Oiler long-term with Broberg and Dmitri Samorukov really coming on and an expansion draft on the horizon.
Evan Bouchard
What more has to be said about Old Man Bouchard?
There seems to be a faction of the Edmonton Oilers scouting staff or management that feel Bouchard lacks a certain “sense of urgency” in his game, or at least that’s the impression I get when I listen to Ryan Rishaug talk about him on the radio.
One question though, have you ever noticed Dougie Hamilton’s “sense of urgency”? What about Larry Murphy’s or Nicklas Lidstrom’s?
Some players play the game in a rocking chair and let the game come to them. Evan Bouchard, I believe, is one of them. We’ve heard Holland and others say that he picked up some bad habits in Junior because he played so much, he had to learn how to conserve energy, and they wanted him to go all-out every shift, right? It sounds similar to when the Oilers tried to make Nail Yakupov a 200ft winger…
The fact of the matter is, Bouchard can play Ryan Suter-like minutes and I reckon he will once he’s a full-time NHLer. Then nobody will be complaining about how he lacks a certain intensity on the ice. When he’s ripping passes to a breaking McDavid or Draisaitl and bombing clappers from the point ala Al MacInnis, you won’t hear about how he should dig in more along the boards or move the puck faster. He was the team’s best passer at age 18… That hasn’t changed.
Bouchard is so good that they need to work to his strengths and supplement him with the most suitable d-partner in order to facilitate them. If the Oilers do that, they could have themselves the first Calder Trophy winner in franchise history. He’s that good offensively and we know, point production is how you get your name on the ballot.
You’re probably wondering how he’s going to be one of Edmonton’s breakout players with Adam Larsson, Tyson Barrie, and Ethan Bear ahead of him on the depth chart, right? Well, someone is going to get hurt or traded and that’s when Bouchard will get his shot. It’s inevitable and I suspect it’ll be Adam Larsson that is on the move or hurt.
If all the shoes dropped and Bouchard got into 30 games this year, 20 points or more wouldn’t shock me from him. Once Tippett sees how good he is at getting the puck to Edmonton’s stars and how well his shots get to the net, he’ll earn more ice time.
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