Another long-form today folks. Set some time aside.
When listening to Oilers talk radio or reading different Oilers blogs and the topic is about Jesse Puljujarvi you’ll hear a lot of “Don’t get me wrong, I like the kid but…” talk or “He’s got lots of potential but…” and I have to wonder why that is. Why is there always a “but”?
In the last two weeks, we’ve heard Bob Stauffer basically threaten Puljujarvi’s career as an Oiler by saying if he didn’t get any traction this year with the club he’d be getting said traction it elsewhere.
We’ve also heard Edmonton sports media folks like Reid Wilkins question Jesse Puljujarvi’s long-term upside in favor of Kailer Yamamoto’s… I mean after 9 professional hockey games you’re taking Yamamoto long term over Puljujarvi because you think he’s got that “extra spark”?
The Oilers have had plenty of players with that “spark” in the past that have come and gone… And what does that “extra spark” mean anyhow? Is that Yamamoto’s style of play? Is it his exuding confidence during interviews? Maybe it’s because his English is a tad better than Jesse’s?
It pisses me off that this always happens in Edmonton. The media find their guy and just rag on him until they’ve got a large enough swell from the fanbase that the GM has no choice but to give in.
Well, the Oilers had better not give in on this kid. He was a gift from the hockey gods and this is only his first contract in the NHL. I always have thought that these young guys should be given at least two 3-yr contracts and have them both seen through until making a final decision on the player unless it’s painfully obvious that they aren’t NHL players like Niinimaki or Bonsignore, right?
Could you imagine if the Oilers had given up on Ryan Smyth after his first year or if the Bruins had thrown the towel in on Joe Thornton after his rookie season?
Look, even though later in the post it might seem like I’m doing this but I don’t want to make this a Kailer vs. Jesse thing because they are both outstanding talents that the Oilers would be good to hold onto at all costs. Kailer is going to set up a lot of goals for the Oilers in the future and Jesse is going to score a lot of goals.
I will put some heat on the Edmonton media though because I think they’re not supporting Puljujarvi like they should be.
Most recently I was listening to the Jason Gregor Show from July 13th and Gregor wasn’t the host, it was former Oilers defenseman, Jason Strudwick. Well, in segment three of the show he had Lowetide on and they started discussing “compete” around the 20-minute mark…
Before we get going I just want to say that I like Strudwick more than I like a lot of the pundits that cover the Oilers. He reminds me of Ostreicher from American Pie a bit. But I’m simply critiquing what he’s said in that segment. I’m not trying to take shots at him, I’m just offering a take on his words and those of Lowetide’s. It’s a wonderfully insightful segment, I just think there are a few holes in their statements.
“I want people that compete, people that can try all over the ice.” – Strudwick
Fair enough, I’d like each player to go balls out for 82 games a year too but as a player himself, he knows that he’s not going to get that from all the guys on the bench 100% of the time. Injuries and slumps slow the best of players down.
“Competing isn’t restricted to your 4th liners or to your 7th defencemen or your backup goalie or that gritty RWer Justin Williams that plays you know, he’s a special game 7 guy. It’s guys that wanna go and get the puck and compete for it and when I’m looking at the Oilers roster I think they have some. I think they have some guys that can find some more and some guys we don’t know if they are or not because they aren’t doing it on a consistent basis.
For instance, I’ll give you Jesse Puljujarvi…” – Strudwick
Okay… Here we go on Jesse.
Before folks were complaining about his “processor” and now it’s his work ethic…
At what point are folks just reaching to find things to talk about this summer? I mean I’m happy we’re not talking about Lucic but shouldn’t we be talking about what Todd McLellan can do to get the best out of Jesse? Why not put a bit of pressure on the coach instead of hanging it all on a just turned 20-year-old?
Strudwick has played with a plethora of skilled yet unmotivated players in his days, so it’s safe to say that he might know a thing or two about players who illustrate excellent work ethic but when I think about a “lazy” player, I think about Patrick O’Sullivan. Is that where we are with Jesse?
“Jesse Puljujarvi to me, he is a guy that needs to be complete compete more often and that just, it should be a given because when Todd McLellan stands on his bench and he looks down in front of him and if I were him and I looked over to Jesse I’m like, “OK, what has he got tonight? First shift, he’s not going? Okay, that’s tough luck”, that’s not good enough. You gotta have guys that are on it all the time.” – Strudwick
As I said above. It’s unrealistic to think that you’re going to get 100% effort from all your boys 100% of the time. The NHL season is long, it’s hard, and just because Puljujarvi is 19 doesn’t mean he’s invincible. In fact, last year was his first real NHL season and that’s not easy for a 19-year-old but he managed to find a way to score 12 goals in that time and it’s completely possible he could’ve scored 20 had he spend the whole year in Edmonton and was afforded PP time.
It’d be nice if Strudwick or Gregor could get one of Puljujarvi’s old coaches on the show and ask him what they think of the former MVP of the WJHCs’ “complete compete”… I bet you they’d hear a different message…
The folks from Finland that I’ve talked to have said to me that Jesse needs some time to get acclimated to a new level and his surroundings but once he’s comfortable, he dominates.
We’re talking about a young man who left his family to live on his own in another city to play hockey at age 13!!! And we’ve got media members questioning Puljujarvi’s maturity and work ethic? You’ve got to be kidding me.
“I think you find for the most part Connor has that, Nugent-Hopkins will do that, we saw Strome get better at that as time goes on; Kassian we seen it in the past, we hadn’t seen it enough last year, I think Brodziak will bring that, Drake better bring that, Ty Rattie has no choice but to bring that or he’ll bring it right back down to the minors, Jujhar Khaira I think can bring that.” – Strudwick
So top-6 centres and bottom-6 grinders are the guys that have that “complete compete”? Shocking.
I know Strome is a bit of an outlier here because he floats throughout the lineup and Rattie is on the top line because he performed well with 97/93 at the end of last year but why wasn’t Lucic included in that group? Where was Leon’s name? Does Aberg or Reider get a mention here or do they lack that “complete compete” too?
If compete means winning possession then how can Puljujarvi be so bad when his possession numbers surely tell us the opposite. I mean compared to a buzzsaw like Drake Caggiula, whose compete is rarely in question but possession numbers are, how can you come to the conclusion that Puljujarvi lacks “complete compete”?
Just because Caggiula is McLellan’s pet doesn’t make his effort anymore existent than Puljujarvi’s.
Now this is where Lowetide chimes in and look, I don’t want to give the impression that I’m shitting on LT. He’s a hero of mine and for whatever reason recently he’s been saying some things that have put me off a bit that I don’t understand.
“When I see Puljujarvi I see a guy that has all the tools to just manhandle people, even if he’s not trying he’s a big kid and he doesn’t even have man strength yet so is that something you can… Because sometimes I think the personality of a player is to be, I’ll use the word ‘docile’, it’s not what I really mean but ‘less aggressive’ and can you coach that into a player or is he what he is?” – Lowetide
Is Alexander Barkov an aggressive player? What about Anze Kopitar? Is Patrik Laine physically assertive? What about Mikko Rantanen or James Van Riemsdyk?
Since when does an introverted personality equate to success on the ice and why would a hockey coach want to try and change a player’s personality? Was Jesse Puljujarvi drafted because the Oiler saw him playing in a different manner than he does today? When he won the MVP of the World Juniors, did we hear a lot of raving about his physical game?
Here is a list of the last 10 WJHC MVPs, how many of them are busts at the NHL Level?
- 2018 – Casey Middlestadt
- 2017 – Kiril Kaprizov
- 2016 – Jesse Puljujarvi
- 2015 – Max Domi
- 2014 – Filip Forsberg
- 2013 – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
- 2012 – Yevgeny Kuznetsov
- 2011 – Brayden Schenn
- 2010 – Jordan Eberle
- 2009 – John Tavares
“See for me though, last fall, Yamamoto won the job from Puljujarvi and Yamamoto stayed because he won more battles and Yamamoto is 5’7″. He should’ve been going down to junior like after the 2nd game of the pre-season but he kept doing things and he kept winning those little battles in the offensive zone and by ‘battles’ he came out with the puck, he wasn’t physically knocking anybody off but the idea of winning the battle means you win the puck and I just wonder, because I look at Puljujarvi and I mean, some guys run into him by accident and they hurt themselves. So, if he had that mindset a little more or went in there with that as the first option when he headed into the corner I think he could be more effective but I don’t know, we’ve seen big guys, you mentioned Colborne a minute ago, he’s 6’5″ I think; those guys don’t play big.”
Anton Slepyshev was sent down the night before game 1 on a rehab stint and Todd McLellan was still wearing his Draisaitl/McDavid combo hard on. So the idea that Yamamoto “won” the job over Jesse Puljujarvi is overstated in my opinion. Yes, Yamamoto had 7 pts to Jesse’s three but in my opinion, the Oilers had the option to send Jesse down to the AHL that they didn’t have with Yamamoto.
Even LT himself said Yamamoto should’ve been sent back to Spokane after gm 2 of the pre-season. So if that’s the case, did Yamo really earn it or were the Oilers in a bit of a bind due to injuries and a flexible contract belonging to Puljujarvi?
And did Yamamoto score his 5 goals because he took the puck off of someone?
- Goal vs. Carolina bounced off his leg
- Goal vs. Vancouver was a one-timer from the left circle
- Goal vs. Vancouver was an empty-netter
- Goal vs. Calgary was all Draisaitl, Yamo picked off a pizza and made Dougie Hamilton look like a rookie.
- Goal vs. Winnipeg he basically kicked the puck in the net.
So he didn’t score those goals in the pre-season vs, other teams’ pre-season squads because he was outworking them in the corners. To his credit it though, he was in the right place at the right time.
“I think in that 2016 draft we’ve heard the Oilers really liked Sergachev but I bet they liked Tkachuk too. And I think when Puljujarvi fell to them they took him because they had him at three and you follow your list, right? But do you think they’d done their due diligence on Puljujarvi?” – Lowetide
There’s a lot of right in this quote but there’s also a little wrong. The Oilers were drafting in the top 5. Do you really think that Edmonton failed to do their homework on Jesse Puljujarvi, a player that had been on the radars of NHL scouts as a top 3 pick since he was 16 years old?
McKeen’s, in their 2015 NHL draft preview had this to say about Puljujarvi who they ranked 3rd behind Auston Matthews and Jakob Chychrun:
A north-south threat who excels driving outside defenders and exploiting a heavy shot and swift shooting release. Plays a subtle power game, succeeding with a steady tenacity and compete level. Excels as a forechecking torpedo, dishing out forceful hits and winning battles down low. Pushes back defenders when driving the net ferociously with speed. Not a flashy skater, yet smooth in turns, generates deceiving power,
Misses some east/west agility as well as some balance at top speed. Not the most graceful in startup but makes up for it with a long, dynamic stride. Not a pure puckhandler, misses some in-close control, and can labour with passing accuracy. Makes up for it with his strength and power advantages. Still adding strength to tall yet rangy frame.
Projects as an elite finisher, one who uses size and strength effectively while utilizing an elite shot in prime scoring areas.
This quote from The Hockey News 2016 Draft Preview should shed some light on Puljujarvi’s “questionable” compete:
“Puljujarvi will never shortchange his team in effort. But while he’s hugely competitive, he’s far more than just a high-motor guy. Sometimes people see his competitiveness and activity, they get caught looking at that and forget what a good player he is.”
In fact, according to that issue of The Hockey News, some scouts said that you were just splitting hairs when deciding between Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi after Auston Matthews.
“Well when the Finnish GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets passed on him at three I was both very happy as someone who supports the Oilers and very scared because I’m like “What just happened?” – Strudwick
“There’s not that many people in Finland. This isn’t Russia where like you live on one side and I live on the other and I’ve never seen you play. Everyone speaks to each other. So did they do their due diligence? I’m not sure about that but I know that a GM that would know him VERY well chose to go with PL Dubois who has turned out to be, at this point, a better player than we see with Puljujarvi.” – Strudwick
Yes, the Blue Jackets GM is Finnish but it’s not like he was living in Finland and getting any more of a first-hand account on Puljujarvi than the other teams, right? If I’m not mistaken, isn’t Kekalainen on record saying that he was after a centre and that they’d been scouting Dubois for quite a while?
As if the Oilers hadn’t done their due diligence on Puljujarvi being in a lottery spot like they were. Seems like a bunch of revisionist rhetoric to me. Was Pelle Eklund busy at the time NOT watching Laine and Puljujarvi tear up the SM-Liigga?
“I think this is a big year for Puljujarvi. I’m a fan of his, I love the size… I just think he could be a really good hockey player. I just hope that he is because the pressure will be enormous. You think it’s bad now on this kid if he has another year where he struggles and they’re not going to be able to trade him for anything. I don’t even want to say what it might end up being but this is a big year for that kid” – Lowetide
LT is right, it’s going to be a big year for Jesse. If he hasn’t felt the pressure yet or got a hint of it 2nd hand from watching Milan Lucic go through what he’s going through, I’m not sure he’ll ever feel it. Actually, I’m not even sure he’s the type that actually feels pressure. He’s always smiling and picking his nose with his tongue.
That being said, I’ve heard Jesse is having full conversations in English now. He’s looking very fit. Like, might give Oscar a run for best abs on the team fit. He’s training up in Oulu with his BFF Sebastian Aho and I’ve heard he’s experimenting with some new skates and a new stick setup.
We’re in for a treat this upcoming season. I hope you’re ready for the PULJU SCREAM!
