Player Discussion Jesse Puljujärvi 4th Overall 2016 Draft. Part V: Called Up 11/10/17

[CycloneSweep]

Its hyperbole in my humble opinion.
Like I said before this looks a lot like Yakupov ver 2 where we point the finger at everything (and everybody) but the player himself.
Jesse has a lot to adjust to and the solution for all he has on his plate isn't to point the finger at TMac.
Jesse doesnt even know the fricken language...he said himself that he hasnt adjusted very well and wants to make the adjustment a priority.
So perhaps the coach recognizes that he just isnt ready and that Jesse has a lot to attend to before he is given the toughest minutes on the team with the best player.

Sounds a lot more plausible to me that suggesting that the coach is getting in the way of the players success.

Couldn't it be a mix of both.
Yakupov being thinned skinned and not listening and coaching not treating him fairly either.

I think the worse thing with Pulju is he doesn't understand English well so in a game, if you sit him for making a mistake that was minor that other guys are doing worse and aren't getting sat, he may not understand why.

I am not saying the player is completely not at fault, I think he has a lot to work on. That said I don't think he has been treated completely fairly either. Wasn't he told to find a place to live here and then a few days later gets tossed on a plane and sent down?

 

[GameChanger]

Couldn't it be a mix of both.
Yakupov being thinned skinned and not listening and coaching not treating him fairly either.

I think the worse thing with Pulju is he doesn't understand English well so in a game, if you sit him for making a mistake that was minor that other guys are doing worse and aren't getting sat, he may not understand why.

I am not saying the player is completely not at fault, I think he has a lot to work on. That said I don't think he has been treated completely fairly either. Wasn't he told to find a place to live here and then a few days later gets tossed on a plane and sent down?

I think you nailed it very well here. Yes the player has things to work on, too, so it's easy to mix two things. It's just that last autumn he had a period of games where he managed to hide those issues well, and at that time the benching wasn't really justified. Also not because he'd had several good games in a row.

This preseason he had two strong games, but too weaker and yes he was sent down despite being told to look for an apartment in Edmonton. Those things happen, though, as it's a tough world, but at the same time e.g. Caggiula and Strome didn't show much in the preseason and were allowed to stay in the roster. Of course Jesse was younger and a foreigner, so it was probably easier to tell him to head to California. I actually understand these kind of things play a part too, while they maybe shouldn't.

 

[GameChanger]

When Jesse played with McDavid his ice-time was 13-15 minutes. After he was benched he had only two games were he played over 10 minutes. In some it was just three or six minutes, and he also sat a lot between the games. I don't think his confidence handled that too well. In the four games before getting benched his +- was +5 and he had scored four assists (not five as I wrote earlier).

 

[guymez]

No offense but it seems like you didn't really watch the last season or at least last autumn too much. I'm sorry if I'm wrong, but you should know what I'm talking about is how it went. I may be wrong in many things but I know this is not one of them.

As for Jesse's language, I was very disappointed that he wasn't prepared better. However, he's taken a lot of language lessons and is doing much better now.

I understand there may be a reason for the coach to think Jesse is not ready and that's fine. I'm only talking about the last autumn, as that's when he was doing fine. The rawer sides started to show after the benching roulette started.

I watch every game. I just think that you are looking at the situation through a different lens. There were holes in Jesses game last season as well. There were too many times when he would watch the play....too many times when that habit would mean that a defensive assignment was missed. So I had no issue with how he was handled. He just wasnt ready. Couple that with the obvious culture challenges and Jesse had much developing left to do.

Perhaps you are more emotionally attached to the player than I am. Just throwing it out there as a possibility.

 

[guymez]

Couldn't it be a mix of both.
Yakupov being thinned skinned and not listening and coaching not treating him fairly either.

I think the worse thing with Pulju is he doesn't understand English well so in a game, if you sit him for making a mistake that was minor that other guys are doing worse and aren't getting sat, he may not understand why.

I am not saying the player is completely not at fault, I think he has a lot to work on. That said I don't think he has been treated completely fairly either. Wasn't he told to find a place to live here and then a few days later gets tossed on a plane and sent down?

For sure...I think that the former management team and especially the coaching let Yakupov down. But I also think that part of being a pro player means that you have to have resilience in times of stress. There are times that require more effort on more aspects of your game and thats where Yakupov failed miserabley.
He also had character issues...he would repeatedly point the finger at anybody but himself. That was a major red flag IMO.

Jesse has has other challenges which i have noted in previous posts. He just wasnt ready last season and again this season. I think there were signs and the coaches easily picked up on these signs.
Look I am not adverse to criticizing management on this team when I feel its warranted...my history on here is full of examples.
In this case however I dont see this as anything but a part of Jesse's development curve. There has been no evidence IMO of instances where the coaches are purposefully holding him back.
He just isnt ready yet and he will decide (with his play on the ice and his improved english) when he is ready.

 

[GameChanger]

I watch every game. I just think that you are looking at the situation through a different lens. There were holes in Jesses game last season as well. There were too many times when he would watch the play....too many times when that habit would mean that a defensive assignment was missed. So I had no issue with how he was handled. He just wasnt ready. Couple that with the obvious culture challenges and Jesse had much developing left to do.

Perhaps you are more emotionally attached to the player than I am. Just throwing it out there as a possibility.

I think the main thing is the Oilers has become my favourite team slowly, and last year my main concentration was around Jesse. It may be different to someone else, to whom Jesse is just one player in a team that they follow. I watched the games I could and read pretty much all the comments here, and I just know that if Jesse had that serious weaknesses in the autumn they weren't mentioned here too much at that time. He started to falter more, and especially get lost out of the picture only after the benching thing started. He did have one very good game then too, after which many people here wanted him back in the 1st line.

I respect you and your opinions, but would we just agree to disagree a bit here. It's night here so I need to go to bed, thanks for this conversation!

 

[MessierII]

It has been in the past couple years. With Yakupov and Puljujarvi.

Maybe he does like the players but it's his way of developing them. Either way I am not a huge fan of it but if it works in the end, whatever.

It's tough to question Tmacs methods when he has such an excellent track record of developing young players in San Jose. Pavelski, Vlassic, Couture, Hertl even Burns to a degree. So far here Drai and Connor have exceeded expectations. Let Todd do his thing.

 

[guymez]

I think the main thing is the Oilers has become my favourite team slowly, and last year my main concentration was around Jesse. It may be different to someone else, to whom Jesse is just one player in a team that they follow. I watched the games I could and read pretty much all the comments here, and I just know that if Jesse had that serious weaknesses in the autumn they weren't mentioned here too much at that time. He started to falter more, and especially get lost out of the picture only after the benching thing started. He did have one very good game then too, after which many people here wanted him back in the 1st line.

I respect you and your opinions, but would we just agree to disagree a bit here. It's night here so I need to go to bed, thanks for this conversation!

I think we can find some common ground in that we really want to see Jesse succeed.

 

[GameChanger]

I think we can find some common ground in that we really want to see Jesse succeed.

Yes, definitely. It doesn't matter if we see the player differently, as we both wish the best possible success for the player and the Oilers.

I was really hoping Jesse could've had a great game in the AHL last night. I guess I was expecting a ppg rate so two points in three games is a bit less. It sounded like Jesse was very disappointed to be sent down and maybe he was nervous last night as he knew a great game could bring him up at this situation, but in any case I'm sure he can do better. Then again, if it was that easy to score in every AHL game I suppose Slepy should've scored a point in his game too, and Drai some more in his games.

I understand people have differen opinions about Jesse, but I don't always get who deserve a place in the roster. Out of the last three preseason games Jesse was said to have two good ones. At the same time e.g. Strome and Caggiula had worse preseason games, at least that's what I read several times. I hope that they'd just decided to keep Jesse in the roster for some time, as it's likely that in 10-20 games he'd be better than some of the other players. His highs are higher than what you can expect from some players, so as long as he's not really costing points maybe he should have a place in the roster, even if it means resting every third game or so.

 

[Ninety7]

Save us yessi

 

[snipes]

Put him in coach. Some of those other passengers need to be stapled to the bench or sent down.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Put him in coach. Some of those other passengers need to be stapled to the bench or sent down.

Yeah let's wreck his development even more. Sounds like a great plan. Leave him in the minors.

 

[snipes]

Yeah let's wreck his development even more. Sounds like a great plan. Leave him in the minors.

Yeah a couple games up will ruin him while Drai recovers.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Yeah a couple games up will ruin him while Drai recovers.

We have no idea how long he'll be out for starters and secondly he's not forcing the Oilers hand.

 

[McDrai]

Might have to bring the kid up. He would easily outperform Strome. Put him on the top line with McDavid to get his confidence going

Maroon-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Lucic-RNH-Yamamoto
Jokinen-Strome-Kassian
Caggiula-Letestu-Slepyshev
Khaira

 

[Soundwave]

I'd bring Jesse up for a few games. If he looks bad, just send him back down. Not a big deal. At least he would bring some speed into the lineup.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Put him in coach. Some of those other passengers need to be stapled to the bench or sent down.

Agreed. I'd rather he come up after a big game in Bako but it's not a necessity.

I'd bring Jesse up for a few games. If he looks bad, just send him back down. Not a big deal. At least he would bring some speed into the lineup.

Agreed. We need more speed and skill in the lineup, he brings both.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Agreed. I'd rather he come up after a big game in Bako but it's not a necessity.



Agreed. We need more speed and skill in the lineup, he brings both.

Bringing him up is a huge risk. If he gets called up its in hopes he jolts the lineup. If he comes in and shits the bed like the rest of the team, it'll be difficult for his development.

 

[Tyrolean]

Keep him in the AHL for now. No need to panic/

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Yeah let's wreck his development even more. Sounds like a great plan. Leave him in the minors.

It sure wrecked Draisaitl's development when he came up after 2 points in 6 games in the AHL.

Hopefully they can wreck Puljujarvi's just like that aswell.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

When JP gets comfortable in the NHL and starts playing with the confidence he had in the juniors and Finland, Oilers are gonna win the cup.

Prepare to wait that at least 2 more years perhaps even more if something goes wrong in AHL.
Right now looks obvious Puljujarvi is long term project pick with that ''bandy'' skating

Jesse looked really good in 2016 world juniors only for that he played with Laine and Aho.
Which made him better also big European ice surface was huge factor.

If 2016 world juniors would have played in North American ice
Jesse's draft number would have been something else than 4 ( somewhere in top 30 like Tolvanen this year)

Sorry to say this.
But Jesse Puljujarvi didn't get nothing refinement to NHL requirements during his years in SM liiga.

Lauri Marjamaki's passive and slow trap game when he coached Jesse in SM liiga
is seriously hindered Jesse's transition to North American ice surface.

And yes to me Jesse is player who would benefited to playing in CHL instead of passive and slow SM liiga. Which hasn't been real NHL refinery for years without the exception of certain exceptions ( Barkov, Laine and Aho). Other brutal fact is Marjamaki was that coach who questioned Jesse's received coaching in AHL last season before hockey world championships in Paris.

 

[Soundwave]

We can wait for 2 years for Jesse if that's what it takes.

That's fine. We don't have the cap room anyway to absorb another star player wanting a massive raise off their ELC, it's better Jesse develops more slowly here so we can get him on a more manageable bridge deal.

Jesse doesn't even need to be an line driver, as long as he keep up with McDavid and get the puck off his stick quick, he has the ability to do well here. He needs to iron out some of the weaknesses in his game, just mostly being stronger on the forecheck/board battles.

I do like that he will shoot the puck a lot and make no apologies for that. We need that.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

We can wait for 2 years for Jesse if that's what it takes.

That's fine. We don't have the cap room anyway to absorb another star player wanting a massive raise off their ELC, it's better Jesse develops more slowly here so we can get him on a more manageable bridge deal.

Jesse doesn't even need to be an line driver, as long as he keep up with McDavid and get the puck off his stick quick, he has the ability to do well here. He needs to iron out some of the weaknesses in his game, just mostly being stronger on the forecheck/board battles.

I do like that he will shoot the puck a lot and make no apologies for that. We need that.

One of Jesse's problems is that he hesitates and thinks too much.
When player is playing in NHL he doesn't have time to hesitate or think at all.

Also there's been some talk especially in Finnish hockey board ( jatkoaika.com) Jesse's hockey IQ isn't so high.
Finnish NHL reporter Ilkka Palomaki said when player plays slow and passive game he grows in on that and that's why he looks lost and out of place in NHL where game is much faster than in SM Liiga.

If Jesse really goes through on that mangle where he's now he'll be someday extremely tough guy for mentally. And if that happens i'will raise my hat for Jesse.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I feel like his World Juniors performance greatly boosted his value. He scored 17 points in 7 games, which is massively impressive but he hasn't come even close to that. Last year he had 28 points in 39 AHL games.

I feel like he will be a good middle 6 winger. A 35-45 point guy who is solid defensively. I just don't see him ever being that elite right shot scoring forward that people thought. People were saying he would be McDavids Kurri.

You do need a little context to those numbers. 28 in 39 is decent for a 20 year old, he did that at 18. His numbers are right there with any elite talent that's played in the AHL at that age, including Nylander and Pasta.

 

[FanOfSadTeam]

I feel like the Columbus GM noticed something wrong in Pulju. To be able to speak with Pulju in his native tongue and then to pass on him for someone else must mean he saw something in him that he didn't like (Or maybe he just liked Dubois that much).