Jesse Puljujarvi Possible Breakout Season.

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Well, he's no Sam Bennett, that's for sure.

To a more important point: Has McLellan actually developed anyone who needed it? Vlasic, Burns, Couture didn't need it in San Jose. McDavid, Drai didn't need it. I think all these guys had enough talent to mostly develop themselves and improve upon their games, as was especially the case with Drai coming into camp last prior to last season with an extra step and playing better 200' hockey.

I really don't know, so I'm asking. Is there a compelling of obvious example of a young player whom Todd took from raw talent to a refined NHL impact player? Did he develop Burns maybe more than I give him credit for? He seems too have too much talent to make a case for that, but maybe I'm wrong.

McLellan's best accomplishment in terms of player development might actually be his time with Brent Burns in the AHL when Burns was Wild property. I believe it was McLellan who converted him from forward to defense in the AHL.

However, the majority of Burns' development came under Peter DeBoer. Burns was a 60 point player before DeBoer in his best season with McLellan and has never scored less than 75 under DeBoer although he probably finishes closer to 60 this year.

 

[KarmaPolice]

McLellan's best accomplishment in terms of player development might actually be his time with Brent Burns in the AHL when Burns was Wild property. I believe it was McLellan who converted him from forward to defense in the AHL.

However, the majority of Burns' development came under Peter DeBoer. Burns was a 60 point player before DeBoer in his best season with McLellan and has never scored less than 75 under DeBoer although he probably finishes closer to 60 this year.

Nice call on his part to convert him to D; I forgot he was a forward first. I guess there's at least a bit of a case to be made there, though could just as easily be dismissed as an outlier, I suppose. That would seem so out of character for him to do something like that these days. I can't even imagine him thinking outside the box like that now. Maybe he's just gotten a lot more stubborn with age, and more rigid in his hockey ideologies.

 

[KarmaPolice]

If yoU watch him, it's clear he is going to be a player. His hands just need to catch up with his feet.
Perhaps changing that long ass stick to a regular hockey stick would help too.

Yeah, I have watched him, and sometimes I feel he can put it all together and other times he just looks like a mess and I feel less convinced. We'll see, but I'm hoping for the best for the kid (and the Oilers, of course). He's still only 19, and I certainly haven't written him off by any means.

 

[Emerz]

I've always wondered why coaches don't put young guys in positions to succeed, as a Bruins fan I'm fortunate that Cassidy loves to give his rookies great positions to play in, tonight Ryan Donato will play his first NHL game and he's going to be on PP1 with Marchand, Pastrnak, Krug, etc.

Same thing with tossing McAvoy on to the top pair for his very first minute of NHL action, he lets the kids run with it and doesn't just bench them or move them down the lineup if they have a poor game or two.

 

[joe dirte]

I sincerely hope not. He seems like a great kid, always has. I just thought he’d perform better, according to this thread.

this thread was created as a knee jerk reaction to a preseason game. if you're judging him by that, you're going to end up as out to lunch as the OP.

 

[ijuka]

Yeah this thread was pretty bad at the time.

To be honest, he just never had the hockey IQ and you could see this during his Liiga season and especially during the u-20s when he was playing on the same line as Laine and Aho - The comparison was not pretty at all and at that point it became perfectly evident that his hockey IQ was leagues below both Laine and Aho's. It truly is no surprise at all that he's doing much worse than the other two in NHL.

Not limited to hockey IQ, IQ seems quite low in general which in turn is going to affect many things, very importantly the ability to train and self-improve. The physical genetics are there but I doubt he's ever going to get it fully together.

Of course, for the sake of Finnish hockey I do hope I'm wrong.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I've always wondered why coaches don't put young guys in positions to succeed, as a Bruins fan I'm fortunate that Cassidy loves to give his rookies great positions to play in, tonight Ryan Donato will play his first NHL game and he's going to be on PP1 with Marchand, Pastrnak, Krug, etc.

Same thing with tossing McAvoy on to the top pair for his very first minute of NHL action, he lets the kids run with it and doesn't just bench them or move them down the lineup if they have a poor game or two.

You're lucky. Our coach would rather put a bust of a player in Rattie on the top line with McDavid and Nuge, instead of giving Jesse a true opportunity to succeed at the moment (and for the rest of the season, IMO), raise his confidence and help him gain traction as a top-6 winger in this league. Also almost no PP time for him. Wouldn't even put Ethan Bear (a young, promising offensive Dman) on a 5-on-3 PP in a meaningless game against Tampa last night. Frustrating.

 

[Emerz]

You're lucky. Our coach would rather put a bust of a player in Rattie on the top line with McDavid and Nuge, instead of giving Jesse a true opportunity to succeed, raise his confidence and help him gain traction as a top-6 winger in this league. Also almost no PP time for him. Wouldn't even put Ethan Bear (a young, promising offensive Dman) on a 5-on-3 PP in a meaningless game against Tampa last night. Frustrating.

Yeah I saw last night and couldn't really believe it, he's gotta give the kids a chance, I mean I'm not saying every single prospect who gets called up should be out on the first PP unit but I know Bear had a great season in the WHL and he's not going to collapse and forget how to play hockey during a 5 on 3.

It's just weird, the kids aren't going to be making a ton more mistakes than a veteran favorite, if they're going to be making mistakes at all. It's not like the Oilers are fighting for playoff positioning, the seasons over and has been for a while, at least give your promising prospects good positions to play in.

 

[McDNicks17]

Yeah I saw last night and couldn't really believe it, he's gotta give the kids a chance, I mean I'm not saying every single prospect who gets called up should be out on the first PP unit but I know Bear had a great season in the WHL and he's not going to collapse and forget how to play hockey during a 5 on 3.

It's just weird, the kids aren't going to be making a ton more mistakes than a veteran favorite, if they're going to be making mistakes at all.

The worst part is McLellan preaches stuff like accountability and earning ice time when asked about the young guys, but then trots out the corpses of Lucic and Cammalleri onto the top line and #1 PP unit.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

The worst part is McLellan preaches stuff like accountability and earning ice time when asked about the young guys, but then trots out the corpses of Lucic and Cammalleri onto the top line and #1 PP unit.

I am glad that the coaching staff is trying to develop young 35 year old phenom Mike Cammaleri for his breakout season next year.

 

[hirawl]

He's going to be fine. He just needs to be let loose. Figuratively speaking mostly and as much by himself as the coach.

A fantastic talent and any talks of low hockey IQ is just pure nonsense.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Nice call on his part to convert him to D; I forgot he was a forward first. I guess there's at least a bit of a case to be made there, though could just as easily be dismissed as an outlier, I suppose. That would seem so out of character for him to do something like that these days. I can't even imagine him thinking outside the box like that now. Maybe he's just gotten a lot more stubborn with age, and more rigid in his hockey ideologies.

I'm not sure if it was actually McLellan's decision.

At any rate, I don't think McLellan is great with developing young players. The Sharks are in a playoff spot right now primarily due to an influx of young players who have propelled the Sharks' depth scoring to being some of the best in the NHL. Timo Meier has 19 goals already, Kevin LaBanc has 38 points, and Chris Tierney has 17 goals and 36 points - all this with 10 games left in the season.

Before the season, all 3 of those guys were seen as players who may or may not have had a future in the NHL as regulars on a championship team. Tierney had played a full season over the last 2 years, but had seriously struggled as a 4th line center. LaBanc had played more than half the year last year, but he hit a wall and didn't play a single NHL playoff game. Meier played less than half the season last year and put up some pretty poor numbers.

This year, the Sharks are slightly better than a bubble team and that slight difference is due to them having above average depth scoring from their top-9. All 3 of these players are bonafide top-9 forwards with other great features to their games in addition to their scoring ability. Tierney is the leading forward in PK time on the team with the #1 PK. Meier is on a 30 goal pace in the last ~45 games and is a great possession player and physical beast. LaBanc is also a great possession player and has proven himself to be a very useful asset on the PP.

The Sharks never had this type of player development under Todd McLellan.

 

[KarmaPolice]

The Sharks never had this type of player development under Todd McLellan.

I figured as such. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Slap]

Yeah this thread was pretty bad at the time.

To be honest, he just never had the hockey IQ and you could see this during his Liiga season and especially during the u-20s when he was playing on the same line as Laine and Aho - The comparison was not pretty at all and at that point it became perfectly evident that his hockey IQ was leagues below both Laine and Aho's. It truly is no surprise at all that he's doing much worse than the other two in NHL.

Not limited to hockey IQ, IQ seems quite low in general which in turn is going to affect many things, very importantly the ability to train and self-improve. The physical genetics are there but I doubt he's ever going to get it fully together.

Of course, for the sake of Finnish hockey I do hope I'm wrong.

What the actual f***? He was absolutely brilliant in the Liiga playoffs and arguably the best player in that U20 gold winning team.

 

[Kelly]

I'm not sure what's more ridiculous, TWS proclaiming a breakout season after a preseason game, or people calling Puljuj a bust @ 19 years young.

 

[I am Canadian]

Potentially Yakupov 2.0?

 

[KarmaPolice]

I'm not sure what's more ridiculous, TWS proclaiming a breakout season after a preseason game, or people calling Puljuj a bust @ 19 years young.

Frankly, I doubt he ever even plays an NHL game.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Potentially Yakupov 2.0?

Possibly. He has shown much less offense than Yak but a better defensive game.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Draisatl had the same development trajectory Pulju is on right now.
Everyone were so worried we were destroying Drai. Same deal with Pulju, watch him next season. Kids his age are very rarely impact players

Uhh...in Drais draft +2 season he had 51 points in 72 games.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Potentially Yakupov 2.0?

Yakupov is a spaz on skates with 0 hockey IQ. I think everyone can finally agree on that by now.

Jesse looks like he does have a clue where to be at least a lot of the time, so there is definite promise in that regard. Needs better coaching. Maybe should study a lot of Laine tape to see how he finds spots to get open for shots, and how fast he gets those shots off and in what area of the ice, etc. He's a wildcard, but still lots of potential.

If anything, it could be a Paajarvi 2.0. I doubt it, but I think that would be the better possible comparison. Their playing styles are more similar than to Yak, and they weren't 1st overall picks, so less expectations. Though I guess there were definite higher expectations for Pulju than Paajarvi. Eh, whatever.

 

[Martin Skoula]

Even if he has low IQ (could turn it around still), you can still make a less physical Chad Kilger out of him. Too many physical gifts not to be a useful player in the NHL.

 

[Puck Dogg]

Puljujarvi has shown this season some of the things he can do. With language barrier and all it takes time to adjust. I expect him to be good next season. If not, we can start talkin about not filling potential,

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Poolparty the under achiever
He’ll get better and become the next Jordan Eberle

 

[oobga]

The kid gloves are fully on with Pulju. McLellan says he scared to even put the pressure of playing on the PP on him.

Not sure what to think about how this kid is being handled anymore.

 

[Hatter of the Beach]

He’ll be fine, and I’m someone who likes bashing on the Oilers. May never be a star, but I see no reason to think he can’t be a good second liner at minimum.

Give him time. Even if he dosen’t have high hockey IQ he is too athletic and has too much skill to bust completely. May turn out to be a bad pick at 4 but can you name even a dozen players who have shown more than him from his draft year? Because I don’t think I can