Line Combos: Puljujarvi vs Yamamoto

[McHelpus]

We need to find a way to keep both. These are the players we will regret losing when there gone. Allocate money and focus on the players we drafted and stop looking into free agency to solve all of our problems.

 

[Tarus]

Kind of an easy choice - Puljujarvi.

While Yamamoto is more offensively dynamic of the two, he pretty clearly lacks ability to impact the game overall. His size will always hold him back at the NHL level, and almost any misstep or injury that slows him down could see him out of the league in a hurry, making him a bit of a long term risk. With how much he's struggled to score over the last 2 years despite premium minutes with one of the best offensive centers in the entire NHL, he's already looking like someone who would be pushed out of the lineup in a hurry if the Oilers had more competent NHL depth at the wing position. It's probable that reality will come to fruition sooner than later with Holloway and Bourgault in the wings anyways, since they will likely start making inroads towards making the team within the next year or two as the team is forced to move to younger, cost controlled players due to their cap situation

On the other hand, while Puljujarvi will never be the offensive player he was drafted to be due to his lack of hockey sense, his ability to use his size and reach means he'll always be valuable to a hockey team. It's too bad he's tracking to be more of an Ethan Moreau(albeit, a non-physical version) rather than the first line star forward everyone was hoping for, but big defensive forwards who can chip in offensively in spurts are always useful at the NHL level. Only real question about his future with the team at this point is how much the artificial point bump he's gotten being a fixture in the top six and on the powerplay will impact his salary demands going forward

 

[PulYou]

Kind of an easy choice - Puljujarvi.

While Yamamoto is more offensively dynamic of the two, he pretty clearly lacks ability to impact the game overall. His size will always hold him back at the NHL level, and almost any misstep or injury that slows him down could see him out of the league in a hurry, making him a bit of a long term risk. With how much he's struggled to score over the last 2 years despite premium minutes with one of the best offensive centers in the entire NHL, he's already looking like someone who would be pushed out of the lineup in a hurry if the Oilers had more competent NHL depth at the wing position. It's probable that reality will come to fruition sooner than later with Holloway and Bourgault in the wings anyways, since they will likely start making inroads towards making the team within the next year or two as the team is forced to move to younger, cost controlled players due to their cap situation

On the other hand, while Puljujarvi will never be the offensive player he was drafted to be due to his lack of hockey sense, his ability to use his size and reach means he'll always be valuable to a hockey team. It's too bad he's tracking to be more of an Ethan Moreau(albeit, a non-physical version) rather than the first line star forward everyone was hoping for, but big defensive forwards who can chip in offensively in spurts are always useful at the NHL level. Only real question about his future with the team at this point is how much the artificial point bump he's gotten being a fixture in the top six and on the powerplay will impact his salary demands going forward

Once again these ”hot takes” on Pulju’s hockey IQ. One should follow more carefully him playing to notice all the small big things he is doing on ice constantly.

 

[Tarus]

Once again these ”hot takes” on Pulju’s hockey IQ. One should follow more carefully him playing to notice all the small big things he is doing on ice constantly.

One clip does not an argument make, especially not a clip that could just as easily be a failed attempt to chip the puck past a player along the boards as it is an intentional play to draw a penalty(the first seems more likely considering he's swiping at the puck with one hand on his stick). Contrary to your "hot takes" comment, there has been months of good and bad plays(and long stretches of invisibility) from Puljujarvi, and he's shown a pretty clear trend that he doesn't have a strong ability to think and react at the level needed to be a top tier offensive hockey player at the NHL level. It's not at insult either, nor did I say he was dumb or a zero hockey IQ player, I was just pointing out that he's not going to be that star winger he was drafted as.

Fortunately, he's much more coachable his second go-around in the NHL, and it looks like he'll be able to carve out a niche as a big complimentary 2nd/3rd line winger, which is valuable in of itself.

 

[Zenos]

I wonder if seeing Kane play way more physical than anyone on the Oilers has in 30 years will bring out more physicality in PJ.

The Oilers of 1997 through 2006 would like to have a word with you

 

[Rengorlex]

I don't think JP has any issues with hockey IQ, it's decent for NHL level. What he could improve in is his shooting ability (quick release under pressure) and generally stickhandling and making plays under pressure. But if he was good at all those things, you'd be looking at Mikko Rantanen instead of Jesse Puljujärvi. He's a fine player as is and generally a heavily positive influence on his line.

 

[McDNicks17]

I voted both because you have to keep Pulju around and I don't think it will take much to keep Yamo around.

 

[Whyme]

Puljujarvi is effective at keeping the puck in the offensive zone, his, +-, corsi and fenwick are the best of the team.

I would like to see a bit more production from him, but his dirty work helps create goals without him getting all the points he might "deserve", which lowers his coming salary.

If he'd got more PP time he would pretty easily be the 3rd best scorer of the team. Now he's the 4th best but his ES points/60 is the 3rd best. It's good to build on that.

Yamamoto's contract will be very reasonable so I don't think there's a need to move him unless he could be part of a tempting package.

 

[Whyme]

On the other hand, while Puljujarvi will never be the offensive player he was drafted to be due to his lack of hockey sense, his ability to use his size and reach means he'll always be valuable to a hockey team. It's too bad he's tracking to be more of an Ethan Moreau(albeit, a non-physical version) rather than the first line star forward everyone was hoping for, but big defensive forwards who can chip in offensively in spurts are always useful at the NHL level. Only real question about his future with the team at this point is how much the artificial point bump he's gotten being a fixture in the top six and on the powerplay will impact his salary demands going forward

At the beginning of the season he was pretty much like what was expected at the time of draft. I don't see why he couldn't be like that again, it's not like he's 40 or something. Now it's been a bit of up and down but it seems like there's still some mental things going on and it's obviously confidence based. I believe him being used in different roles plays a part.

It's also worth noting that he's maybe the only player drafted at his status who still hasn't got to try in his natural PP position. It's possible he'd be running the first PP unit with great success and this would increase his confidence. But for sure developing the areas you mentioned would help, it's not like he's perfect in every aspect.

 

[illegalsmile]

Had to go with both, only based on the fact, together, they make one complete player.

 

[SwedishFire]

You keep a player like Pulju anytime because he's a wrecking ball out there and even when not producting is good on forecheck, backcheck, hard to play against, screening goalies, creating chaos and battling for pucks.

Pump and dump with Yama. But it seems like he can't even be pumped, he keeps springing leaks and falling down.

But that also make resigning very cheap. Yamamoto will be max 2 million, Pulju 3,5-4 million per.

 

[94 Oil Drops]

JP for sure. I've stated numerous times that Holloway (potentially even Bourgeault) is going to make Yamamoto obsolete by next season. He just doesn't work well with Draisaitl on line 2 anymore. I'd like to keep him around if you play him with large forwards in the bottom 6. If he stays we would have to assume that Kane won't be resigned in the off season that's for sure.

Unfortunately getting stuck with another full year of Keith and Smith's bad contracts is going to make this off season difficult. Thanks a lot Holland.

 

[Aerchon]

We need to find a way to keep both. These are the players we will regret losing when there gone. Allocate money and focus on the players we drafted and stop looking into free agency to solve all of our problems.

I fear Hollands every decision for good reason but I hope he can keep both. Big picture we have Holloway and Borg and maybe even a Lavoie coming down the pipeline. We have vets like RNH and Hyman signed long term. We obviously want to keep McDrai. Very tough to manage all that but I agree with you and think we need to keep both these players to progress as a team.

As someone else mentioned Yama should be able to be signed cheap. I think 2 mill with how he has played this year is tops but he will have plenty of arguments for more, cough Kassian...

SO if Yama wants more he will have to go.

I see Pulj as very raw still that will likely get better as he learns to use his body, size, speed, and reach more and more. Pulj has a higher upside and is currently better. Hopefully he is fine waiting to get paid cause we cant afford a high raise for him either.

 

[Duke74]

Maybe we can package Yams, Barrie and/or a first for a goalie or defensive D at the trade deadline.

 

[Tarus]

At the beginning of the season he was pretty much like what was expected at the time of draft. I don't see why he couldn't be like that again, it's not like he's 40 or something. Now it's been a bit of up and down but it seems like there's still some mental things going on and it's obviously confidence based. I believe him being used in different roles plays a part.

It's also worth noting that he's maybe the only player drafted at his status who still hasn't got to try in his natural PP position. It's possible he'd be running the first PP unit with great success and this would increase his confidence. But for sure developing the areas you mentioned would help, it's not like he's perfect in every aspect.

The first two months of the year, Drai/Mcdavid were scoring at gretz/Lemieux levels, Hyman looked liked a future 40 goal scorer, and the powerplay was scoring at a legendary rate. It was just an unsustainable hot streak, not benchmark of play you can expect over the long haul. Not to say he won't have more hot streaks going forward(RNH's entire career reputation is based on 2 month hot streaks every 2 or 3 years), just that you can't expect that to be a regular occurrence over time.

Not sure why you think he would be an option to run a powerplay either(or that he's somehow not getting enough powerplay time for that matter). He pretty clearly lacks playmaking vision(holding onto the puck, finding lanes, picking apart defenses, how and when to use teammates) and finesse in his shots/passing(picking spots, varying speed, timing etc).

 

[PulYou]

There are some who think Puljujärvi is the one who will get traded.

 

[PulYou]

Whats the context here? If Holland is trading Pulju for anything short of a proven D/G with term that is stupid, you stick with him and let him keep maturing.

 

[Whyme]

Not sure why you think he would be an option to run a powerplay either(or that he's somehow not getting enough powerplay time for that matter). He pretty clearly lacks playmaking vision(holding onto the puck, finding lanes, picking apart defenses, how and when to use teammates) and finesse in his shots/passing(picking spots, varying speed, timing etc).

He just used to be pretty exceptional as a junior and when he was tried in that position quickly in the Oilers preseason the fans seemed pretty thrilled about the way he played. I think it's just worth trying, but as he wasn't used when Nuge and McDavid were out so I don't expect it to happen under Tippett.

Apart from a few previous games he's got about 40% of the PP time compared to the top guys this season so at least that's a big increase to earlier seasons.

 

[Aerrol]

Thanks cant read that lol behind a paywall but I get the idea. Okay significant assets sure but if Holland trades Pulju before a Broberg or Bourgault or 1st rnd pick he is out to lunch. Those players have significant value to rebuilding teams not to us while Bison King is contributing NOW.

Also Lowetide has less of a track record predicting Oilers moves than the better posters on this board. I still can't believe he got the Athletic to pay him to write his endless blogs about nothing.

 

[Oilhawks]

Lowetide knows nothing. Don’t worry about it

 

[Rengorlex]

Bone-headedly trading Puljujärvi after acquiring Kane for a half season is straigth Holland's MO though. I can absolutely see it happening, and I absolutely dread the idea. Damn.

 

[russ99]

We have rarely seen Puljujarvi away from McDavid. We’ve seen Yamamoto contribute to three lines and score with McDavid and Draisaitl.

Giving Puljujarvi a long term deal without the same test would be more dumb than trading an RFA we may not be able to pay for an impact piece and slot Holloway into the lineup instead.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Also Lowetide has less of a track record predicting Oilers moves than the better posters on this board. I still can't believe he got the Athletic to pay him to write his endless blogs about nothing.

Lowetide was simply a poster on this board. He has no more qualification than anybody here. He's actually a really good example of how media and journalism is dead. you can just tap any flunky on the shoulder and say "hey blogger, you want a job talking up sports" lol that people pay to see the crap. That would be like me paying my neighbor for his opinion on our fence..

Lowetide is the Seinfeld of blogging. he was somewhat popular here, and was a nice guy, but I can't say I learned anything from his hockey posting. Really most of it seemed about baseball or something else most of the time.

 

[Llamamoto]

Puljujarvi's clearly the better (and more important) player, but Yamamoto has been playing much better hockey lately. He has 9 points in his last 12 games.

Ideally we can keep both, but if we're forced to choose between them Puljujarvi's the clear choice. But I don't think Yamamoto will be too expensive to re-sign, and at the price he'll likely command he's definitely worth it.

 

[Magnum23]

Bison king but only if he doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to keep around.