Why do people who blame Oilers for Puljujärvi's lack of development forget that Oilers didn't ruin Draisaitl?
We almost ruined Draisaitl. He was shell shocked when we sent him back to junior. Took him almost 2months to get his mojo back.
I guess the easiest way to describe it is like this:
For a young defenseman, learning to stay in the NHL is a matter of banking it safely off the glass and out. If you can do this better than the veteran depth guy, you'll have a spot on the team....
.. the problem with it is leaning the style of play that 'keeps' you in the league, you aren't practicing looking up the ice and finding outlet passes, finding open ice to skate it out, looking to attack with numbers, identifying forecheckers.
The NHL is so fast, Hall once said, you had no time to think, it was almost like going off of pure muscle memory.
JP needed to develop his ability to read the play, getting to open ice, get body position on players, reading a transition, learning how to trap players low, and get the puck into dangerous areas.
Instead he's been learning to treat the puck like a hand-grenade, keep back outside the perimetre, and he did barely enough to keep himself in the league as a beleaguered depth player, rather than work on his game in the minors.
He's played so few minutes the past few seasons, he's never had the chance to even gain any traction or confidence. And due to how shitty the Oilers develop players, he's now waiver eligible next season.
He needs a solid year or more in the minors, and its doubtful all 31 teams will pass on him.
The Oilers screwed his development badly.