I still think he's terrific. So glad the Oilers got him a #4.
Amazing prospect. So lucky he fell into our laps.
And thanks for that belongs to Jarmo Kekalainen.
Oilers got real steal in 2016 NHL draft.
Takchuk's not bad. I think he is the steal.
I think teams are doing favors for Arizona. Chychrun and Crouse just to take contracts. Come on. That's too easy
About AHL... it really isn't a bad thing for a kid to play there. I'd go as far as to say that even McD would have benefited from time in the minors, but in his case his 18-yo form was already "good enough." NHL players only have a couple months each year to build up muscle, that's why it takes until 20-25 to reach their full potential. Having the option to play in a lighter schedule opens up the option for accelerated physical development.
Once the body functions better there suddenly is more time to think and make good decisions. Getting that physical development curve starting to project at a steeper angle upwards at an earlier age can be a good investment for the rest of the career.
Some Finnish media was speculating that Patrik Laine scoring his hat trick makes it so that Oilers might look at Puljujärvi and think that perhaps they should give him a proper chance after all, playing him 19min per night on the top line and seeing what happens.
That's why I hope that also Puljujarvi would get at least a few games with a lot of PP time and a clear PP plan to utilize his shot. I believe he shouldn't need more than a few to score or get an assist from a rebound goal.
About AHL... it really isn't a bad thing for a kid to play there. I'd go as far as to say that even McD would have benefited from time in the minors, but in his case his 18-yo form was already "good enough." NHL players only have a couple months each year to build up muscle, that's why it takes until 20-25 to reach their full potential. Having the option to play in a lighter schedule opens up the option for accelerated physical development.
Once the body functions better there suddenly is more time to think and make good decisions. Getting that physical development curve starting to project at a steeper angle upwards at an earlier age can be a good investment for the rest of the career.
He does a lot of things well, but you can just see its not all clicking yet. It could just end up clicking at any time, or it might take a while, we really don't know.
Takchuk's not bad. I think he is the steal.
Some Finnish media was speculating that Patrik Laine scoring his hat trick makes it so that Oilers might look at Puljujärvi and think that perhaps they should give him a proper chance after all, playing him 19min per night on the top line and seeing what happens.
If a team is making roster decisions based off the success of other teams (better) prospects because they are both from the same country, then someone needs to be fired.
Puljujarvi will or won't play based on the merit of his play, not Laine's.
dDon't really think Detroit did Arizona a favour though (although it could end up looking that way if Chychrun becomes a draft steal), but trading a 2nd to move from 20 to 16, while taking on Datsyuk's contract wasn't exactly a haul by the Coyotes.
I don't think there's anything wrong with him spending some time in the AHL either, but I disagree with McDavid, he would have gained nothing from the AHL. He just needed a couple games to get comfortable before he took the league by storm.
As for you saying that McDavid could have benefitted from time in the minors...
It's true that in the context of today's NHL McD was already good enough as is, while Pulju has so far not been so.
Yes it's impossible to know how long that takes. However, in Pulju's case there is a better than averige chance that it could happen suddenly. When Puljujarvi started the U20 Championships he had a mediocre (for his potential, even though he was just 17) fall behind. After the Championships he was like a new player, and what happened during the next few weeks is propably the deepest development curve I've ever seen. After that he was suddenly one of the best players in the league, pretty much game after game.
It'd be great if that could happen also in Edmonton, but it's great to see the pretty relaxed attitude here so he's not in a rush. I'm glad he is playing in Edmonton, now I've actually found a favourite team in NHL. I think there's not many other teams that could've done that even with Puljujarvi in the roster. The next years will be exciting.