Player Discussion Jesse Puljujärvi | His Mouth Contain His Tongue Only When He Eats Pizza

[ijuka]

About Aho. I’m not seeing any revisionist history here, but a couple things should be considered in context. Him dropping out of the 1st round wasn’t a surprise at the time it happened, since his play in the Liiga for the season leading up to his draft was certainly promising, but not really mesmerizing. It was during his draft+1 season when he exploded big time. He did get hotter towards the draft, but serious hindsight is needed to push him up to top 15 or even just into 1st round.

Another point is that he got to spend his draft+1 year with coach Marjamäki, who critisized how Pulju was being handled in Edmonton in his draft+1 year and was hoping he could have more time with Pulju before going over to NA (I couldn’t find a source, but I remember reading articles about it after the interview). Marjamäki coached his junior players in things like how to live a daily life as a professional athlete. In Pulju’s case, it seems like he didn’t learn enough about that if we accept the talk about maturity issues as fact. Aho was already drafted, and was in a position where he could spend his season preparing for NHL duties. Joonas Donskoi is another player that just wasn’t good enough to make the transition before Marjamäki fixed him. Meanwhile Pulju was learning to survive in the Liiga, and perhaps didn’t focus on these sorts of things enough.

Marjamäki also left the team at the same time as Aho and Pulju, so JP going back to his coaching wasn’t an actual option anyway.

This is true, I remember it as well. He actually criticized Oilers' handling of Puljujärvi rather harshly, saying that he needs to play a lot and also was happy when he finally got sent to AHL in 16-17. He's more of a development coach and indeed, he's very particular about the "pro lifestyle". He takes his players to do groceries, talks to them about nutrition, exercise and such and helped transform the Kärpät franchise in a pretty short amount of time with this. A notable player he "fixed" is Donskoi who always had a lot of potential but could never put it together.

 

[Aerrol]

This is true, I remember it as well. He actually criticized Oilers' handling of Puljujärvi rather harshly, saying that he needs to play a lot and also was happy when he finally got sent to AHL in 16-17. He's more of a development coach and indeed, he's very particular about the "pro lifestyle". He takes his players to do groceries, talks to them about nutrition, exercise and such and helped transform the Kärpät franchise in a pretty short amount of time with this. A notable player he "fixed" is Donskoi who always had a lot of potential but could never put it together.

Where did Marjamaki move on to? Tbh sounds like a coach I'd love to have for our AHL team after Woodcroft drops the ball.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Where did Marjamaki move on to? Tbh sounds like a coach I'd love to have for our AHL team after Woodcroft drops the ball.

He's coaching Jokerit...i think for the next two years or something?

 

[Mr Positive]

This is true, I remember it as well. He actually criticized Oilers' handling of Puljujärvi rather harshly, saying that he needs to play a lot and also was happy when he finally got sent to AHL in 16-17. He's more of a development coach and indeed, he's very particular about the "pro lifestyle". He takes his players to do groceries, talks to them about nutrition, exercise and such and helped transform the Kärpät franchise in a pretty short amount of time with this. A notable player he "fixed" is Donskoi who always had a lot of potential but could never put it together.

Funny enough, I think JP benefitted more in 2016-17 by being on the Oilers. There are less games played in the AHL, and so while the Oilers didn't play JP in every game, he still played the same number of games in the NHL as he would have playing a full schedule in the AHL. I actually checked it at the time, it it was exactly the same, and so it shows that the Oilers were very mindful of JP's development as a massive priority.

And yes, in the AHL he played more minutes. However, I think there is immense benefit to getting experience against NHL competition just to get a taste of it, and also to get full practices with guys like McDavid instead of AHL fodder. So I definitely see an argument that he would have it better in the AHL, but it's a close call imo. I prefer players get that NHL experience. Imo that's what really saved Draisaitl, getting a bit of a rough ride in the NHL and really shaking up his comfort zone. That lack of success in the NHL was far more impactful than him dominating for Kelowna later that season.

 

[Section337]

One thing that Puljujärvi has going for him is that he has not been bad defensively. Sure he makes young guy mistakes once in awhile but I don't think he has experienced the soul crushing some of the past offensive minded young guys have experienced with the Oilers.

 

[CornKicker]

i bet JP claps 20+ Gs this season

 

[Still DRAI]

One thing that Puljujärvi has going for him is that he has not been bad defensively. Sure he makes young guy mistakes once in awhile but I don't think he has experienced the soul crushing some of the past offensive minded young guys have experienced with the Oilers.

I know that there's people who will disagree with me on this, but when I see Puljujarvi play I'm not getting the vibe of a Laine or other snipers, I'm getting a vibe of Hossa Jr. While Pulju certainly has a strong shot, I don't think he's going to turn into a regular 35+ goalscorer, but I think it's completely within reason to expect a 25g 20-30A guy who's also defensively responsible, and that's a very important type of player to have.

 

[McNuge]

I know that there's people who will disagree with me on this, but when I see Puljujarvi play I'm not getting the vibe of a Laine or other snipers, I'm getting a vibe of Hossa Jr. While Pulju certainly has a strong shot, I don't think he's going to turn into a regular 35+ goalscorer, but I think it's completely within reason to expect a 25g 20-30A guy who's also defensively responsible, and that's a very important type of player to have.

Agreed, I think he was touted as a shooter before getting here but his play making is actually what I like most about his game. I think he could be a shooter with some more confidence and being a regular on the PP.

 

[Gordian Knot]

I have followed Jesse since he was fifteen. He is puck, carrier and playmaker who also can finish when time comes but most often he scores on the rush. That’s his natural way on playing and it makes him shine. In Finnish Junior National teams and in team Kärpät he has always been utilized like that. He took puck from own zone and flew through neutral ice and made plays for his line mates. Those are high confident plays. And results have been good/great/magnificent depending level we are talking about. I don’t have idea what Edmonton coaches have said to him but he barely gets the puck and leaves it in a hurry which is unnatural for his typical way of playmaking. Of course NHL ice is smaller and there is less time but he plays totally outside of his natural abilities and strengths. Quite opposite to say, as he mainly is forechecking and screening goalies while trying to get into board battles which aren’t yet his type of game despite the long frame. I understand he is probably told to get better in these areas which are widely seen as weaknesses but why on earth he isn’t utilizing his strengths? Giving puck away with first touch isn’t his game at all.
Would like to know why don’t we see Jesse even trying to be playmaker he can be. He would create havoc and free up ice for others and also draw penalties. No he is just playing like ordinary third liner doing his own share with zeroing chances against.
I would like to see 5-10 game stretch where he would be using his best abilities despite getting punished for possible mistakes. Best chance for that was games 72-82 last season.

 

[Mr Positive]

I have followed Jesse since he was fifteen. He is puck, carrier and playmaker who also can finish when time comes but most often he scores on the rush. That’s his natural way on playing and it makes him shine. In Finnish Junior National teams and in team Kärpät he has always been utilized like that. He took puck from own zone and flew through neutral ice and made plays for his line mates. Those are high confident plays. And results have been good/great/magnificent depending level we are talking about. I don’t have idea what Edmonton coaches have said to him but he barely gets the puck and leaves it in a hurry which is unnatural for his typical way of playmaking. Of course NHL ice is smaller and there is less time but he plays totally outside of his natural abilities and strengths. Quite opposite to say, as he mainly is forechecking and screening goalies while trying to get into board battles which aren’t yet his type of game despite the long frame. I understand he is probably told to get better in these areas which are widely seen as weaknesses but why on earth he isn’t utilizing his strengths? Giving puck away with first touch isn’t his game at all.
Would like to know why don’t we see Jesse even trying to be playmaker he can be. He would create havoc and free up ice for others and also draw penalties. No he is just playing like ordinary third liner doing his own share with zeroing chances against.
I would like to see 5-10 game stretch where he would be using his best abilities despite getting punished for possible mistakes. Best chance for that was games 72-82 last season.

This is why I think JP would work best with Drai. Drai had success with McDavid, who makes plays off the rush. JP is a similar player in that way, if we choose to use him like that. JP isn't as good as McDavid obviously but I don't think he'd have to be

 

[Drivesaitl]

I know that there's people who will disagree with me on this, but when I see Puljujarvi play I'm not getting the vibe of a Laine or other snipers, I'm getting a vibe of Hossa Jr. While Pulju certainly has a strong shot, I don't think he's going to turn into a regular 35+ goalscorer, but I think it's completely within reason to expect a 25g 20-30A guy who's also defensively responsible, and that's a very important type of player to have.

Hossa was one of the more cerebral players in the game that was good positionally, and a solid 2ooft player because he read the NHL game very well. So far I'm not getting that impression of Pulju and I don't know what it is specifically in his play that suggests the comparison.

 

[Drivesaitl]

This is why I think JP would work best with Drai. Drai had success with McDavid, who makes plays off the rush. JP is a similar player in that way, if we choose to use him like that. JP isn't as good as McDavid obviously but I don't think he'd have to be

If Drai is pair bonded with Pulju look for an immense decrease in production from Drai. Pulju to this point has not been good at working passing plays or sustaining production. Pulju even had difficulty working 2 on 1 rushes with Draisaitl. Leon anticipates plays well. Pulju for whatever reason has difficulty on NHL ice surfaces adjusting to where he should be to be available for a pass or a give and go.

Alas I figure this has to happen as we lack wingers but of course I prefer to see Rieder and a more ready winger with Draisaitl.

 

[Mr Positive]

If Drai is pair bonded with Pulju look for an immense decrease in production from Drai. Pulju to this point has not been good at working passing plays or sustaining production. Pulju even had difficulty working 2 on 1 rushes with Draisaitl. Leon anticipates plays well. Pulju for whatever reason has difficulty on NHL ice surfaces adjusting to where he should be to be available for a pass or a give and go.

Alas I figure this has to happen as we lack wingers but of course I prefer to see Rieder and a more ready winger with Draisaitl.

But this is assuming that Puljujarvi does not progress. This weakness in JP you point out is the exact direction we would expect him to grow in. If JP doesn't cut it, it will be a simple thing to demote him to the third line. He was pretty decent with Strome last season as well. But, I believe that the organization does see JP as a scoring line winger, and will likely get coaching on board to give him that shot, and I don't mean just a handful of games.

If Drai's production takes a bit of a hit, so be it. Btw, Reider plays both wings very well so I'd expect him to play LW in that set up. I suspect that the Reider signing included a handshake agreement that he would get a legit chance to play with McDavid or Drai, and I'd think that the preference is to go with the German connection

 

[Drivesaitl]

But this is assuming that Puljujarvi does not progress. This weakness in JP you point out is the exact direction we would expect him to grow in. If JP doesn't cut it, it will be a simple thing to demote him to the third line. He was pretty decent with Strome last season as well. But, I believe that the organization does see JP as a scoring line winger, and will likely get coaching on board to give him that shot, and I don't mean just a handful of games.

Well, I'd feel better about all this forcefeeding in wingers on topsix if Lucic and Puljujarvi had not flat out gave up on the season the last 45 games or so. If you look at how either played the last half neither should be anywhere near topsix or given that reward. That said Pulju is young. He'll get that chance and should. I wish we had a chance to send Lucic somewhere on a slow freight train.

 

[Mr Positive]

Well, I'd feel better about all this forcefeeding in wingers on topsix if Lucic and Puljujarvi had not flat out gave up on the season the last 45 games or so. If you look at how either played the last half neither should be anywhere near topsix or given that reward. That said Pulju is young. He'll get that chance and should. I wish we had a chance to send Lucic somewhere on a slow freight train.

with Lucic I think there is a good chance he could bounce back, but the lack of an offensive D hurts him badly. He is not a rush player and would do best if the team had a better presence in the offensive zone, which would give him more time to set up and work his territorial game. I am holding out hope that will still get the defenseman, because it would not only help our ailing PP, but would help players like Lucic immensely imho

 

[Drivesaitl]

The main thing is that a team with playoff intent CANNOT have topsix deemed players that suddenly opt out, or phase out, or whatever occurred with Lucic and Pulju last year. We can't afford it. The astounding thing was we were topsix healthy for the most part last year and only McD was hounded by illness. Its not a given that we get that same luck this season. Could you imagine if one of our twin towers that push everything on this team are out any length of time and responsibility for driving offense falls on others?

At least with Rieder we now he is resilient, a tireless worker and won't check out. That alone should get him premium time with Draisaitl. Really he shouldn't be anywhere else.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I have followed Jesse since he was fifteen. He is puck, carrier and playmaker who also can finish when time comes but most often he scores on the rush. That’s his natural way on playing and it makes him shine. In Finnish Junior National teams and in team Kärpät he has always been utilized like that. He took puck from own zone and flew through neutral ice and made plays for his line mates. Those are high confident plays. And results have been good/great/magnificent depending level we are talking about. I don’t have idea what Edmonton coaches have said to him but he barely gets the puck and leaves it in a hurry which is unnatural for his typical way of playmaking. Of course NHL ice is smaller and there is less time but he plays totally outside of his natural abilities and strengths. Quite opposite to say, as he mainly is forechecking and screening goalies while trying to get into board battles which aren’t yet his type of game despite the long frame. I understand he is probably told to get better in these areas which are widely seen as weaknesses but why on earth he isn’t utilizing his strengths? Giving puck away with first touch isn’t his game at all.
Would like to know why don’t we see Jesse even trying to be playmaker he can be. He would create havoc and free up ice for others and also draw penalties. No he is just playing like ordinary third liner doing his own share with zeroing chances against.
I would like to see 5-10 game stretch where he would be using his best abilities despite getting punished for possible mistakes. Best chance for that was games 72-82 last season.

The bolded is a real difficulty. Have people not considered that the smaller ice surface has mostly decimated Pulju'a ability to break clear on a rush?

This is not Finnish Junior and this is not a Euro ice surface where he has much more space to blow contain.

I don't think Pulju broke clear 10 times all season on this ice surface and against elite NHL D that are much more adept at outside contain. What happens here is that Pulju lacks the world class speed of a Hall or a McD and the track runs out before Jesse has time and ice to beat NHL D.

The poster above got it. But this is not an easy thing to fix, if its even fixable. Indeed on so many hilite reels Puljujarvi pts are coming on the rush, breaking contain, oddman breaks etc. The trouble is in the NHL these events are less frequent and you can't make a living just producing that way. NHL play favors players that can play and make plays and finish in traffic. Which requires an entirely different fine motor control and deft hand eye coordination. Being from a bigger ice surface Pulju has not had to hone his intight puck play as much. But we don't know its even a forte for him.

 

[Still DRAI]

Hossa was one of the more cerebral players in the game that was good positionally, and a solid 2ooft player because he read the NHL game very well. So far I'm not getting that impression of Pulju and I don't know what it is specifically in his play that suggests the comparison.

I know there's a 0% chance that any of this would convince you, and I also doubt that Puljujarvi would ever reach the ceiling that Hossa did, but for me personally, the similarities that I see are:
- Superficially, they're both big, fast, but not super physical wingers, kind of jumbo-sized skill players more than power forwards
- Off the rush, I see a similarity in the way that Hossa and Pulju both like to come down the boards, cut towards the centre of the ice, circle around to the far corner, then hang around near the net. This isn't exactly something that was exclusive to Hossa or anything, but for an example this play:

was one of the ones that gave me this vibe.
- Defensively, the similarity I see is less one of say, Nuge, who tended to "cheat" for defense, and more similar to Hossa in the sense that the pace of backchecking is an important feature in their defensive games. Similarly, neither are particularly aggressive on the backcheck, but tend to focus more on separating man from puck - Pulju needs to work at getting more effective on this, but the idea is there
- As another example where I saw a bit of similarity, this play:

Which didn't wind up working out into anything, still shows similar attributes to me: he used speed to gain position on McNabb, pushed the play to the boards while forechecking, and was also thinking ahead to get a new stick while doing so.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I know there's a 0% chance that any of this would convince you, and I also doubt that Puljujarvi would ever reach the ceiling that Hossa did, but for me personally, the similarities that I see are:
- Superficially, they're both big, fast, but not super physical wingers, kind of jumbo-sized skill players more than power forwards
- Off the rush, I see a similarity in the way that Hossa and Pulju both like to come down the boards, cut towards the centre of the ice, circle around to the far corner, then hang around near the net. This isn't exactly something that was exclusive to Hossa or anything, but for an example this play:

was one of the ones that gave me this vibe.
- Defensively, the similarity I see is less one of say, Nuge, who tended to "cheat" for defense, and more similar to Hossa in the sense that the pace of backchecking is an important feature in their defensive games. Similarly, neither are particularly aggressive on the backcheck, but tend to focus more on separating man from puck - Pulju needs to work at getting more effective on this, but the idea is there
- As another example where I saw a bit of similarity, this play:

Which didn't wind up working out into anything, still shows similar attributes to me: he used speed to gain position on McNabb, pushed the play to the boards while forechecking, and was also thinking ahead to get a new stick while doing so.

Nice post, I do appreciate a post that actually breaks some things down and that makes the effort, so thanks for that, and yes, Jesse was good in that Vancouver game. But which also disturbingly represents 15% of his seasonal pts total all contained in one game. So that Jesse was surely "activated" in that game and also it was against pathetic coverage from the Vancouver Canucks.

The trouble is what I stated in the last post. How many NHL games is Pulju going to be allowed this much space? If you look at all 3 plays they are complete opponent breakdowns. On first point the Nucks are outnumbered downlow after a deft setup from Drai. Its wide open as soon as Drai makes that pass.

2nd pt two Nucks defenders collide with each other, others only waving sticks as Pulju taps it home.

3rd is standard odd man rush.

You won't get that many breaks in the NHL and rare to get 3 like that in one game.


What I need to see more of from Jesse is being effective offensively in situations where competent opponents do have numbers back.

 

[Oilers in NS]

But this is assuming that Puljujarvi does not progress. This weakness in JP you point out is the exact direction we would expect him to grow in. If JP doesn't cut it, it will be a simple thing to demote him to the third line. He was pretty decent with Strome last season as well. But, I believe that the organization does see JP as a scoring line winger, and will likely get coaching on board to give him that shot, and I don't mean just a handful of games.

If Drai's production takes a bit of a hit, so be it. Btw, Reider plays both wings very well so I'd expect him to play LW in that set up. I suspect that the Reider signing included a handshake agreement that he would get a legit chance to play with McDavid or Drai, and I'd think that the preference is to go with the German connection

I would pretty much bet the farm that there was some kind of agreement with Reider to play with Drai. I very much would like to see Puju-Drai-Reider together at start of season. The year Finland won the World Jr's, Puju was a force. He is a top 6 player, play him as one. He gets punished too much.

2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships - Wikipedia

 

[Drivesaitl]

I would pretty much bet the farm that there was some kind of agreement with Reider to play with Drai. I very much would like to see Puju-Drai-Reider together at start of season. The year Finland won the World Jr's, Puju was a force. He is a top 6 player, play him as one. He gets punished too much.

2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships - Wikipedia

He punishes himself through not being engaged and ready to go. Its quite clearly an attitude or preparation problem. A few posts above the hilites of the Vancouver game was shown. This being one of 93GP by Pulju. In his whole sample there are maybe 2-3other games where he was even close to being engaged on this level.

What is a coaching staff supposed to really do with such a player. Ask them if theres any chance they can be on this game, this week, this month?

Theres three players on this team last season that were grossly inconsistent. They are Lucic, Pulju, Kassian. Of these Lucic has a longterm contract, will survive this. Kassian has found some other priorities in life (not blaming him, he's not the same person now, he's a better person, but no longer as good an antagonizer). For Pulju though, trying to establish, the impetus should be on him to at least carve out a niche in the NHL. Its not enough to have played 3 games really well out of 93. Not in pro sports it isn't.

 

[harpoon]

Giving puck away with first touch isn’t his game at all.

Love this whole post. Just quoting the part I most agree with.
And its why I think JP doesn't really work with McDavid.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Love this whole post. Just quoting the part I most agree with.
And its why I think JP doesn't really work with McDavid.

My own take though is the poster has limited information on what is going on with Pulju here and is denouncing it all to coaching. Its mostly the player.

The player I have seen here rarely looks comfortable with the puck and defers to McD or Drai any chance he gets. I can only guess is that he looks at those players and figures he's not up to standard.

The reality is NHL coaches don't tell you not to make plays, not to protect puck, and not to be strong on the puck.

I rebutted the poster in post 292. The main aspect of Pulju's struggle here is he's learned how difficult it is for him to score on the rush due to smaller ice surface and better D. he simply can't burn D here like he did in Europe. The *track* is shorter here and he doesn't have the burn speed of a McD or Hall that can torch D within NHL rink dimensions. If you look at his hilites in Europe that sometimes seemed like plan A and C in his game..

This is a player that largely only produces when the opponent completely breaks down on plays. If Eakins was still coaching a club that would be a good opponent for Pulju. In the NHL theres not many like it that are free bingo spots.

 

[GameChanger]

I actually like the current attitude here. Quite often people remember just the last games, but I feel many writers do see beyond the last weeks of the season.

I personally know he's working hard and I also know as a fact that he now understands English very well.

What I really hope is that this year he will be given a proper chance on the PP. He got a chance at the beginning of his first season, and he actually looked very good (was unlucky with hitting the posts, though).

Then he was tried during the last preseason, obviously just a part of one game, and according to the comments here he looked great. That's why I hope they finally give him a stretch of real games to see if he can bring his PP trademarks to the NHL level. I see no reason why he couldn't do that especially if he gets some trust and support from the coaches.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I actually like the current attitude here. Quite often people remember just the last games, but I feel many writers do see beyond the last weeks of the season.

I personally know he's working hard and I also know as a fact that he now understands English very well.

What I really hope is that this year he will be given a proper chance on the PP. He got a chance at the beginning of his first season, and he actually looked very good (was unlucky with hitting the posts, though).

Then he was tried during the last preseason, obviously just a part of one game, and according to the comments here he looked great. That's why I hope they finally give him a stretch of real games to see if he can bring his PP trademarks to the NHL level. I see no reason why he couldn't do that especially if he gets some trust and support from the coaches.

Because its hard to discern from his play here what are his PP trademarks. I really and honestly don't know. What facets and plays does he typically bring to a PP. Where is he ideally situated, what have you noted?

Understanding that I want to see him get more PP time. But want to know what to look for.

Alas even though we don't have Letestu McLellan will love Brodziak. I like him too but not on the PP. I wonder if Rieder gets action as well.

I think the biggest question is whether Yama or Pulju this season claim some precious minutes.