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

[Drivesaitl]

You’re also at fault for Trump, the smoke and high gas prices.

I figured as much. You forgot the pipeline, JT, and the City of Calgary.

 

[Aerrol]

Seriously last year was so strange in so many ways. TM made himself look like an absolutely terrible coach, and I'm talking about much more than the usage of Letestu and some questionable issues with Jesse. I don't think the 5-0 losses etc. were just coincidence, something was badly wrong and for quite some time it looked like the players were playing him out.

But yes, it was almost funny how bad the PP was and how stubborn the coaches were with Letestu. It's not something you see every year, it's more like once in a lifetime experience.

Unfortunately, not in Oil country...

 

[MoneyGuy]

I figured as much. You forgot the pipeline, JT, and the City of Calgary.

Why on earth would you be responsible for Justin Timberlake?

 

[CycloneSweep]

Look, I know you want to talk about Gagner all day but....

The sidebar was about Pakarinen, catch up, people will think we're amateur posters here..

Pakarainen tried and worked hard because he lacked hockey IQ and any real NHL talents outside of maybe is average at best penalty killing.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Why on earth would you be responsible for Justin Timberlake?

That's worse than the Other JT I was referring to...

But about JP...

 

[Drivesaitl]

Unfortunately, not in Oil country...

its funny how much people missed if they didn't see that chapter..

What a bonzo clownshow that guy was. Its like Mr Bean trying to look tough. Oh, but he scared the 5yr old girl in the 2nd row...

 

[Tyrolean]

I wouldn't put JP on PP1 until he can show he can consistently get himself into the correct spots for a shot. Guy is all over the place at times and hardly ready.

Yak was a lost cause on the ice. When he has the puck, it's like he's fighting a swarm of bees; when he doesn't have the puck, he's just as bad. There was no saving

I have a bit more time with JP since he's at least better defensively but neither, given their draft pedigree and "calibre", have been anything to write about. They shouldn't "need" a McDavid/Drai just to be acceptable on the ice. At least JP has some chemistry with someone like Strome; Yak couldn't mesh with anyone but McDavid and that's only because the latter did all the heavy lifting.

Yak played well with Derek Roy so he did mesh with more than one player.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Yak played well with Derek Roy so he did mesh with more than one player.

Yak listened to Roy...who as a line sacrificed major defense for offense. Roy was on his last toe as a NHL player also. That line got decimated in defensive duty.. That is a terrible reference. Saying they played well probably contradicts 98% of NHL coaches, seeing as both got phased outta the NHL in a couple years

 

[Sempiternal]

They need to pair him up with Draisaitl and stick with it.

 

[Roof Daddy]

They need to pair him up with Draisaitl and stick with it.

So a 2nd line of Rieder-Drai-Pulju? Could be good. Maybe learning German will be easier than English?

 

[Aerchon]

Seriously last year was so strange in so many ways. TM made himself look like an absolutely terrible coach, and I'm talking about much more than the usage of Letestu and some questionable issues with Jesse. I don't think the 5-0 losses etc. were just coincidence, something was badly wrong and for quite some time it looked like the players were playing him out.

But yes, it was almost funny how bad the PP was and how stubborn the coaches were with Letestu. It's not something you see every year, it's more like once in a lifetime experience.

I would have preferred Babcock but McLellan was a close second on my coaching wishlist.

I am shocked how poorly he coached last year. Very safe to say a big problem last year was him and his staff. I hope he turns it around but I couldn't help but think he wants out.

Totally just my speculation but I think he hates being away from his family and just wants out of the Oilers organization to be with them.

 

[Digger12]

Unfortunately, not in Oil country...

It always kills me to see Eakins take that split second to focus on the cameraman to see if he's paying attention, before looking back to whatever made him look that way in the first place.

What a complete and utter poser he was. The biggest mistake MacT ever made that was job-related.

 

[GameChanger]

I am shocked how poorly he coached last year. Very safe to say a big problem last year was him and his staff. I hope he turns it around but I couldn't help but think he wants out.

It could be something like that. I've watched hockey for quite a while and I've never seen such a year from any coach. Whether he's a great or a terrible coach, or something in between, a huge part of the last season was just too much by any standards.

 

[Drivesaitl]

It always kills me to see Eakins take that split second to focus on the cameraman to see if he's paying attention, before looking back to whatever made him look that way in the first place.

What a complete and utter poser he was. The biggest mistake MacT ever made that was job-related.

Anybody remember that I was calling the guy a poser at the time? A phoney, a charlatan.

As soon as Ference and Eakins took the Oilers into bootcamp in Jasper preseason I was literally all over that shit. It was so obviously malarkey. A training addict and his friend (they even hired a military guy to run things) taking a pro sports club out on some jaunt to prove some point about conditioning and survival training instead of having standard hockey training. The Oilers hadn't played a game under Eakins and already the train had fully left the station.

I got a lot of flack for pointing out what losers Eakins and Ference were engaging in this and what the inevitable player response would be.

Yak had to experience that bewildering stuff essentially as a rookie. Pulju has had fairly standard treatment. Nothing bizarre, pretty standard NHL coaching, expectation, and follow through.

 

[GameChanger]

Pulju has had fairly standard treatment. Nothing bizarre, pretty standard NHL coaching, expectation, and follow through.

I don't have the time to get deeper into this right now, but I have to say the fans (a huge amount of them anyway) certainly haven't felt like that. Don't read me wrong, I'm not saying every single decision that hasn't favoured Jesse has been wrong, but there's definitely been many times when Jesse hasn't got the same treatment as many or even all others. That applies to the both seasons.

Then there are teams that actually have an extra long leash with the best youngsters and who put them into places to succeed whether they deserve it or not, but that's another story.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Then there are teams that actually have an extra long leash with the best youngsters and who put them into places to succeed whether they deserve it or not, but that's another story.

Herein lies the problem with the bolded. We saw guys like Eberle, Hall and Schultz get force fed minutes while at times not playing a team game so we can tell you first hand that that's not the best idea unless you are dealing with a McDavid/Crosby level talent. IMO you need a little from column A and a little from column B. Preach a team game, defensive responsibility, etc. but let them know that mistake can and will happen and that if they do it's OK as long as they learn from them.

 

[Throttlehead]

Herein lies the problem with the bolded. We saw guys like Eberle, Hall and Schultz get force fed minutes while at times not playing a team game so we can tell you first hand that that's not the best idea unless you are dealing with a McDavid/Crosby level talent. IMO you need a little from column A and a little from column B. Preach a team game, defensive responsibility, etc. but let them know that mistake can and will happen and that if they do it's OK as long as they learn from them.

And thats why Todd Nelson should be our coach
Sorry, but had to say it AGAIN. It still pisses me off we discarded him like he was a nothing.

 

[Drivesaitl]

It could be something like that. I've watched hockey for quite a while and I've never seen such a year from any coach. Whether he's a great or a terrible coach, or something in between, a huge part of the last season was just too much by any standards.

In this very thread people are telling you about Eakins. On this board. So yeah, again, we've all seen far worse. McLellan is garden variety NHL coach, about as typical as it gets. He's a bit dated imo but tons of players have had a coach just like this.

Just saying you're not going to make headway on this board trying to paint a "I've never seen such a year from a coach" thing. Did Pulju get exactly the type of handling he would want, probably not, but that's the way of the NHL and prosports in general. Young players MAKE their way. You don't just hand them the keys to the Ferrari.

If you think this is bad lookup what has happened tin Tampa to Jonathan Drouin. Cooper played real hardball with that guy. Cooper is considered one of the best coaches in the league.

Any alleged wrong doing regarding Pulju is well within normative NHL standards.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I don't have the time to get deeper into this right now, but I have to say the fans (a huge amount of them anyway) certainly haven't felt like that. Don't read me wrong, I'm not saying every single decision that hasn't favoured Jesse has been wrong, but there's definitely been many times when Jesse hasn't got the same treatment as many or even all others. That applies to the both seasons.

Then there are teams that actually have an extra long leash with the best youngsters and who put them into places to succeed whether they deserve it or not, but that's another story.

Jon Cooper is considered by many to be the best coach in the league. The Tampa org is considered to be the model for young player development and they raise a goldmine of developing players and always seem to do well by them.

They're absolute expectation down there regarding any player, even former drafted Junior stars is you better be ready to give us everything you got and more and show us that every day. The get every drop of players down there. To be quite honest Puljujarvi would already be done there. Either moved or buried in the AHL. By no means would they accept the lukewarm application Pulju has brought here. Pulju would probably have had to do a lot more work just to make the lineup if he could.

I say stuff like this because your take on NHL coaches is lacking when you say stuff like the bolded.

Finally, do you think any of McD, Drai, Hall, Eberle, Nuge wanted a long leash here? Or do you think they wanted clear and critical focus and attention and being told what they need to do to be better? Star players in this league don't concern themselves with if they're not getting a good shake. if they ever start doing that they pretty much bury themselves.

 

[GameChanger]

Just saying you're not going to make headway on this board trying to paint a "I've never seen such a year from a coach" thing. Did Pulju get exactly the type of handling he would want, probably not, but that's the way of the NHL and prosports in general. Young players MAKE their way. You don't just hand them the keys to the Ferrari.

----

Any alleged wrong doing regarding Pulju is well within normative NHL standards.

I wasn't trying to paint anything. Even though I've written a lot about Puljujarvi I'm not blind to other things going on. Even if we leave out Jesse I believe quite a few others here would agree with me that there were lots of questionable if not crazy things going on throughout the year.

I do think altogether these things formed a pretty unique combo. I'm talking about things like how the PP and PK were, how stubborn the coaches were with e.g. Letestu and Lucic, the period of 0-5 losses etc., the troubles at the start of the games etc.

And when it comes to Pulju, I've never said I expect him to be given keys to Ferrari. But I stick to what I said earlier. Some young players are given long leashes and there's been times when Jesse hasn't got a similar leash as the others in the team. I'm sorry I know that I have some point there, but I don't have the time and energy to argue about this.

 

[nexttothemoon]

So a 2nd line of Rieder-Drai-Pulju? Could be good. Maybe learning German will be easier than English?

Das Haste Line.

edit... better clarify...

DHL Express Line

 

[BB88]

Nice to read he's made changes to his stick.

Excited to watch him play soon.

 

[JJTT]

Nice to read he's made changes to his stick.

Excited to watch him play soon.

Why now, I remember thinking he should play with a shorted stick like 4 years ago. It's been obviously hurting his stick handling and shooting accuracy.

 

[BB88]

Why now, I remember thinking he should play with a shorted stick like 4 years ago. It's been obviously hurting his stick handling and shooting accuracy.

You can't always explain everything with players, if they just happen to prefer x option they can be blindly loyal to that.

 

[HockeyHistorian]

I feel like it's good that he tries a shorter stick, but I understood that he was also told to change to a stiffer stick as well. The problem for me is, that if he changes to a shorter stick and the flex stays the same, it's already a stiffer stick. If he changes the flex too much, it really could hurt his shooting power, which is one of his better aspects.

Of course this all SHOULD BE self-evident for a professional hockey player, but the players do all kinds of crap that hurts them all the time.