Player Discussion Jesse Puljujarvi '18-19 Season Part 5, Jesse Bumped Up the Line-up

[tellermine]

Can you bring the quote? I didn't find that anywhere so I'd like to make sure you're not making up things again. Because of the earlier things there's a good reason for this suspicion and you know that.

Anyway, you sure are excited like heck so enjoy it while it lasts

Though Kekäläinen said it more straight to us, here is quote from Finnish paper after draft:
"Kekäläinen korosti etenkin kanadalaisen pelin ymmärrystä ja luonnetta.

– Ne ovat kaksi ominaisuutta, joita etsimme aina pelaajassa. Pelaajatarkkailu on erittäin helppoa, jos katsoo vain laukauksia, luistelua, nopeutta ja muita fyysisiä ominaisuuksia. Mutta pelin ymmärrystä on vaikeinta arvioida. Pelaajia pitää katsoa useita kertoja. Luonteen tunteminen vaatii saman verran tai vielä enemmän aikaa. Pierre-Luc Duboisin pelin ymmärrys on uskomaton ja hänellä on hieno luonne."

He speaks about Dupois contra Puljujärvi. Pulju has those nice physical qualities, but he lacks intelligence and mental strenght.
If he had them Columbus might had pickked him as his physical tools are great.

Someobe with better english can traslate.

Kekäläinen perusteli, miksi ei varannut Puljujärveä: ”En ole todellakaan suomalaisvastainen”

 

[backwards motion]

Kekäläinen highlighted especially canada style game understanding and character.

They are just two features that we're looking in a player. Scouting is easy if you only watch shots, skating, speed and other qualities. But understanding the game is the hardest to evaluate. Players should be watched several times. Character knowing takes the same or evevn more time. Pierre-Luc Dubois' game understanding is unbelievable and he has a great character.

Hope this helps, my english get a little wobbly too.

He also mentiened that Dubois was the better overall and basicly because they moved him into center position. And his not "anti-Finn" at all, Kekäläinen I mean.

Nothing more to see there really, not gonna translate everything from word to word but you get the gist.

Oh and one more thing Kekäläinen said was the they valuate the player on carreer potential based.
Thought it may have some value in this translation.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

3 points in 5 games, so there is some progression. However his game when to hell last night after that turnover, though before that he was fine to even good, as he was doing a nice job getting to pucks and supporting the play.

It seems like he has his best chemistry with Khaira. Right now I'd like to see them penciled in as the 2nd line wingers, with Draisaitl, and Nuge cycling between them. Use Chiasson or Rattie to round out the top 6.

I wouldn't mind seeing Zykov get a shot in Khaira's spot next game, as he can bring a similar down low game.

Draisaitl-McDavid-Chiasson
Zykov-RNH-Puljujarvi
Lucic-Brodziak-Kassian
Rieder-Spooner-Rattie
Caggiula

Also I'm still not sure why he isn't in a high shooters spot on the PP. I mean, even Woodcroft tried this in the Bakersfield to a good degree of success.

_________-----_________
...............Lucic
Pulju....Rattie....Spooner
.............Klef/Sekera/Nurse

 

[tellermine]

Kekäläinen highlighted especially canada style game understanding and character.

They are just two features that we're looking in a player. Scouting is easy if you only watch shots, skating, speed and other qualities. But understanding the game is the hardest to evaluate. Players should be watched several times. Character knowing takes the same or evevn more time. Pierre-Luc Dubois' game understanding is unbelievable and he has a great character.

Hope this helps, my english get a little wobbly too.

He also mentiened that Dubois was the better overall and basicly because they moved him into center position. And his not "anti-Finn" at all, Kekäläinen I mean.

Nothing more to see there really, not gonna translate everything from word to word but you get the gist.

Thanks for traslation. I am quite good in finnish but translating to medicore english would have been hazardous.

 

[GameChanger]

Though Kekäläinen said it more straight to us, here is quote from Finnish paper after draft:
"Kekäläinen korosti etenkin kanadalaisen pelin ymmärrystä ja luonnetta.

– Ne ovat kaksi ominaisuutta, joita etsimme aina pelaajassa. Pelaajatarkkailu on erittäin helppoa, jos katsoo vain laukauksia, luistelua, nopeutta ja muita fyysisiä ominaisuuksia. Mutta pelin ymmärrystä on vaikeinta arvioida. Pelaajia pitää katsoa useita kertoja. Luonteen tunteminen vaatii saman verran tai vielä enemmän aikaa. Pierre-Luc Duboisin pelin ymmärrys on uskomaton ja hänellä on hieno luonne."

He speaks about Dupois contra Puljujärvi. Pulju has those nice physical qualities, but he lacks intelligence and mental strenght.
If he had them Columbus might had pickked him as his physical tools are great.

Someobe with better english can traslate.

Kekäläinen perusteli, miksi ei varannut Puljujärveä: ”En ole todellakaan suomalaisvastainen”

I've seen this and many other comments from Kekäläinen, but basically he said that besides the shooting, skating, speed and other physical features they always pay attention to how the players understand the game and what kind of a character they have. In the same interview he also emphasized the defensive game and how rare it is for a winger to play at a center at the level Dubois did.

In another interview he said the following:

A big reason for drafting him is because he plays our kind of hockey. He's 19, almost 100kg, he can skate, he has speed, he plays both physical and aggressive hockey and he's good near the goal.

I don't think there's that much drama in this whole Dubois/Pulju thing and I don't even care about the reasons that much, but nothing I've read says that the ability to process the game is the one main thing they looked for as you wrote. That is one of the many things he mentioned about Dubois so if you turn that against Puljujarvi you will need to turn quite a few elements, of which some are even Pulju's strengths, against him too.

 

[GameChanger]

Hitch seems to agree, even if I don't agree with him taking Pulju off the first line in the third. McDavid and Nuge were on ice for another two goals against on even strength (empty net discounted), so it's not like moving Pulju away helped them.

As you know I haven't mentioned the Edmonton Journal much lately, but I'll make an exception this time. They wrote several lines about the times Pulju lost the puck, but also called Nurse's pass a kind of a hand grenade. Just a few players got a higher grade and they also found a lot of positive in the following:

Played half of a very good game and half of a not-good one. Made a sweet play to lift a stick, steal a puck, and feed it to Nigent-Hopkins to set up the first Oilers goal. Had a few other good moments in pursuit of the puck, landed a couple of hits, and took 3 shot attempts. Made one sweet play in the neutral zone to glove down a high puck and quickly find RNH with a clean pass. Nearly scored himself on a nice drive to the net front.

This is still a project going on. At least Pulju's contributed to 4 ES goals in the 5 last games, so there's been progress in that regard.

 

[backwards motion]

And to be sure to mention, I have no beef in this. Just a temporary translator. Hope it's ok. I do like Oilers so I really hope Jesse will come through. Just let information out from a far away. Hope he and we all succeed. Team is quite good, but of course, lots to do still. Hope everything goes well.

 

[frag2]

I've seen this and many other comments from Kekäläinen, but basically he said that besides the shooting, skating, speed and other physical features they always pay attention to how the players understand the game and what kind of a character they have. In the same interview he also emphasized the defensive game and how rare it is for a winger to play at a center at the level Dubois did.

In another interview he said the following:

A big reason for drafting him is because he plays our kind of hockey. He's 19, almost 100kg, he can skate, he has speed, he plays both physical and aggressive hockey and he's good near the goal.

I don't think there's that much drama in this whole Dubois/Pulju thing and I don't even care about the reasons that much, but nothing I've read says that the ability to process the game is the one main thing they looked for as you wrote. That is one of the many things he mentioned about Dubois so if you turn that against Puljujarvi you will need to turn quite a few elements, of which some are even Pulju's strengths, against him too.

From all these translations, it just sounds more like Kekalainen preferred Dubois simply because he was groomed in NA and plays a more NA-centric game than JP from the getgo? Maybe he's just doubting JP's ability to adjust to the NA style of hockey with its tighter, faster pace game?

Honestly, watching JP, I don't doubt if that's the case. JP still looks like he's getting acclimated to the NA style.

As you know I haven't mentioned the Edmonton Journal much lately, but I'll make an exception this time. They wrote several lines about the times Pulju lost the puck, but also called Nurse's pass a kind of a hand grenade. Just a few players got a higher grade and they also found a lot of positive in the following:

Played half of a very good game and half of a not-good one. Made a sweet play to lift a stick, steal a puck, and feed it to Nigent-Hopkins to set up the first Oilers goal. Had a few other good moments in pursuit of the puck, landed a couple of hits, and took 3 shot attempts. Made one sweet play in the neutral zone to glove down a high puck and quickly find RNH with a clean pass. Nearly scored himself on a nice drive to the net front.

This is still a project going on. At least Pulju's contributed to 4 ES goals in the 5 last games, so there's been progress in that regard.

Nurse was garbage with the puck. While JP mishandled it, Nurse is a known cluster f*** when it comes to puck decisions in the O zone.
Kind of chuckled at that sequence of events since Nurse passing it off to JP was akin to passing the puck to himself. Both have questionable IQ at the moment but have great physical attributes

 

[GameChanger]

From all these translations, it just sounds more like Kekalainen preferred Dubois simply because he was groomed in NA and plays a more NA-centric game than JP from the getgo? Maybe he's just doubting JP's ability to adjust to the NA style of hockey with its tighter, faster pace game?

Could be something like that, but IMO people (not meant to you) are assuming too hard that something was wrong with Pulju as Kekäläinen decided to go for Dubois instead. I read already beforehand that CBJ may be after a center and obviously they felt Dubois was exactly what they needed. Maybe they thought Pulju wasn't worth a 3rd pick or maybe they felt Pulju would've been an excellent choice but Dubois fitted their needs better.

After CBJ made the pick Pulju's agent said:"Remember what I told you about Kekäläinen? Do you remember? In Croatia." So obviously they had a feeling for some reason he might not choose Pulju. To me this whole drafting thing doesn't even matter, I just feel some writers who are biased against Pulju pick one of the many features Kekäläinen mentioned about Dubois and try to use that against Puljujarvi. I'm only talking about Kekäläinen's words, of course anyone can feel as they wish about Pulju.

 

[GameChanger]

I recommend anyone interested about Pulju's draft status and his strengths at the time (including easy to watch demostrative video clips) to take a look at this:

Draft Profile: Jesse Puljujarvi

Some quotes I find interesting:

In most other years, he'd be in the discussion to go first overall. Instead, thanks to the amazing years by both Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine, Puljujarvi heads into the Draft as the consensus third overall pick. But just because he's third this year, doesn't mean he's not a special talent.

Puljujarvi sees the ice really well, and shows the ability to think one step ahead of the play.

Puljujarvi is almost a lock to go third overall to Columbus. There will be some talk as we get closer to the Draft about Winnipeg taking Puljujarvi second over Patrik Laine, and there will be some talk about Columbus taking a different forward--likely Pierre-Luc Dubois, who has the added versatility of playing center--with the third pick over Puljujarvi, but when the dust settles and a decision has to be made, I really think Puljujarvi will end up in Columbus.

He's got potential to make an NHL roster next season, and within a few years, be a top scorer in the league.

 

[Stoneman89]

He made one mistake last night and got demoted. Where have we seen this movie before?

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

He made one mistake last night and got demoted. Where have we seen this movie before?

He wasn't demoted because of that mistake. It wasn't really his fault actually, it was a poor pass.

He lost his confidence afterwards and his play dropped from there, getting him demoted. It had nothing to do with that bobble.

 

[GameChanger]

He wasn't demoted because of that mistake. It wasn't really his fault actually, it was a poor pass.

I was scared to mention this myself, but I advise people to take a close look and form their own opinions:



Pulju's had some trouble receiving the puck at times and he's naturally got some things to work with, but IMO this was a clear mistake from Nurse. Pulju's stick is wide open and Nurse shoots a very fast pass straight towards his feet. Pulju actually moves his stick to receive the pass very quickly, but unfortunately that wasn't enough. Him not being able to reach to the puck afterwards made it look worse.

What Puljujarvi needs to work with is his mental side after things like this. I feel it's got better, but there's work left. He got such a good training from McLellan to crumble after making a mistake, but now it's another era and time take another step in that area.

 

[Stoneman89]

He wasn't demoted because of that mistake. It wasn't really his fault actually, it was a poor pass.

He lost his confidence afterwards and his play dropped from there, getting him demoted. It had nothing to do with that bobble.

You just said he lost his confidence afterward the play, and he got demoted, So the play started a sequence of events that got him demoted. Better?

Again, it's a movie we've seen before. Only now, it's the Hitchblender.

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

You just said he lost his confidence afterward the play, and he got demoted, So the play started a sequence of events that got him demoted. Better?

Again, it's a movie we've seen before. Only now, it's the Hitchblender.

He lost confidence so the level of his play dropped. What else is Hitchcock meant to do?

 

[oobga]

He wasn't demoted because of that mistake. It wasn't really his fault actually, it was a poor pass.

He lost his confidence afterwards and his play dropped from there, getting him demoted. It had nothing to do with that bobble.

Yeah, This kid seems way too hard on himself. I think Hitch was trying to protect him from himself at that point, you could see his game really droop after that misplay.

Love the kid, but he is clearly a pretty high maintenance personality. Some coaches are just not interested at all in dealing with that stuff, like old Todd. He is pretty lucky to have one that is right now. He needs to buck up and keep going.

 

[Jamin]

Sure they did.
Though, there are good and not so good staffs there.
Kekäläinen has darn good draft record for a reason.

During the intermissiin Burke said Calgary would've taken him had they been 4th so at least not just Oilers

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I would've liked to have seen him kept on that line as mistakes happen and that was a bullet pass from Nurse in relatively close quarters. IMO once we juggled the lines the game was lost. Overall IMO the team showed a lot of positives against the best team in the league but got out manned with Klefbom, Russell and Khaira out. If Hitch saw his confidence crumble then he did what he had to do but I hope that he gets another opportunity like this when it's not against the best team in the league.

 

[GameChanger]

Yeah, This kid seems way too hard on himself. I think Hitch was trying to protect him from himself at that point, you could see his game really droop after that misplay.

And that's on Pulju himself, more than receiving the quick pass that came towards his feet. But for two years he was trained that after a case like that (whether or not it was his mistake) he'll be demoted and very possibly benched so some more time with Hitch should help with that.

Okay, he was demoted later on but not immediately after that one and it was quite understandable considering the situation of the game. Hitch said that until the goal Pulju had a hell of a game and he also said the identity line has struggled lately, so I suppose changing that line chemistry was a try to fix more than one thing. Didn't work this time at least for the 1st line, but let's see what the line combinations will be in the next game.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

This time around I feel that the coach has his best interests in mind and there is communication between them. Jesse just needs to bounce back and let it go and work hard on the 27th.

 

[oobga]

And that's on Pulju himself, more than receiving the quick pass that came towards his feet. But for two years he was trained that after a case like that (whether or not it was his mistake) he'll be demoted and very possibly benched so some more time with Hitch should help with that.

Okay, he was demoted later on but not immediately after that one and it was quite understandable considering the situation of the game. Hitch said that until the goal Pulju had a hell of a game and he also said the identity line has struggled lately, so I suppose changing that line chemistry was a try to fix more than one thing. Didn't work this time at least for the 1st line, but let's see what the line combinations will be in the next game.

I think he'll get another shot soon, possibly just next game. He did a lot of good on that top line and was far from the only guy that made mistakes in that game.

For sure though, he needs to get rid of that mentality that the world is ending after a mistake. I think a lot of our players thought that way last year and the start of this year. The whole team would go in the dumps as soon as any little thing went wrong. It's just far more pronounced in a kid that is still trying to find his way in the league, who you can argue was one of the quicker to be punished for any mistake.

 

[Stoneman89]

He lost confidence so the level of his play dropped. What else is Hitchcock meant to do?

You're missing my point. The last coach we had here got bbqued for doing that.
Will bee interesting to see if he gets another chance next game up there.

 

[oobga]

You're missing my point. The last coach we had here got bbqued for doing that.

If Todd was coach now, Jesse likely is sitting out the next 2-3 games for that misplay and the poor shifts afterwards when he lost his confidence, so he could stew on the errors and be fearful to ever make such a mistake again. Let's see what Hitch does.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

You just said he lost his confidence afterward the play, and he got demoted, So the play started a sequence of events that got him demoted. Better?

Again, it's a movie we've seen before. Only now, it's the Hitchblender.

So a player who is completely anchoring the top line should be left on the line?

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

If Todd was coach now, Jesse likely is sitting out the next 2-3 games for that misplay and the poor shifts afterwards when he lost his confidence, so he could stew on the errors and be fearful to ever make such a mistake again. Let's see what Hitch does.

Hitch spoke pretty high of him again. I would say yes. I highly doubt he starts off with lucic and kassian again.