McIce Whole
Registered User
Puju has one shift with Drai and they almost scored. Why Todd is so stubborn to try Puju with Drai for an extended look, especially when he start to juggle lines is beyond me.
Player Discussion Jesse Puljujarvi '18-19 Season
- Thread starter Bryanbryoil
- Start date
- Status
PulYou
Registered User
- Feb 16, 2018
- 635
- 792
I am afraid You are right. Pulju just will not excel under McLellan. McLellan saying Pulju needs to bully his way out there is very telling (at least to me) how he sees Jesse as a player. As long McLellan is driving, the Oiler's are not benefitting from Pulju.
And YES this is my emotional prediction...
I hope I am wrong though, because I love the Oilers...Last year many fans wanted to see Drai and Jesse together for ages, there were lots and lots of messages from several writers about that. When it finally happened they actually had a terrific game together, but somehow McLellan separated them again after it. It was the same at the start of the season, they showed good chemistry, but McLellan wanted to send Pulju down "to help with the bottom6".
I know Drai is criticized a lot and a part of that is because of his salary. I admit he's looked off quite many times and for that salary more can be expected. But I also understand him. He must feel a lot of pressure and he's expected an elite performance for his elite paycheck, so it must be depressing for such a terrific player when he has to fill those shoes without elite support from other players. Just put Drai and Jesse together for at least a few games and tell them to enjoy the game.
I kind of see the funny side in this. I mean, after knowing what Jesse was as a player before the NHL it's quite incredible that he's advised to be the grinder guy in front of the goal. I mean of course that's an important aspect of the game and I do think the physical side can be an important aspect in Jesse's game and has actually developed him in that sense, but that's not where his natural strengths are. It just seems so artificial. Like inserting a plastic heart to drive his doing.
McIce Whole
Registered User
Wanting Drai and Puju together kind of reminds of when fans wanted to see Mcdavid and Nuge tried together. Fans wanted it forever, coaching staff made the changes once it was too late.
I agree with what you said about Drai and have voiced the same concerns. He doesn’t have much help on his wing and it’s a damn shame. I really hope the other coaches do something and convince Todd to let Puju play top 6, preferably with Drai soon.
MikeGrier99
Registered User
- May 20, 2017
- 850
- 880
Puljujarvi reminds me of MPS, Yakupov, Schultz, and Cogliano. All these players have NHL level skills in certain areas, and we were never able to get the most out of the tools they had. Two of these guys did great elsewhere, two never recovered. It's not too late to get a whole lot out of Puljujarvi of course, but this ownership/management/coaching staff lead me to believe that they don't really know how to bring young talent into the league. Even half of our blue chip prospects bust, let alone the later picks.
Developing players is such a huge issue especially nowadays when you can't just buy everything even if you have the money. I haven't followed the Oilers closely enough earlier to be able to say much about all the cases you mentioned, but from what I've read and what I've seen with Jesse I think you make an excellent point. If you fail to get the most out of your highest picks more often than not at some point you should look into the mirror. I'm not sure there are clear signs of that.
If this kid does not pan out everyone involved in the 2015 and 2016 drafts should be fired.
We could not afford to just blow that 16th overall pick in 2015 and again the no.4 overall in 2016.
We didn't have that luxury, those picks were vital to building a team around McDavid, if you screwed up both of those, you gotta go. Plain and simple. That cannot happen.
We could not afford to just blow that 16th overall pick in 2015 and again the no.4 overall in 2016.
We didn't have that luxury, those picks were vital to building a team around McDavid, if you screwed up both of those, you gotta go. Plain and simple. That cannot happen.
Oilhawks
Oden's Ride Over Nordland
- Nov 24, 2011
- 26,673
- 46,325
Pretty sure most teams would have skipped to the podium to pick him at 4th. If he was a "bad pick" (TBD), you'd be looking at another Yakupov type pick where most of the scouts in the NHL were wrong.
I just happened to bump into an EJ article from the summer time, where it was mentioned that Puljujarvi played 57% of his season with Lucic, which was almost twice as much as with anyone else.
It also mentioned that at the beginning his season he scored 6 goals in 13 games. I personally wish McLellan wouldn't have got the idea of sending Jesse down to put some fire to the bottom lines. We don't know what that would've brought, but there's a good chance it'd kept feeding his confidence and resulted in some PP usage too.
Here's a few quotes from the article in case someone's bored enough to read it:
One might think a good spot to unlock a talented young player’s offence might be the powerplay, an area where young Jesse absolutely excelled for Finland. Alas, one would think wrong… or at least on a different wavelength than his coaches. Despite having a coveted right-handed stick and a strong shot, Puljujarvi was afforded a measly 48 minutes on the powerplay all season long, 10th among Oilers forwards. Just 45 seconds per game, almost all of it came on the second unit.
The alert reader may be thinking “hey wait a minute, aren’t we talking about the powerplay unit that finished 31st and last in the NHL in both goals and conversion percentage?” The answer to this query being, “why yes, dear reader, yes we are.” I have, however, no satisfactory response to the obvious follow-up question, “so what in hell were the coaches thinking?!”
Frankly, that question extends beyond just the powerplay usage. If not the man advantage, why not the penalty kill? Puljujarvi has many of the needed attributes — speed, reach, active stick, defensive conscience if not polish. Yet he received just 24 seconds TOTAL on the shorthanded unit, which lest we forget also struggled mightily through the first two-thirds of the season.
And finally, it also contained words by Kurt Leavins from the game him and Drai played together later on:
JESSE PULJUJARVI. 9. Just a tremendous performance from Jesse Puljujarvi, on both sides of the puck. Was a force on the attack, with a deadly combination of high-skill and ruggedness. Also made 3 or 4 excellent defensive plays. His assist on the Khaira goal was a stunning backhand-to-forehand shift, followed by a pass threaded through the wickets of Henrik Sedin, right on Jujhar Khaira’s tape. A force all shift long on the play that ended with his own goal, rewarded for by going to the net for a rebound. Snapped a smart pass to a waiting Draisaitl, on the 4-2, who made no mistake on the one-timer. I could go on. And on. Got that terrific post-game smile on Hockey Night in Canada, to boot. Good for him.
It also mentioned that at the beginning his season he scored 6 goals in 13 games. I personally wish McLellan wouldn't have got the idea of sending Jesse down to put some fire to the bottom lines. We don't know what that would've brought, but there's a good chance it'd kept feeding his confidence and resulted in some PP usage too.
Here's a few quotes from the article in case someone's bored enough to read it:
One might think a good spot to unlock a talented young player’s offence might be the powerplay, an area where young Jesse absolutely excelled for Finland. Alas, one would think wrong… or at least on a different wavelength than his coaches. Despite having a coveted right-handed stick and a strong shot, Puljujarvi was afforded a measly 48 minutes on the powerplay all season long, 10th among Oilers forwards. Just 45 seconds per game, almost all of it came on the second unit.
The alert reader may be thinking “hey wait a minute, aren’t we talking about the powerplay unit that finished 31st and last in the NHL in both goals and conversion percentage?” The answer to this query being, “why yes, dear reader, yes we are.” I have, however, no satisfactory response to the obvious follow-up question, “so what in hell were the coaches thinking?!”
Frankly, that question extends beyond just the powerplay usage. If not the man advantage, why not the penalty kill? Puljujarvi has many of the needed attributes — speed, reach, active stick, defensive conscience if not polish. Yet he received just 24 seconds TOTAL on the shorthanded unit, which lest we forget also struggled mightily through the first two-thirds of the season.
And finally, it also contained words by Kurt Leavins from the game him and Drai played together later on:
JESSE PULJUJARVI. 9. Just a tremendous performance from Jesse Puljujarvi, on both sides of the puck. Was a force on the attack, with a deadly combination of high-skill and ruggedness. Also made 3 or 4 excellent defensive plays. His assist on the Khaira goal was a stunning backhand-to-forehand shift, followed by a pass threaded through the wickets of Henrik Sedin, right on Jujhar Khaira’s tape. A force all shift long on the play that ended with his own goal, rewarded for by going to the net for a rebound. Snapped a smart pass to a waiting Draisaitl, on the 4-2, who made no mistake on the one-timer. I could go on. And on. Got that terrific post-game smile on Hockey Night in Canada, to boot. Good for him.
Last edited:
At the end of the day we needed to make hay with those 2 picks, if we failed that's a huge problem.
Oilhawks
Oden's Ride Over Nordland
- Nov 24, 2011
- 26,673
- 46,325
I don't disagree with that, but I'm not sure who else any other management team would have picked. Tkachuk? Jury is still out on him being a line driver (he seems like a potentially very good complimentary piece at best so far). Sergachev is about the only other player I wanted (and I think most other fans) at the time who was left on the board. Maybe McAvoy. And they weren't sure things then either (still TBD but trending very well). The rest of the picks all had serious question marks IMO. I can fault management (and coaching, but that's another story, though partially related to poor development / utilization of this pick so far IMO) for many things but this pick is hard to blame them on taking.
PulYou
Registered User
- Feb 16, 2018
- 635
- 792
ChicagoBullsFan
Registered User
If / when McLellan clearly hates Puljujärvi so much that he ( McLellan) not want to give Jesse even a chance to play with Draisaitl or McDavid then it's better fire that clown coach or let Jesse go ( trade him).
This how McLellan treats Pulju is turning into a miserable joke that not laughs at anyone
This how McLellan treats Pulju is turning into a miserable joke that not laughs at anyone
Last edited:
Like some have said I understand why he wanted to see Puljujarvi with Strome initially. However, there's so many things I do not understand, the PP/OT usage being the main one. According to the last season a place with McDavid, Drai or Nuge should be much better for Jesse and today's one shift fitted that thought as well. So I do agree with you, but am trying to be patient for some more games (though it's not easy I admit).
Is it a failure of the scouts or of the coaches put in charge of developing and using those players? I’d say the scouts did their job.
Really, suggesting the no.16 pick br used on Griffij Reinhart instead is doing your job?
TB12
Registered User
- Apr 5, 2015
- 3,693
- 12,294
My career is in player development and it’s definitely not cut and dried.
I can absolutely see both sides here. Pulj not getting chances vs. Pulj not deserving of getting chances.
For example, they might be giving him a ton of chances in practice on the PP but he can’t convert. However, my gut tells me that with the lack of practice time available to an NHL team (due to the number of games played) that that is not the case.
I am not sure what TMac and his staff have asked of Pulj but I hope that the expectations have been clearly laid out. If not, that would explain the players confusion regarding his role.
We are not privy to these conversations (obvs) but I hope that they are ongoing. If you want to develop an athlete you must lay out a plan and lay out a plan for how this player will be able to achieve these goals.
If this has not happened then I can understand why the player is frustrated. If the expectations have been laid out and Pulj is not meeting these expectations then I can understand why the team would be frustrated.
*****as always, I am afraid to give TMac the benefit of the doubt.
I can absolutely see both sides here. Pulj not getting chances vs. Pulj not deserving of getting chances.
For example, they might be giving him a ton of chances in practice on the PP but he can’t convert. However, my gut tells me that with the lack of practice time available to an NHL team (due to the number of games played) that that is not the case.
I am not sure what TMac and his staff have asked of Pulj but I hope that the expectations have been clearly laid out. If not, that would explain the players confusion regarding his role.
We are not privy to these conversations (obvs) but I hope that they are ongoing. If you want to develop an athlete you must lay out a plan and lay out a plan for how this player will be able to achieve these goals.
If this has not happened then I can understand why the player is frustrated. If the expectations have been laid out and Pulj is not meeting these expectations then I can understand why the team would be frustrated.
*****as always, I am afraid to give TMac the benefit of the doubt.
A good post and I agree with you. Just wanted to comment on the PP thing as I'm sure they're not using Pulju as a shooter/QB'ing role in practice because they use him in a very different role in the games. So in any case I'm sure they're not getting the most out of him.
I am afraid that McLellan sees Pulju as a grinder kind of a guy and that may be very far from how Jesse sees himself and where his strengths are. Physicality helps and I actually believe being used in that role can also bring some good elements to his game so it's not all bad, but when you push a player to something that's far from his natural strengths it can really get confusing.
I believe that trade was agreed upon before the draft and that our amateur scouts had zero input. Can’t blame the scouts for trades like that.
You seem to be looking to argue though I’ll step out.
As written, a quieter start than I was hoping. Edmonton journal gave Pulju the score 5, which was the 6th best (with Yamo) out of the forwards.
Jesse Puljujarvi, 5. Got off his one good shot and made some strong plays on the puck but had a quiet game.
Without leaving Pulju out of the picture some more offensive help wouldn't be bad:
Ryan Strome, 4. I hardly noticed him in his 15 minutes of ice time, which isn’t good enough for a forward. He won just three of nine faceoffs.
Jujhar Khaira, 4. Like Strome, a super quiet game. The third line failed to get rolling in any substantial manner.
Jesse Puljujarvi, 5. Got off his one good shot and made some strong plays on the puck but had a quiet game.
Without leaving Pulju out of the picture some more offensive help wouldn't be bad:
Ryan Strome, 4. I hardly noticed him in his 15 minutes of ice time, which isn’t good enough for a forward. He won just three of nine faceoffs.
Jujhar Khaira, 4. Like Strome, a super quiet game. The third line failed to get rolling in any substantial manner.
oobga
Tier 2 Fan
- Aug 1, 2003
- 23,549
- 18,852
Strome really really struggled in this game, plays died constantly with him. You can't let Pulju be dragged down by that kind of play by his C for too long. Kid has been working his tail off for weeks now. Yams probably needs to be swapped if this keeps up. Yams isn't close to being able to push the pace of play that Pulju was in pre-season, and Drai needs some help right now at 5v5.
For all this talk I myself find it very hard to judge a single player performance (minus McJesus of course but that's obvious) when a team plays so badly. You guys have a serious system-problem and a coach with tunnel vision. I guess you know that already, tho 
I hope to god that Jesse gets traded. This whole ordeal is such a joke, this team isn't going to win shit with that imbecil McLellan pulling the ropes.
Yep. It's tough to blame Puljujärvi for his lack of success if he's never put in a position to succeed. Take Patrik Laine for instance - Would he produce while playing with Copp and Tanev? I don't think so. He probably would be borderline useless, and negative value to his team playing down there. Would the solution be to keep Laine playing down there? No, it'd be to have Laine to play with good players so that he can actually make use of his assets, which makes him one of the best snipers in NHL.
That's how it is with Puljujärvi. Is he a great 3rd line grinder? No. Do we even know how good he'd be as a first / second line player? We really don't, because he's not put into a position to success. However, it's not entirely a mystery box either because when Puljujärvi has played with either McDavid or Draisaitl, he's actually looked good, the lines have done well. So why is it that he keeps being put down to the third line and kept there if he doesn't do well there, when his game isn't suited for it? Would MacLellan keep Laine down on the third line and without PP time as well if he doesn't produce, even if he requires playing with good players to produce? It's such circular logic.
- Status
