I was hyped on him but ever since his draft Day he has been incredibly disappointing and hasn't been even close to the player he showed before that
How can he show much with limited top 6 time and zero top unit PP time?
Firstly, I want to state that there's a lot of well thought out posts from both sides after reading through the thread. For a change, it's nice to see well articulated debate independent of the mud slinging and name calling that we've seen in so many other threads this offseason so kudos to you guys on both sides of the debate.
I can see points well made on both sides but the one thing nobody has given justification to is his complete lack of top unit PP time especially on a unit that is devoid of a goal scorer and why he wasn't given a long look in the top 6 late last season in what turned out to be a development year while a vet who had no future here, bottom 6 grinders and tweeners gobbled up all that playing time? That was the perfect time to give him some top 6 experience or at the very least, top unit PP time, to boost confidence going into the offseason so that he'd be better prepared to play with skill going into this season.
I understand that a lot of it is on Jesse himself and he certainly did himself no favors with lackluster play and waning effort as the season wore on but there was an opening on the top unit PP time (which was last in the league) and Draisaitl's line where nobody took the bull by the horns and earned that spot so why not develop your best offensive prospect during a time of year that should have been all about development?
In any event, I don't mind him starting on the 3rd line to start the season (hopefully Khaira and not Cagguila is flanking the left side) but for the love of god, please give him a look on the top PP unit to start preseason and give him at least a few games to show what he's got. The PP is the perfect place to boost young offensive minded player confidence with all the space to work with. Confidence derived from the PP could very well translate to even strength play and will also be a message to JP that the coaches finally have some trust in him.
Sometimes the horse needs to be let out of the stable and allowed to run free and the Oilers have never been better equipped to jump a youngster in the top 6 with the center depth they now possess.
In closing, the one caveat to giving him a bigger opportunity is the 2nd contract. If he does break out to the tune of something like 25 goals, 60 points, it could be problematic because the Oilers aren't equipped to hand out a big contract next season so it's a fine line between developing his offensive game properly and developing it properly too soon. I'm sure this has crossed the mind of JP and his agent with his contract looming, I'm sure they expected him to be further along at this point when he was drafted.