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.
Doesn’t really matter. He plays bad he stays there or is scratched. He plays good, he is kept there to ”lift the 3rd line”. All according to the logic of TM.
As I said in my first post, he is yet another wasted talent. Trade him and move on already. Then watch him excel in the next team where he is used properly, or atleast is given a real chance to be used properly.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
At the end of the day we needed to make hay with those 2 picks, if we failed that's a huge problem.
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
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.At the end of the day we needed to make hay with those 2 picks, if we failed that's a huge problem.
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.
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.
Really, suggesting the no.16 pick br used on Griffij Reinhart instead is doing your job?
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.
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.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.