Player Discussion Jesse Puljujarvi Part 10: Connor's RW

[BudBundy]

Puli has been a spark plug so far no question, he’s also -6.

Only because he was glued to Tourist for the first couple weeks.

 

[Messrules11]

Wow, he's -6. Exactly something Spector who's a clown would also say.

Well that was a gutless post. You got something to add DM me.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Only because he was glued to Tourist for the first couple weeks.

Not true. He's still been a minus player since he's been on McD's line

 

[Barrsy]

Not true. He's still been a minus player since he's been on McD's line

Its amazing to me that even when JP is playing well, exceeding alot of peoples expectations (mine is a case in point), people still make excuses for him & think the whole teams lines/icetime...etc should revolve around what they think is best for JP.
Its unbelievable.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Its amazing to me that even when JP is playing well, exceeding alot of peoples expectations (mine is a case in point), people still make excuses for him & think the whole teams lines/icetime...etc should revolve around what they think is best for JP.
Its unbelievable.

JP is playing better, no doubt. But is he playing "well" or is he playing better than his "bust" stint 2 years ago?

That line is no offensive juggernaut by any stretch, and JP is still a -minus player on that trio.

I personally have liked him so far, and see the steady improvement in many areas. I also see alot of the same ol tendencies for long stretches also. It's a mixed bag if one really had to be honest and fair

So while I support him and really hope he keeps hitting more gears, that line has to get better and he has to be the reason why

 

[Fourier]

Puli has been a spark plug so far no question, he’s also -6.

That -6 is deceptive though. He's -4 playing with McDavid at ES, but when they have been on the ice together the line has dominated play. Natural Stat Trick has the scoring chances at 87 for and 46 against and the high danger chances at 39 for and 21 against. That is rather ridicuously one sided, especially give the guys they typically play against. Their on ice sv% is .8475. That is what you might expect if you had a b-grade OHL guy or perhaps Reinhard Divis in net. Of course stats can be deceiving but in this case I think it also matches the eye test.

They have scored 5 goals and given up 9. I am not sure how much weight I put on expected goal stats in general but it is interesting that for the pair together the xGF is 8.04 vs xGA of 3.82. If you convert this to per 60 it is 3.55 xGF which is very good vs 1.68xGA which is excellent. Again, these stats have their issues in part because they don't tell you if a players makes a small number of particularly egregious errors that skews the numbers but they do suggest that in the end things should turn around.

 

[McShogun99]

Hard to judge a player by +/- when the goalies are sporting a .875 SP. Most of the team would be on the + side if we had decent goaltending.

 

[BudBundy]

JP is playing better, no doubt. But is he playing "well" or is he playing better than his "bust" stint 2 years ago?

That line is no offensive juggernaut by any stretch, and JP is still a -minus player on that trio.

I personally have liked him so far, and see the steady improvement in many areas. I also see alot of the same ol tendencies for long stretches also. It's a mixed bag if one really had to be honest and fair

So while I support him and really hope he keeps hitting more gears, that line has to get better and he has to be the reason why

His Corsi is 57% and his Fenwick is 58%. He’s consistently been driving the net, passing well, and has shown a lot more poise and positional intelligence. He’s even popped a few guys with big clean hits. He looks far better than at any time in his previous stint. The +\- will come.

 

[CycloneSweep]

It's unfortunate that he hasn't done more offensively. That whole line seems to generate chances at the very least but aren't finding the back of the net.

 

[CupofOil]

JP is playing better, no doubt. But is he playing "well" or is he playing better than his "bust" stint 2 years ago?

That line is no offensive juggernaut by any stretch, and JP is still a -minus player on that trio.

I personally have liked him so far, and see the steady improvement in many areas. I also see alot of the same ol tendencies for long stretches also. It's a mixed bag if one really had to be honest and fair

So while I support him and really hope he keeps hitting more gears, that line has to get better and he has to be the reason why

It's a lot more than "steady" improvement. He is a completely different player than the one that couldn't get out of his own way in his last stint and in the last 5 games or so, he's playing like a legit top 6 if not top line player. Look at that lazer pass to Nuge on the tying goal last game for instance, there's no way in hell the Puljujarvi of 2 years ago pulls that off. His confidence is swelling.

He showed steady improvement early in the season but he's been a buzzsaw once his confidence hit another level after he popped in his 1st goal. For instance, he's been light years better than Yamamoto who seems to be hitting that dreaded sophomore slump after a strong start to the season, better than the guy on McDavid's LW as well. This is the first stretch I've watch him and thought " so THAT'S why he was drafted 4th overall".

Whether he keeps it up or not is another story but he's playing at a high level right now.

 

[AddyTheWrath]

It's a lot more than "steady" improvement. He is a completely different player than the one that couldn't get out of his own way in his last stint and in the last 5 games or so, he's playing like a legit top 6 if not top line player. Look at that lazer pass to Nuge on the tying goal last game for instance, there's no way in hell the Puljujarvi of 2 years ago pulls that off. His confidence is swelling.

He showed steady improvement early in the season but he's been a buzzsaw once his confidence hit another level after he popped in his 1st goal. For instance, he's been light years better than Yamamoto who seems to be hitting that dreaded sophomore slump after a strong start to the season, better than the guy on McDavid's LW as well. This is the first stretch I've watch him and thought " so THAT'S why he was drafted 4th overall".

Whether he keeps it up or not is another story but he's playing at a high level right now.

Kahun and Yamo are essentially the same player and neither of them really drive play. It's a bit too much for Draisaitl to handle at this point, especially when neither has much finishing ability.

I respect both Kailer and Dominik's attention to detail, aggressiveness, and effort (for the most part - they've been a bit poor even at that recently), but neither player has elite skill (at least from what I've seen).

For Jesse, the tools are there to be a dominant player. Just needs to bring it more consistently.

 

[nabob]

Leon Draisaitl was dominant and deserved the Hart that he won last season and was -7. Stats without context are useless, which + / - often is

People who use +/- without any context are either trolling or desperate to show that their wrong opinion of a player has some sort of validity, sometimes they’re both. Lots of Oilers fans have seen the light with regards to Pulju, there’s still a few holdouts though who would be happier to see him bust than see him succeed just so their constant negativity about him could be proven justified.

 

[nabob]

JP is playing better, no doubt. But is he playing "well" or is he playing better than his "bust" stint 2 years ago?

That line is no offensive juggernaut by any stretch, and JP is still a -minus player on that trio.

I personally have liked him so far, and see the steady improvement in many areas. I also see alot of the same ol tendencies for long stretches also. It's a mixed bag if one really had to be honest and fair

So while I support him and really hope he keeps hitting more gears, that line has to get better and he has to be the reason why

It says something when you think Puljujarvi needs to be the difference maker on a line when his line mates are both former #1 picks and established veteran players at this point. It’s cool that you have some positive thoughts towards JP, but still showing some obvious bias in your unrealistic expectations if you’re expecting him to be the difference maker on a line that has the best player in the world centering it lol.

 

[nabob]

I’m actually surprised that a few of the usual suspects didn’t list how invisible he looked during our last game against the Habs...

 

[McOilers97]

Keep JP with Mcdavid and just rotate LWers until someone clicks. Put the DRY line back together.

Ennis had some decent looks with McDavid pre-Covid shutdown. I'd throw him on LW with those 2, and put RNH back with Draisaitl.

 

[fuswald]

I dunno, using a team star such as plus minus as an attack on the third best forward on the team seems like throwing the baby out with the bath water

What does Nuge have to do with it?

 

[fuswald]

People who use +/- without any context are either trolling or desperate to show that their wrong opinion of a player has some sort of validity, sometimes they’re both. Lots of Oilers fans have seen the light with regards to Pulju, there’s still a few holdouts though who would be happier to see him bust than see him succeed just so their constant negativity about him could be proven justified.

Context, -6 while playing on a line with McDavid (1) and Nuge(0).
Draisitl line is way in the plus.

 

[bobbythebrain]

It says something when you think Puljujarvi needs to be the difference maker on a line when his line mates are both former #1 picks and established veteran players at this point. It’s cool that you have some positive thoughts towards JP, but still showing some obvious bias in your unrealistic expectations if you’re expecting him to be the difference maker on a line that has the best player in the world centering it lol.

Lol

 

[Oilhawks]

What does Nuge have to do with it?

I have him at 4th best currently. They are both snakebitten for sure. The difference is Pulju is opening up a lot more space for McDavid and makes the line more dynamic. Underlying stats back the eye test. Nuge is an understated, effective player and it's not his fault that Tippett isn't playing him with Drai & Yam where he is a much better fit to play a cerebral cycle and controlled chaos game vs speed chaos game with McPulju.

 

[nabob]

Lol

Literally.

 

[nabob]

Context, -6 while playing on a line with McDavid (1) and Nuge(0).
Draisitl line is way in the plus.

Context of how many of those minuses came playing with Turris...

context.

 

[Whyme]

Different stats have different values and so does +-, but especially small time frames weight has to be given to what's actually been going on. But if we do want to use +- as a way of evaluating how good a player's been that means Jesse was better in his first season than McDavid and Drai were last season All in all Laine is a minus player in the NHL.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Maroon was more effective w/ McDavid. At some point JP has to start producing like a top 6 forward in order to stay a top 6 forward

That line can't go on being dogsh** 5v5 before Tippett has to make some changes

 

[Whyme]

Maroon was more effective w/ McDavid. At some point JP has to start producing like a top 6 forward in order to stay a top 6 forward

That line can't go on being dogsh** 5v5 before Tippett has to make some changes

Yeah Maroon worked nicely. But the points seem to be coming. In February Pulju has scored 3+1 in 5 games. For someone with very limited PP opportunities that's very good, in fact that'd be 48 even strength goals per full season

As I wrote McDavid was a minus player last year so even with his skills it's not easy when the opponents put their best players against you. With the way the first line has played I believe there'll be good things coming.

 

[Whyme]

Context, -6 while playing on a line with McDavid (1) and Nuge(0).
Draisitl line is way in the plus.

He's -2 while he's played with McDavid and Nuge and there's been goals where he definitely hasn't had anything to do with them.