Player Discussion Jesse Puljujarvi Part 3: Hard times

[frag2]

The question is, who do you bench when Rattie returns? Cagguila has 4 goals in 4 games, Chiasson has 5 goals in 6 games, should Rattie stay in the press box when healthy just because he got injured? He's not playing on the 4th line so forget that.

Here's the thing, would you prefer that he play on the 3rd line with two players who have contributed nothing at even strength this season with 2nd unit PP time with all the 2nd/3rd liners or in the AHL with top line offensive minutes and top unit PP time so he can build offensive confidence?

Chances are that Cagguila, Chiasson and Rattie aren't all going to keep producing at a high level, it's quite likely actually, so he or Yamamoto should get their chance again but right now, there's no reason to put any of those guys in the press box.

That’s how I see it. He’s better off playing more than 10-15 mins in a more offensive role. Him playing bottom 6, unless he’s driving a line-which he’s not, his game away from the puck will be scrutinized more. And that part of his game is very unrefined

 

[Little Fury]

I'd argue that yeah he was fine but after 4 games sat he didn't seem to have the hustle you would expect, the hunger from a guy wanting to prove himself. Which is fine it happens to players. But I would say, as you have said, confidence is major for him. So send him down to regain confidence and hopefully dominate the AHL, and then call back up a playing well l and confident Puljujarvi and put him in the top 6.

He looked tentative and afraid to make a mistake. He was in on three prime scoring opportunities that don't happen if he's not on that black hole line and had one moment where he broke up a play in front. Couple of rough shifts where the D struggled to advance the puck, and a few moments where he drifted out of position. Good, not great night, but not terrible as some suggest. Honestly don't know what to do with him at this point. He doesn't belong on a dump and chase third line with two guys who couldn't put the puck in the ocean and I don't know if running wild in the A is going to help him with the fundamentals.

 

[CycloneSweep]

He looked tentative and afraid to make a mistake. He was in on three prime scoring opportunities that don't happen if he's not on that black hole line and had one moment where he broke up a play in front. Couple of rough shifts where the D struggled to advance the puck, and a few moments where he drifted out of position. Good, not great night, but not terrible as some suggest. Honestly don't know what to do with him at this point. He doesn't belong on a dump and chase third line with two guys who couldn't put the puck in the ocean and I don't know if running wild in the A is going to help him with the fundamentals.

The team in the AHL has actually worked hard on fundamentals and play a pretty structured game that mirrors the big club. It's actually a good place this year.

 

[elmaco]

He was baaad. Threw the puck away early in the game causing an odd man rush. Didn't do a heck of a lot positive.
Kid struggles with the pace of the game. He clearly cant process it fast enough.
But its not his fault. Its ,McLellan, Drais…..etc. And players are mean too. MacD refuses to pass to him on pp, Cags steals his spot on top line...etc.
Kid has no chance with all this bad stuff happening to him

Are you 10? or 80? He wasn't that bad..

 

[Barrsy]

Are you 10? or 80? He wasn't that bad..

Closer to 80 than 10.
He was bad. And there is nothing inaccurate in what I said. The excuses that he gets from his fans are astounding.

 

[Zaddy]

I really wish Jesse would start using his big frame more. It seems like in every puck battle he just reaches in with his stick hoping to poke the puck free and that's about it. I would imagine that this is one of the areas of Jesse game which is really frustrating to Todd and the coaching staff. I also have to think that it's something they've talked to Jesse a lot about, but it doesn't seem like he gets it. Some games you can see him use his frame to his advantage only to revert back to his usual self the next game.

I think the problem is that his entire career he has been a skill player and never really had to use his body much to be successful. It has mainly just been there, and I guess it may have been to his advantage playing against kids, but he has never really had to play physical. But it's pretty clear that he's not skilled enough to play a pure skill game in the NHL, so to be successful he needs to change his game up a little bit. My guess is that that is where the problem lies right now. McLellan wants him to play a certain way, but Jesse is slow to adapt, maybe because of language, maybe because of an unwillingness to change something that he has been successful with his entire career up until this point.

I guess this is not really uncommon with big, skill guys and this is why it usually takes until their mid 20's for them to really come into their own. One day it just clicks for them and they understand what they need to do. Hopefully that will happen with Pulju too. I just hope he isn't traded away for peanuts before that happens.

 

[elmaco]

Closer to 80 than 10.
He was bad. And there is nothing inaccurate in what I said. The excuses that he gets from his fans are astounding.

Nah, you are probably just senile.

 

[Jamin]

If he completed his compulsory credits then he graduated. English is probably a requirement just as French is in Canada but 95% of kids who took French for 9 years in English provinces can't speak a lick of it, myself included.

French is mandatory? Never took a single class of french in 12 years

 

[Jamin]

Send the guy down. That scoring chance in the 3rd he didnt score on when he looked up to scoreboard it looked like he was gonna cry, looked like a sad person. It kinda bummed me out from the guy who used to be ear to ear smiles.

He hasnt earned a spot but the coach never gave him a real chance anyways. Send him to the AHL to play 24 min a night on pp and pk. At least we can get a 6'4" 3rd liner and he is still young enough could undo TMac and still become a top 6 player.

4 scratches in a row and then 11 min is wasting an asset

 

[nabob]

Are you 10? or 80? He wasn't that bad..

The overblown reaction to people saying how terrible he played is hilarious. He created multiple scoring chances and set Strome up for 3 or 4 great chances.

He had the one turnover where he got fooled by an opposition player tapping for a pass and thought it was the point man calling for a pass. No idea where the point man even was on that play.

All in all he created more than he gave up, just no one could put the puck in the net.

 

[Little Fury]

The overblown reaction to people saying how terrible he played is hilarious. He created multiple scoring chances and set Strome up for 3 or 4 great chances.

He had the one turnover where he got fooled by an opposition player tapping for a pass and thought it was the point man calling for a pass. No idea where the point man even was on that play.

All in all he created more than he gave up, just no one could put the puck in the net.

Bang on, good outweighed the bad which is all we can really ask for on any player.

 

[nabob]

Bang on, good outweighed the bad which is all we can really ask for on any player.

I guess though some people only look at box scores and see that he didn’t get any points so he must have sucked. Khaira was our worst forward on the night by far but Caggiula was able to cash in on Khaira’s only nice play of the game, therefore he was actually really good in some people’s eyes.

 

[oobga]

How he got PP time late in the game suggests he did stuff McLellan liked. He may think he needs to be higher in the lineup, but McLellan is definitely not going anywhere after the results to start this season. Keep grinding it out Pulju!

 

[Little Fury]

I guess though some people only look at box scores and see that he didn’t get any points so he must have sucked. Khaira was our worst forward on the night by far but Caggiula was able to cash in on his only nice play of the game, therefore he was actually really good in some people’s eyes.

Eh even I'll give Cagguila a bit more credit than "one good play" last night. Both goals were some nice displays of skill and he had a couple of other good looks and set ups.

 

[Little Fury]

How he got PP time late in the game suggests he did stuff McLellan liked. He may think he needs to be higher in the lineup, but McLellan is definitely not going anywhere after the results to start this season. Keep grinding it out Pulju!

*whispers* he still needs better linemates.

 

[Wewillrise]

Pulju scores on his chance with Lucic and strome if his confidence is higher. He tried to dust it off and only had that one split second to tap it in.

 

[doulos]

Closer to 80 than 10.
He was bad. And there is nothing inaccurate in what I said. The excuses that he gets from his fans are astounding.

The excuses will be there even if the kid ends up in the KHL. He just hasn't been good enough, and hasn't shown he can be consistently since the day he was drafted.

 

[nabob]

How he got PP time late in the game suggests he did stuff McLellan liked. He may think he needs to be higher in the lineup, but McLellan is definitely not going anywhere after the results to start this season. Keep grinding it out Pulju!

He was actually taken off the PP when the game was still possibly writhing reach in favor of Caggulia who was obviously being rewarded for playing really well with some PP time.

 

[Wewillrise]

Pulju needs to take learning English seriously.

He still can’t fully understand simple questions asked by the media. That implies he wouldn’t be able to understand small nuances in the coaches vocabulary. That matters at this level. Not to the degree of boom or bust but it makes a difference in the speed of development.

The bigger problem for me is bonding with teammates. If he can’t inderstand his peers how does he create friendships. This is a huge part of team building and fighting for each other. Having peers to talk to during rough spurts can be huge in developmental curves.

Also if he doesn’t understand what he is doing wrong fully, he could be telling himself his own narrative.

I still think he will turn out to be a good player.

Not learning English is on him though.

 

[nabob]

Pulju scores on his chance with Lucic and strome if his confidence is higher. He tried to dust it off and only had that one split second to tap it in.

He didn’t dust it off he deflected it and the goalie read the play. If his confidence in higher he actually does dust it off he probably scores. Much like Caggulia did on his first goal.

 

[nabob]

Eh even I'll give Cagguila a bit more credit than "one good play" last night. Both goals were some nice displays of skill and he had a couple of other good looks and set ups.

Khaira had one good play. Caggulia played a heck of a game.

I made my post a little clearer, sorry about that.

 

[Wewillrise]

He didn’t dust it off he deflected it and the goalie read the play. If his confidence in higher he actually does dust it off he probably scores. Much like Caggulia did on his first goal.

Do you have a video? The replay directly after the play looked like he tried to control the puck and it went into the pads.

 

[nabob]

Do you have a video? The replay directly after the play looked like he tried to control the puck and it went into the pads.

I don’t have a video

 

[oobga]

*whispers* he still needs better linemates.

Would be nice for sure, but his situation is what it is. McLellan wants him to do some grinding lower in the lineup to earn his spot. McLellan isn't going to be the guy that submits, not a chance, he is fully dug in now with what he wants Pulju doing to move up the lineup. Kris Russell will be McDavid's winger before Pulju if Pulju doesn't do exactly what McLellan wants. Just hope the kid can figure it out.

 

[Wewillrise]

I don’t have a video

Someone else might later