Player Discussion Jesse Puljujarvi Part 9: 98 NO MORE! JERSEY NUMBER NERDS REJOICE!

[Bryanbryoil]

He's significantly faster and significantly worse passer (right now) than Wheeler

Jesse is a good passer, we'll be seeing a lot of that this season. Wheeler also had a slow start to his NHL career but like Pulju, is a fast and skilled big bodied winger.

 

[McDNicks17]

I think that he has found himself a new identity as a player - before he thought of himself as a scorer first and foremost and when he couldn't bury it, he got down on himself and lost confidence. Now he has accepted the fact that he can help the team by getting to loose pucks, skating hard, hitting... This helps keeping his confidence up even when he is not scoring or playing in a limited role.

And that's not to say he isn't a capable scorer, he is. I have high hopes and expectations for him still, even if he has taken the long road.

I think that's definitely it. This is the type of player a guy like Hitch was trying to guide him toward, but he really wanted to cling to that skill/finesse game.

He came back with added maturity and a willingness to change his game and it's clicked.

The sky is the limit for him if he keeps playing like he did last night.

 

[tabs]

Jesse is a good passer, we'll be seeing a lot of that this season. Wheeler also had a slow start to his NHL career but like Pulju, is a fast and skilled big bodied winger.

Wasn’t it Pully that launched that cross ice pass to McD from left to right, just before McD entered the zone on one play? I remember being surprised at how hard and accurate that pass was.

 

[ujju2]

Best NHL game I've seen JP play last night. The sky really is the limit for him - especially if he can eventually figure out how to get open more often to take his rocket of a shot. That would be another dimension to add to the energy, physicality, speed, and passing, and it's a dimension he already has.

 

[bobbythebrain]

I was banned from this forum for six months because I stood up for Pulju, admittedly writing a lot of "f*** you, sir" type of posts to writers who were throwing him under the bus. Totally worth it!

Oops, double usernames revealed. Here we go with another penalty...

Lol. You do realize JP threw himself under the bus?? He fully took responsibility in his role last go round.

 

[nabob]

Lol. You do realize JP threw himself under the bus?? He fully took responsibility in his role last go round.

Yes he took responsibility for his own shortcomings. Heaven forbid a 17 year old have short comings. And some posters still can’t admit that the team/coaching staff did anything wrong during JP’s first three years here...

 

[Tobias Kahun]

And some posters still can’t admit that the team/coaching staff did anything wrong during JP’s first three years here...

Some of them think he quit on the team by going back to Finland when he didn’t have a contract

 

[bobbythebrain]

And some posters still can’t admit that the team/coaching staff did anything wrong during JP’s first three years here...

No. What did they wrong?

They were 100% transparent in telling us his english was a major crutch. Then he showed up the next season no better or immersed, and admitted he didn't put any effort in. He also admitted he wasn't a very goid teammate b/c of it.

So what exactly does your reality think the team did wrong? Not gift him pp time for NOT doing his homework??

 

[nabob]

No. What did they wrong?

They were 100% transparent in telling us his english was a major crutch. Then he showed up the next season no better or immersed, and admitted he didn't put any effort in. He also admitted he wasn't a very goid teammate b/c of it.

So what exactly does your reality think the team did wrong? Not gift him pp time for NOT doing his homework??

Thanks for proving my point that some posters think Puljuvarvi’s development was handled perfectly lol.

He shouldn’t have been in the NHL his first season. He was coming off knee surgery and couldn’t train all off season. Hell they traded away Taylor Hall because they had planned for Jesse to step right in and pick up the slack...yeah no error in judgment there

Anyways no point in debating someone who has hated the player with a passion for three years and can’t approach the subject logically. Must just kill you to see Jesse succeeding.

 

[nabob]

Some of them think he quit on the team by going back to Finland when he didn’t have a contract

Some thought his last game against Toronto where he earned a promotion to the top line should have been his last game in the NHL ever...

 

[HockeyHistorian]

I made a shift by shift video of Jesse's game last night, here it is.

 

[McOilers97]

He's taking a slower path than we all envisioned when we drafted him, but I don't see any reason he can't be a physical force of nature that produces 20g-30a per season. And he isn't exactly lost out there defensively, I generally come away from these games not noticing any significant mistakes from him in our end of the ice. Very encouraging start last night to hopefully a decade on McDavid's RW.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Lol. You do realize JP threw himself under the bus?? He fully took responsibility in his role last go round.

It shows maturity that he took accountability. That said, it doesn't mean that he was 100% at fault. Regardless, he's back, busting his ass out there and I don't honestly GAF whose fault it was or what % each side had. The page has been turned and he is writing a new script as we speak.

 

[Arpeggio]

The nicest thing about Puljujarvi so far is that he seems to "get it" defensively. And as great as McDavid is, his line does get hemmed in from time to time. That didn't happen much last night, so if Puljujarvi can contribute to that it is great news.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I think that's definitely it. This is the type of player a guy like Hitch was trying to guide him toward, but he really wanted to cling to that skill/finesse game.

He came back with added maturity and a willingness to change his game and it's clicked.

The sky is the limit for him if he keeps playing like he did last night.

I think that his added strength, size and being healthy made all the difference in the world. Playing the style that he is currently is playing is tough on the body and when you don't have the health or strength to do it, it would be tough on a player.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

The nicest thing about Puljujarvi so far is that he seems to "get it" defensively. And as great as McDavid is, his line does get hemmed in from time to time. That didn't happen much last night, so if Puljujarvi can contribute to that it is great news.

I have never worried about his defense or forechecking, those have always been strengths of his IMO. This is why IMO he was always a leg up on Yak. Add in that he now plays a physical game and that separates him from a guy like Paajarvi.

 

[missinthejets]

With puljujarvi and mcdavid as well as nurse on the ice together they were really able to push the pace of play. Those 3 are just really strong skaters.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I've been hard on Pulju through the years but its what I'm like when I feel a player isn't giving their best. This season, from the start of scrimmages, I was seeing a different Pulju and making positive comments about his play, which are deserved. Glad this day has arrived and it really is important to Edmonton Oilers fans as we're getting a premium player unpacked.

My tendency is to love big physical players and so it was disquieting before that Pulju was not using size the last time here. Maybe due to hip problems as others have mentioned, maybe due to growing into body.

In anycase he's arrived now, for the long haul and I can quickly see him being our third best forward in terms of impact. maybe not on the scoresheet, but in creating chaos and plays leading to goals.

As Drai has said, "sky is the limit" for Pulju.

People might remember how much i loved Patrick Maroon here. Pulju is the best net presence we have seen here since Maroon, not comparing the two because Pulju is more skill, speed, but they both are very hard to stop.

Oilers really needed Pulju. Now we got him.

 

[PulYou]

I've been hard on Pulju through the years but its what I'm like when I feel a player isn't giving their best. This season, from the start of scrimmages, I was seeing a different Pulju and making positive comments about his play, which are deserved. Glad this day has arrived and it really is important to Edmonton Oilers fans as we're getting a premium player unpacked.

My tendency is to love big physical players and so it was disquieting before that Pulju was not using size the last time here. Maybe due to hip problems as others have mentioned, maybe due to growing into body.

In anycase he's arrived now, for the long haul and I can quickly see him being our third best forward in terms of impact. maybe not on the scoresheet, but in creating chaos and plays leading to goals.

As Drai has said, "sky is the limit" for Pulju.

People might remember how much i loved Patrick Maroon here. Pulju is the best net presence we have seen here since Maroon, not comparing the two because Pulju is more skill, speed, but they both are very hard to stop.

Oilers really needed Pulju. Now we got him.

I was reading the comments without logging in, but had to log in for just to like Your comment...

 

[Whyme]

I made a sort of shift by shift video of Jesse's game last night, but it got flagged for copyright infringement on YouTube, so here it is straight from my Google Drive - hope it works.

You might have to click on it, I don't know for sure how it will show. Perhaps it will open in a new tab or window.

Thank you so much for this! I tried to play it but it says something like "the maximum number of views has been exceeded, try again later". But don't worry about this, just thought I would let you know. I'll try again tomorrow and if it doesn't work it's fine, thank you for this anyway!

 

[McAsuno]

I made a sort of shift by shift video of Jesse's game last night, but it got flagged for copyright infringement on YouTube, so here it is straight from my Google Drive - hope it works.

You might have to click on it, I don't know for sure how it will show. Perhaps it will open in a new tab or window.

I tried to find the part where he whipped the puck to McDavid (which looked like it caught McDavid off guard) but I couldn't find it. Nonetheless, great video. The JP from last night looked exactly like the one during the WJC. Flat out dominant in all areas of the game.

 

[McOilers97]

I have never worried about his defense or forechecking, those have always been strengths of his IMO. This is why IMO he was always a leg up on Yak. Add in that he now plays a physical game and that separates him from a guy like Paajarvi.

Yakupov was just a mess out there. Fast hands and a good shot, but positionally very poor and guilty of constantly over-handling the puck. Jesse I think is figuring out that he can hang with McDavid pretty easily, he just has to keep his touches on the puck very brief and use his size + strength.

 

[McAsuno]

 

[MuzzaFuzza]

So glad to Jesse looking good early here, it would be nice to have our top 6 RW spots locked down for the foreseeable future with him and Yams. It will be really huge for this team if he can continue to stick in the top 6 with his low cap hit for this season and next.

 

[snipes]

You love to see that. I think if he keeps playing like this, then he’ll have a home on McDavids RW much like Yamamoto did with Draisaitl.