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

[joestevens29]

Seems like JP needs to hire you to help him learn how to shoot the puck.

He needs to work with someone that's for sure. Luckily for him there really is no one knocking on the door for a spot in our top 6, as sooner or later he would need to score to stay up where he is. At this point however as long as he isn't bleeding goals and gets those chances he will have a spot.

 

[Stoneman89]

Shaun Heshka gave some comments regarding Jesse's skills in english for Finnish tv-channel. He basically said that he and Cody Kunyk sat next to Jesse in the locker room and made him speak english as much as he can (in a safe environment), and helped him to build the confidence and make him love the game again. He thinks that they did good job with him and they were really happy to see Jesse doing ok.

Heshka also said that "it looked like he needed a hug (when he came back from North America)"

Kärpät-tähdeltä paljonpuhuva kommentti – tältä Jesse Puljujärvi näytti Ouluun palatessaan

Can they give him some more hugs so he can start to score please?

 

[tellermine]

Saw game from second period.

Jesse has speed and effort but I am not so sure about him.
Jesse still seems bit lost without puck. Surely he stands in front of net but that is about it.

I think koohottaja is a good word in Finnish about his play style. Not sure is there a english word for that.

Just a one game but it does remind me from first stint.

 

[ijk]

Saw game from second period.

Jesse has speed and effort but I am not so sure about him.
Jesse still seems bit lost without puck. Surely he stands in front of net but that is about it.

I think koohottaja is a good word in Finnish about his play style. Not sure is there a english word for that.

Just a one game but it does remind me from first stint.

For non-Finns, "Koohottaja" could be described as someone who does many things quickly and with great exuberance but without real purpose or the required attention to detail to concentrate on the quality of what they are doing. Thus, the end result(s) often isn't really good.

A stressful mother who is trying to be an excellent hostess and having too many tasks going on at the same time could be a "koohottaja".

 

[tellermine]

For non-Finns, "Koohottaja" could be described as someone who does many things quickly and with great exuberance but without real purpose or the required attention to detail to concentrate on the quality of what they are doing. Thus, the end result(s) often isn't really good.

A stressful mother who is trying to be an excellent hostess and having too many tasks going on at the same time could be a "koohottaja".

Finnish or english are not my native languages so I might fail in these.

But yes. Sonething to koohottaja direction.

 

[ijk]

Finnish or english are not my native languages so I might fail in these.

But yes. Sonething to koohottaja direction.

I didn't see the game, but from past games that word could well describe him.

Is the concensus still that Pulju is a good option on the first line?

I saw that he only had one shot. Was he able to create room for McDaddy? Was he effective in causing turnovers or in retrieving loose pucks?

 

[tellermine]

I didn't see the game, but from past games that word could well describe him.

Is the concensus still that Pulju is a good option on the first line?

I saw that he only had one shot. Was he able to create room for McDaddy? Was he effective in causing turnovers or in retrieving loose pucks?

Seems it is still consensus.
In my eyes he was Not to effective in his role. Frankly he seems bit slow going for loose pucks in front of goal etc..
I think he should go back to 3rd line and build from there.

 

[staveNsteel]

I didn't see the game, but from past games that word could well describe him.

Is the concensus still that Pulju is a good option on the first line?

I saw that he only had one shot. Was he able to create room for McDaddy? Was he effective in causing turnovers or in retrieving loose pucks?

He created a lot of pressure, he was pushing them back out of the zone.. one of the only players to push back defensively last night. In the offensive zone he was retrieving pucks effectively and getting back into position on front of the net.

There were a couple of times where he went to retrieve, got the puck out and moved into the left circle for a shot but noone could get the puck to him.

He has been playing very well, very effectively, and yea, some are going to complain because he hasn't scored yet, but he looks good.

He's only played a handful of games back on NA ice, and already has earned a spot on L1.. give him a couple of weeks there to develop real chemistry and I only see good things coming from that spot.

 

[Whyme]

He created a lot of pressure, he was pushing them back out of the zone.. one of the only players to push back defensively last night. In the offensive zone he was retrieving pucks effectively and getting back into position on front of the net.

There were a couple of times where he went to retrieve, got the puck out and moved into the left circle for a shot but noone could get the puck to him.

He has been playing very well, very effectively, and yea, some are going to complain because he hasn't scored yet, but he looks good.

He's only played a handful of games back on NA ice, and already has earned a spot on L1.. give him a couple of weeks there to develop real chemistry and I only see good things coming from that spot.

From what I read the Leafs did a good job with handling the first line. Nuge and McDavid obviously had one of their worse games and that probably means a player in Pulju's role/current level will be ineffective too. I just hope they're not playing McDavid too much already now.

For sure points would ne nice, especially goals, but it seems from the other threads he is one of the few players who isn't really seen as a problem right now. I guess it's kind of a positive to see posts where they say only four players should have a secure place in the team and Jesse is on of them. But that can change if there's no results. I hope they keep this line intact at least for a while so they can hopefully get back to their earlier form.

 

[OiledUp]

Yeah Jesse was fine yesterday. Moved the puck smartly and with purpose, keeps up the strong checking he's had all year so far, knocks a lot of pucks loose for McDavid and Nuge. Eventually he'll have to start produce if he's to stay in his spot but noone on that line has found much room on the ice the last two games and that's not really on Pulju. If anything he's added defensive stability and helps maintain time in the offensive zone with his strong forecheck. Tbh if I would try a different look for that line I'd swap out Nuge first.

 

[PulYou]

Saw game from second period.

Jesse has speed and effort but I am not so sure about him.
Jesse still seems bit lost without puck. Surely he stands in front of net but that is about it.

I think koohottaja is a good word in Finnish about his play style. Not sure is there a english word for that.

Just a one game but it does remind me from first stint.

He certainly was no ”koohottaja”. As McCurdy wrote in Edmonton Journal, he did have ”No defensive miscues”. It was not as explosive as one would hope, but statistic wise and by eye he and the whole line played well.

This just in from Lowetide:

Nuge-McDavid-Puljujarvi played 8:39, 3-3 shots, no goals, 3-1 HDSC and 9-4 Corsi five on five. I thought they played well but couldn’t get the puck across the line.

 

[LTIR]

Almost played 20mins last night..
Needs to score a goal though.

 

[Whyme]

Almost played 20mins last night..
Needs to score a goal though.

That TOI shows that the coach trusts him. A goal would be good and it'd be interesting to see what it'd possibly do to Pulju, but I think at this time the main thing is that the first line is a net positive and someone scores the goals. If Pulju helps create them with his work as he has done a few times in these three games it's not bad IMO. But at the same time I'd be curious to see current Pulju with Drai at some point. We'll see how it goes from here.

 

[Whyme]

I gave Natural Stat Trick a go as I got curious and wanted to see how McDavid and Pulju had been doing together during Pulju's first three years in the Oilers.

If I did this correctly they had altogether 407:45 5v5 time together. Their GF% was 61.54 (GF 24, GA 15). If you exclude players with less than 100 minutes that's the 2nd highest of the forwards during that time after Eberle's 62,50.

In 2018-19 McDavid's GF% with Drai was 56.44, last year just 48.59. You can also put it another way, last season Drai had hugely better GF% with many other forwards.

I believe I got this right but please correct me if I somehow didn't According to this it makes sense to keep McDavid and Drai in different line as both have scored better numbers with others. It also shows from the team's view McDavid and Pulju were doing well together in Pulju's first visit.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

From what I read the Leafs did a good job with handling the first line. Nuge and McDavid obviously had one of their worse games and that probably means a player in Pulju's role/current level will be ineffective too. I just hope they're not playing McDavid too much already now.

For sure points would ne nice, especially goals, but it seems from the other threads he is one of the few players who isn't really seen as a problem right now. I guess it's kind of a positive to see posts where they say only four players should have a secure place in the team and Jesse is on of them. But that can change if there's no results. I hope they keep this line intact at least for a while so they can hopefully get back to their earlier form.

The only line the leafs handled was our fourth line.

 

[karhukissa]

Like Puljujärvi said "I only shoot and score, then you score, then will come"

So if he keeps shooting this much and creating threat, score will come, eventually. But hopefully sooner than later.

 

[staveNsteel]

That TOI shows that the coach trusts him. A goal would be good and it'd be interesting to see what it'd possibly do to Pulju, but I think at this time the main thing is that the first line is a net positive and someone scores the goals. If Pulju helps create them with his work as he has done a few times in these three games it's not bad IMO. But at the same time I'd be curious to see current Pulju with Drai at some point. We'll see how it goes from here.

McDavid and Pulju seem to have a good flow going and I really like how Pulju isn't holding the puck too long line he did before he left. His game has changed and I think with a bit of time they'll open up more.

I'm fine with Nuge up there, but maybe they need to rethink the left side. I think what Kahun has been doing has been effective and has been moving the puck forward, maybe a Kahun-McD-Pulj top line could open things up more and allow both Jesse and McD to shoot.

Also, the defense has been terrible at keeping the puck in the zone or cycling it around with any effectiveness. I think that's causing a lot of issues. Puljujarvi is running out, pushing it back in and getting back to the front, but no one is shooting from the point. You can't screen a shot that isn't being shot. Limits the effectiveness of the role.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

Yeah Jesse was fine yesterday. Moved the puck smartly and with purpose, keeps up the strong checking he's had all year so far, knocks a lot of pucks loose for McDavid and Nuge. Eventually he'll have to start produce if he's to stay in his spot but noone on that line has found much room on the ice the last two games and that's not really on Pulju. If anything he's added defensive stability and helps maintain time in the offensive zone with his strong forecheck. Tbh if I would try a different look for that line I'd swap out Nuge first.

Yup. He has looked much better. The clumsiness is mostly gone. A much improved player. Even if he doesn't produce offensively as I'm hoping he will, he'll still be an asset in other situations.

 

[Kaptah2]

Any idea why Pulju was benched late in the game? Hope some reporter asks Tippett for the reason, I thought Jesse got better as the game went on, and had a great shift just before getting benched.

 

[HockeyHistorian]

Any idea why Pulju was benched late in the game? Hope some reporter asks Tippett for the reason, I thought Jesse got better as the game went on, and had a great shift just before getting benched.

I thought it was weird too. He had a great last shift and then sat the remaining minutes. I got McLellan PTSD, can't do that to me.

 

[PulYou]

I thought it was weird too. He had a great last shift and then sat the remaining minutes. I got McLellan PTSD, can't do that to me.

I had to rewatch all his shifts to see how he played. Apart from the second goal against he played well by eye and according to fancy stats as well. Still no points, but he certainly is tilting the ice. I really would have liked to known what the coach was thinking there, but no one asked at the media avail.

 

[traffic cone]

I had to rewatch all his shifts to see how he played. Apart from the second goal against he played well by eye and according to fancy stats as well. Still no points, but he certainly is tilting the ice. I really would have liked to known what the coach was thinking there, but no one asked at the media avail.

Maybe McDavid was frustrated with him. He runs the team anyway.

 

[HockeyHistorian]

I had to rewatch all his shifts to see how he played. Apart from the second goal against he played well by eye and according to fancy stats as well. Still no points, but he certainly is tilting the ice. I really would have liked to known what the coach was thinking there, but no one asked at the media avail.

I actually thought he looked pretty great when he had one shift with the third line after some PP - he played his own game as line driver and it looked great. I have a feeling that he changes his game too much when he plays with McDavid. I mean, of course you change your game when you play with McDavid, but there must be BALANCE.

 

[torniojaws]

Tired or a small knock?

 

[PulYou]

I actually thought he looked pretty great when he had one shift with the third line after some PP - he played his own game as line driver and it looked great. I have a feeling that he changes his game too much when he plays with McDavid. I mean, of course you change your game when you play with McDavid, but there must be BALANCE.

I agree - the game was in the OZ with Turris and I believe it was Ennis with them.

He shouldn’t change his game at all. I read from somewhere that the analyses from Finland (?) was that his production is some what suffering when he is concentrating on a mistake free game.

I am sure in time he will put it all together. He is too talented and he is working so hard not to.

I still believe his ceiling is there with Mikko Rantanen and I am sorry for him that his development was stalled. He himself seems to be appreciative on all his experiences that develop him mentally.