BB88
Registered User
- Jan 19, 2015
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He’s going to play months in Finland already.
If he’s too dominant it’s no good for him to stay, he needs to be pushed and challenged
TSN: Puljujarvi on potential return to Oilers: 'You can never say no'
- Thread starter LeHab
- Start date
He’s going to play months in Finland already.
If he’s too dominant it’s no good for him to stay, he needs to be pushed and challenged
Mildan
Registered User
- Jan 7, 2019
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You might be right, couple of months might be enough for him, I'm just worried about him losing his confidence again unless he has built up solid base for his self-esteem that he can lean on when times get tough in the NHL
If we are going to call AA and Ennis firepower for McD's wing, we aren't serious about our top 6. AA could still be a really good threat there imo, but that is literally a question mark just like Pulju. AA, Kass, Chiasson, Archibald, or Neal are not high hurdles for Pulju really, but he isn't competing with AA, Nygard and Ennis.
Coasting, I mean of course not. But as long as he shows some competence, he should in short enough order get a chance in the top 6 just like Yamo did to prove his worth as a goal scorer. If we made Yamo grind the 3rd line all year long, we would have been holding him back. (We didn't make him do that at all in fact. Our team had a need up front and he nailed the audition) That's not what these players are, grinders. Not much firepower at all stands in Pulju's way, only Kass, Archie, and Chiasson who are not top 6 mainstays. Solid 2-way players yes, but not much of a threat on their own.
I agree with Craig Button's depth chart, here:
As Tippett has said to players before, opportunity knocks. Take someone's job
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1.5 seasons blitzing Liiga, plus some PP2 time in the 'chel ought to give him a lil boost
JustaFinnishGuy
Joonas Donskoi avi but not a SEA fan ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm surprised people still think he needs more time in Liiga. If he could, he should be on the first plane over. Liiga starts today, but I think he's ready to go back to the NHL.
The most informative sources on his development in Liiga have been the fans in Finland. There is a plethora of info we can't dig into if we don't have a Finnish interpreter. Check out these tweet chains that offer some insight based on interviews in Finnish:
These are tweet chains, not single tweets. Click on them to read the chain.
Focus placed on developing Puljujärvi's checking game and mental aspects:
He's obviously not skimping on focusing on training, which is a good sign.
Analysis of Puljujärvi as an offensive threat:
Reminds me in a small way of Hall who got limited minutes with McD with "bad stats" but elite offensive stats before we traded him. At some point, Yamo was deployed properly, as the type of player he is, and Pulju will eventually have to be too.
We know he got double hip surgeries, which went well. Seems Oilers management didn't take them seriously enough at the time:
That could hold a player back a bit too. See: Klef in the bubble
As per Lehkonen'a father, focus this year appears to be on checking, 2-way game, physicality again:
https://twitter.com/LonnbergMari/status/1311319394342010880?s=19
Gee, a young 22 year old needs to work on his 2-way game? You need to develop him? good plan. Sounds like the situation with AA, except Jesse is way younger and with way more upside.
Finally, really old article. Still interesting:
https://twitter.com/LonnbergMari/status/1056086277232230400?s=19
If the last year in Liiga has done any good, he should be closer to realizing his obvious potential.
He is 22. He is the same age as Yamo. He has something to prove, and we should not forget that we WANT him to kill it as a top 6 RW solution. Oilers will give him opportunities and foster his development, as a good organization that wants to win does. Opportunity knocks, he can seize it or sail it. We are crazy not to take that flyer and help him get there.
They still have a lot more options at wing today than they did 2 years ago. They could only dream about Draisaitl being a 120+ point player on his own line without McDavid then.
Athansiou is one year removed from a 30 goal season, maybe they should have a little patience for once with a proven NHL player and not immediately write off a player after just 13 games.
Kassian - 21 goal pace
Neal - 21 goals in 59 games
Athansiou - one year removed from 30 goal season
Ennis - 19 goal pace last year
Yamamoto - was almost PPG player with a great +/-
For Jesse to be "ahead of these guys", it means he's bringing 20+ goals to the table, so yeah Jesse, lets see it. Shouldn't be that hard if you're better than most of these guys.
They had some good years.
Kass has never hit 20, and without McD he doesn't get close.
Ennis hasn't hit 20 in at least 6 years, only did it twice, and still laid out with a major injury now. Looked great before that.
AA I hope hits it again, he's better than his short stint with us. If not for COVID, he'd be signed.
Neal is perennially good for 20... his 5x5 play in the regular season doesn't get him near 20, so if his miraculous PP shooting percentage drops off at all, he takes a big dip. But, I really liked the way he looked 5x5 in the playoffs after some rest and recuperation FINALLY.
If we acquire, say, DeBrusk and Pulju makes an impact, provided we have a decent 3C stopgap next year, our forward corps is cup contender material imo. AA could be argued to produce at a DeBrusk pace, just uncertain if he will. I would like to bet on him to be our 1LW based on his history but idk if he gets the opportunity. As it is, only Yamo and Nuge (AA) are good bets for 20, 25, or higher, which is top 6 material. If Pulju works, he easily slots in there.
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BB88
Registered User
- Jan 19, 2015
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He was building it last year, he was building it this pre season and now has couple of months to build in regular season.
If that's not enough time he's not an NHL player.
At 22y he needs to be challenged at the same time, if he wants to turn into a real NHL player, and if pre season shows anything it's that he could be too good for Liiga.
At that point Liiga just teaches him bad habits and he's in trouble again once he goes back to NA
Kassian, Neal, Anthansiou and Ennis suck talent wise compared to Puljujarvi at this point in time. If you are going to block the 4th pick in the draft with those scrubs then it's time to fire your entire coaching and scouting staff. You've had 2 of the best forwards in the world for the last 5 years, made the playoffs twice and played a total of 17 playoff games. It's stupidity like playing those 4 scrubs over somebody like Puljujarvi that is one of the reasons for that.
viceroy
Registered User
Jesse's 22 now, that's prime age for a scoring Winger, if he can't destroy Liiga now he'll never be an impact player in the NHL.
A 2nd rounder? F to the no bud. Maybe for a 2020 4th Rounder or a 2021 3rd Rounder.
You do know that Liiga is not the league it once was right? Even Jokerit left for the KHL. I'd place Liiga beneath the KHL, SHL and even the NLA.
Well he's been really good in a 3rd rate league but it's not like he's Finn Gretzky over there(Dale Weise joke.)
FinRanger
Registered User
- Jan 15, 2013
- 964
- 745
Pulju will be superstar if he enters NHL. He has taken so many steps forward.
And how did for example Martin StLouis do in the NHL as a 22yr old? He never made an impact after that....
viceroy
Registered User
Just a heads up, he did enter the NHL a couple of years back and was persuaded to leave.
Martin St-Louis dominated at every level he played at, NCAA and AHL until people finally gave him his shot despite his small size. If Marty had the size and everything handed to him like it was for Puljujarvi he'd have run away with it to the top even faster.
BB88
Registered User
- Jan 19, 2015
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He pretty much was this pre season
though it was pre seasonExcited to watch him today play
Yes, like enjoyed speaking Finnish while playing on big ice.
Superstar? HAH!
The only reason that Nail Yakupov was considered a bigger buff is because Puljujarvi can at least skate and has a huge body.
Puljujarvi has done absoultely nothing to show that he's anything more than a 3rd line scoring winger. He's not someone you can put on the 4th line to play in an energy role because he isn't consistent enough with the physical play and he hesitates too much before going into high traffic areas.
In fact, he hesitates before doing almost everything. He's able to put those points up in the league he's been playing with because he's playing up against lower level of competition. If he lights up the KHL it'll surely make him look better, but there's a long list of players who couldn't hack it in the NHL that produced like gods in the KHL.
ManofSteel55
Registered User
There is no reason to think that JP can't outscore those guys in a top six role.
Mick Jagr
Nice guy, tries hard, loves the game.
Talk about pace all you want but guys like Neal and AA are feast or famine players. I’m more familiar with AA and his streaks of 10 games where everything goes in the net for him but when it doesn’t he should be in the AHL. The guy can go 20 games without seeing his own defensive zone.
If you are worried about him not being a better hockey player than Ennis or Kassian that says a lot about how good of a player you think he is.
that’s a lot of opportunity.
torniojaws
Registered User
Thing is, there's nowhere he could go to push himself. Edmonton cannot send him to Bakersfield without placing him on waivers, SHL would only be marginally different from Liiga, and KHL is too different to be valuable towards his goal of returning to NHL.
Wow! Can I save this?
In all seriousness I dont see superstar in him.
If it all clicks 60 to 70 point two way winger. And that is if all delivers.
Most likely he will have problems playing Oilers hockey as he just cant keep up with the speed or use lesser space.
After a while he moves to a lesser role, loses interested and then is traded.
Continues in KHL with awesome career.
Ps. I hope he delivers. I really do.
Jeune Poulet
Registered User
- Oct 31, 2019
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SM-liiga is not "third rate". It's one of the very best leagues in the world. I don't know why you feel the need to put a quality league down as if you were putting things in perspective, when in fact, you're just completely wrong in that assessment.
Of course it's not at the level of the NHL or KHL. No one is! It's still an extremely competitive league, pretty close to the SHL and still above the NLA despite the recent evolution of things.
No one is saying Puljujarvi's recent accomplishments in Finland put him in the Ovechkin category. People are pointing out, rightly so, that he is doing extremely well over there. And it's one of the very best league in the entire world. Now, it's perfectly reasonable if you don't think that will translate to anything in the NHL. But you don't need to make ridiculous claims about the level of hockey over there to justify it.
viceroy
Registered User
Well he wasn't able to the first go around.
>1st rate leagues:NHL, KHL(kinda)
>2nd rate leagues: AHL, SHL, NLA
>3rd rate leagues: Liiga, ECHL
>4th rate leagues: EIHL, DEL, ELH, Extraliga
After that you get a bunch of Semi-pro leagues. So yeah Liiga's pretty bad.
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