Teemu Pulkkinen II: Re-signed 1 year 735k

[Artorius Horus T]

Here's the thing. Pulkkinen won't succeed consistently at the NHL level until he finds a way to get his shot off in traffic or generate time and space to do so. Watch his AHL highlights. So much room, so much time, so much space and it shows that he can do what he wants given these constraints. At the NHL level however, all of these disappear. This question in his career will be, can he do these things? Otherwise he may wind up like Porter and Miele, a career AHLer.

I agree with you 100%.

0% agreement,i see Miele NHL,(maybe not with Wings)
bang of a season as Pulks center,excellent playmaker.

 

[lidstromiscool]

I like Jurco and see a lot of potential in him, but what do you have to lose putting Pulks with Datsyuk while Helm is out? The 4th line was the best when it had Jurco on it and they have been terrible lately. Maybe it won’t work, but putting the best shot in the organization with the best playmaker seems to be obvious. Especially with helm out a short period of time, seems to be the perfect time to try it.

 

[sean3250]

I said in the last thread, and I'll say it in this thread. Pulu is going to have major problems in the NHL with his size and speed. This has been a huge red flag. He is small like Nyquist and Tatar but is nowhere close to being on their level in the skating department. If your going to be an undersized winger in the NHL, you need to have very good speed, or excellent strength and puck control. Pulu has neither.

He does have very good offensive instincts and a great shot. Unfortunately his size and skating will hold him back from being a very good player at the NHL level. I expect a 2nd/3rd line tweener at best. And that's if he can learn to get his shot off quicker and in closer quarters, such as when the Dman is closing in on him. If I recall correctly, a lot of his shots during his call up were blocked. He needs to work on that as well.

I wish Pulu all the success and I would love for him to be our next 40 goal scorer. I just don't see it.

 

[The Zermanator]

The amount of doubt this kid gets around here is unbelievable. He's producing at or better than Tatar and Nyquist's level in the AHL and has looked no worse than they did in their first NHL call-ups. In fact, he's improved noticeably in his short stints. First few games he couldn't get a shot on goal (sometimes couldn't even get the shot off at all) because they were always either blocked or tipped. Last few games he's been seeing many more clean looks and he's got a couple goals to show for it.

 

[Hagged]

The amount of doubt this kid gets around here is unbelievable. He's producing at or better than Tatar and Nyquist's level in the AHL and has looked no worse than they did in their first NHL call-ups.

I think the doubts started already when he was playing in FEL and his disappointing AHL Rookie season just made it worse. He has a huge mountain to climb to clear the doubts, basically show he is a top 6 NHL player. One more disappointing season and he is very close to being labeled a bust.

 

[Filppula]

I think the doubts started already when he was playing in FEL and his disappointing AHL Rookie season just made it worse. He has a huge mountain to climb to clear the doubts, basically show he is a top 6 NHL player. One more disappointing season and he is very close to being labeled a bust.

Ummmm how was his AHL rookie season disappointing???

And "one more disappointing season?"

When was his last? Two great seasons back to back.

 

[ricky0034]

I think the doubts started already when he was playing in FEL and his disappointing AHL Rookie season just made it worse. He has a huge mountain to climb to clear the doubts, basically show he is a top 6 NHL player. One more disappointing season and he is very close to being labeled a bust.

probably the first time i've ever seen anyone call Pulkinnen's AHL rookie season disappointing

he put up .83 ppg and 31 goals his first year on north american ice,that's pretty decent

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

He really isn't cut out for top6-duties considering that he can't amount to anything in the NHL regardless of how many points he produces in the AHL. He might be useful in the 3rd line but AA is a much better choice for that.

 

[Hagged]

probably the first time i've ever seen anyone call Pulkinnen's AHL rookie season disappointing

he put up .83 ppg and 31 goals his first year on north american ice,that's pretty decent

for a 22 year old who is supposed to have NHL top 6 potential that is disappointing. This season his NHL production has also been pretty close to being disappointing if he is supposed to be in top 6 within two years. Ahl numbers are nothing but amazing though.

 

[ricky0034]

for a 22 year old who is supposed to have NHL top 6 potential that is disappointing. This season his NHL production has also been pretty close to being disappointing if he is supposed to be in top 6 within two years. Ahl numbers are nothing but amazing though.

it was a rookie year in a whole new league and ice size

and you're really underrating those numbers in and of themselves too,it's better than anything Tatar ever did aside from his Playoff run for example

as far as his NHL production goes it's 12 games,that's a really tiny sample size especially when you consider that it's stretched over multiple call-ups to boot

 

[Artorius Horus T]

This and last season,Pulks have been dominant force in the AHL,
no one have even gotten close.

I can't believe my eyes what i'm seeing here
what few johns here write.

Dude is barely 23 years old,in his second year of NA hockey
and isn't even close to peaking,he is still learning,yet he is already
playing at this level,that alone should shut everyone up.

---

Pulks needs at least 20 (consecutive) games top 6 ice time with PP up,
these short stints prove nothing,also his time in the top 6
was way too short,too quickly moved to bottom 6.

 

[Shaman464]

for a 22 year old who is supposed to have NHL top 6 potential that is disappointing. This season his NHL production has also been pretty close to being disappointing if he is supposed to be in top 6 within two years. Ahl numbers are nothing but amazing though.

Nyquist, who had been playing in NA for years, and who everyone believed to be a top 6 potential when he entered the AHL put up 58 points (pulks put up 59). His next season he put up 60 points and was only a ppg. Pulks has put up 61 points in 48 games in his second season. So you calling his production "disappointing" seems to show you have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[Mantha Poodoo]

Nyquist, who had been playing in NA for years, and who everyone believed to be a top 6 potential when he entered the AHL put up 58 points (pulks put up 59). His next season he put up 60 points and was only a ppg. Pulks has put up 61 points in 48 games in his second season. So you calling his production "disappointing" seems to show you have no idea what you're talking about.

And then this happened.

 

[gretskidoo]

Nyquist, who had been playing in NA for years, and who everyone believed to be a top 6 potential when he entered the AHL put up 58 points (pulks put up 59). His next season he put up 60 points and was only a ppg. Pulks has put up 61 points in 48 games in his second season. So you calling his production "disappointing" seems to show you have no idea what you're talking about.

58 points in 56 games is a bit different than 59 in 71.

 

[Shaman464]

58 points in 56 games is a bit different than 59 in 71.

58 in 56 for a guy who played 3 years in North America, vs 59 in 71 from a guy coming over from Europe. Also if you look at Pulk's production it wasn't even, he had a slow start. What about season two? 60 in 58 vs 61 in 48.

 

[Frk It]

Nyquist, who had been playing in NA for years, and who everyone believed to be a top 6 potential when he entered the AHL put up 58 points (pulks put up 59). His next season he put up 60 points and was only a ppg. Pulks has put up 61 points in 48 games in his second season. So you calling his production "disappointing" seems to show you have no idea what you're talking about.

Holy cherry picking batman...

Nyquist was a ppg player from his first full season on... Let's not compare the two.

 

[Shaman464]

Holy cherry picking batman...

Nyquist was a ppg player from his first full season on... Let's not compare the two.

Nyquist also played in North America for 3 years. If you look at Pulkks after the first 20 games in GR he's been over PPG.

 

[Shaman464]

GP G A Pts PPG
137 53 90 143 1.04

GP G A Pts PPG
118 64 56 120 1.02

This is Nyquist vs Pulkks over a similar sample size. If we prorated Nyquist to 118 games based on his PPG he would have 121 points. Realistically there is no difference in the production based on points. The biggest difference is that Nyquist is a playmaker first, and Pulkks is a goal scorer.

I am not trying to say Pulkks is better, I am trying to show the two naysayers that saying his AHL production has been bad they have to throw Nyquist under the bus too.

 

[ricky0034]

58 in 56 for a guy who played 3 years in North America, vs 59 in 71 from a guy coming over from Europe. Also if you look at Pulk's production it wasn't even, he had a slow start. What about season two? 60 in 58 vs 61 in 48.

you could also argue 58 in 56 for a guy coming over from college versus 59 in 71 from a guy who played three years in a pro league

in any case there's a significant difference in games played there and merely giving the totals without even mentioning that is pretty misleading

 

[Frk It]

GP G A Pts PPG
137 53 90 143 1.04

GP G A Pts PPG
118 64 56 120 1.02

This is Nyquist vs Pulkks over a similar sample size. If we prorated Nyquist to 118 games based on his PPG he would have 121 points. Realistically there is no difference in the production based on points. The biggest difference is that Nyquist is a playmaker first, and Pulkks is a goal scorer.

I am not trying to say Pulkks is better, I am trying to show the two naysayers that saying his AHL production has been bad they have to throw Nyquist under the bus too.

The biggest difference is that Nyquist's offense was better sooner.

 

[Shaman464]

The biggest difference is that Nyquist's offense was better sooner.

Define sooner? The difference in age is nonexistent.

 

[Winger98]

I don't think Pulkkinen has to be compared to Tatar or Nyquist or anyone else to see he has potential for the top6 especially with his being right handed. The problem is likely his size and Babcock's wanting someone of decent heft on every line pushing him down the order a bit to the third line. hard not to like the willingness to crank shots at the net, though. Guys like that are needed and wanted, as we've seen from occasional stretches where our club has been too pass happy (not just this season, but regarding club make-up over the course of the past twenty years).

 

[crashnburnluder]

And if I read correctly pulks is back with the big club as of today

 

[SoupNazi]

 

[Winger98]

^^^ Be good to see. With Tatar and Datsyuk being such puck hounds, it might free up space for Pulkkinen to do his thing in the offensive zone.