I knew there was a reason that there was so much talk about Jesse Puljujarvi before the Oilers loss to the Hurricanes tonight. His Agent, Markus Lehto, is making his rounds with the media letting them know that he’d like the Oilers to trade his client.
I got this message from my source which came seconds after a tweet from Mark Spector,
Markus Lehto, JPs agent, has quietly requested a trade from Edm on behalf of Jesse Puljujärvi. Happened shortly after tonight’s game.
Jesse Puljujarvi's agent, Markus Lehto, tells Sportset he is unsure if staying with Edmonton is best for his client.
Column to come shortly. pic.twitter.com/QtSFGI00M6— Mark Spector (@SportsnetSpec) February 16, 2019
His agent had actually spoken to the Finnish media about Puljujarvi’s status on the team earlier in the day as well. I don’t have the interview but I had some followers tweet at me saying this,
JP’s agent said in a Finnish interview today, that he would like to se JP play 10 games in a row with same linemates in EDM, 15-17 minutes per match, with some time on the PP. Doesn’t want to see him on the 4th line or in Bakersfield.
— TapHockey (@TapHockeyFI) February 16, 2019
So as I said in that tweet, anything can happen and it more or less has. The Oilers don’t have to move Jesse. They could move him to the minors and let him play out the year on a winning team and then re-visit in the summer when he’d probably have more cache on the market. I don’t think that trading him now would garner them a great return but you never know.
This just adds to the drama of the trade deadline this year, right? One thing I do know is the Oilers weren’t intending on trading him or they’d have been playing him more minutes. Now, I wonder if we’ll see him up with RNH or Connor to try and pump up his value in an attempt to appease the agent.
I think this is f*cked that it’s gotten to this point and that they should try and repair the relationship by punting Hitchcock to the stands for the rest of the year and giving Pulju the remainder of the season to show everyone what he’s got. The season is all but lost for the Oilers but it doesn’t have to be for Jesse. If he plays well, the value goes, if he doesn’t, he’s an RFA this summer and they move him at the draft.
My heart breaks.
Another soul-crushing night passed for Jesse Puljujarvi, untrusted, unused and unimproved.@SportsnetSpec has the story:https://t.co/FZvKsLeyve
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 16, 2019
So we stay tuned…
