Tag Archives: Jason Gregor

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers Organized Chaos: What the Hockey Pundits are Saying about the Oilers GM Search

Yesterday was a bit of a clown show with regards to the news on the Edmonton Oilers GM search. We were told Keith Gretzky was a front runner and then at the end of the night we were told he was out. Other pundits told us that Ken Holland hasn’t even been contacted and then shortly thereafter we were informed that he’s the leading contender for the job…

And then there are these tweets this morning from Ryan Rishaug and Jim Matheson.

https://twitter.com/NHLbyMatty/status/1124294204547579904

I think there’s a feeling within the club that they’ve liked how Gretzky has pulled things together and that it’s better the devil you know than the one you don’t. Nicholson has a working history with Keith Gretzky now that he doesn’t have with Mark Hunter but I do wonder if the Oilers current interim GM would be willing to work under Hunter with an eye towards being poached by another team in the future. Would Hunger agree to that? All very interesting…

More information will come but I wanted to go through and quote all these different hockey pundits from just yesterday to show you how nuts this is and how the Oilers are either loving this because they’re orchestrating it or how bad it really is in the organization right now.

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1) Let’s start at the beginning of the day (May 2nd) with the Dustin Nielson Show (TSN) who had Darren Dreger on to talk about the Oilers GM search.

  • On the leading candidate: I wouldn’t be shocked at all if Mark Hunter emerges as the next GM of the Edmonton Oilers.
  • On Ken Holland being 100% out of the hiring process: It feels close to 100% but I never box in because you never know. Everything that we’ve been told as a group at TSN is that Nicholson and Kenny Holland would’ve had a number of conversations that would’ve lead up to the Detroit Red Wings naming Steve Yzerman as the general manager and pushing Holland further up the executive ladder of the Red Wings org.Detroit wouldn’t have done that without consent from Ken Holland, but Kenny Holland loves to be in the fight. He is an active guy… Part of me wonders if Holland is going to be satisfied professionally if he’s not in that fight.

    But I go back to what I said 30 seconds before about the relationship between Holland and Nicholson. Nicholson would’ve known weeks ago that Ken Holland wasn’t going to truly be a candidate for the Edmonton Oilers because they probably, loosely, because there are some legalities here, would’ve shared some information and I’d be more surprised if Nicholson hasn’t used Ken Holland as a resource in potentially vetting some of the candidates that he’s talked to.

    I’m not saying it’s 100% dead but unless something’s changed in the last 5-7 days, I don’t see Ken Holland being the next GM in Edmonton. 

2) Next up we move on to Lowetide’s show where he had Frank Seravalli on to give his two cents on this whole thing.

  • On how attractive the Oilers GM position is and Ken Holland: It depends on where you were coming from and what you were doing. To me, I’m a glass-half-full guy, if I have a chance to run a team with Connor McDavid at my disposal with the rabid fanbase that supports your team like no other. To me, I don’t mind having to come in maybe tear some things up or burn some things down to try and make that work and put my own stamp on it because if you can make the Edmonton Oilers a winner, you know, there’s no better job in pro sports in my opinion. With the feedback and support you get from town and that community, I mean, it’s phenomenal, it’s second-to-none.If you’re Ken Holland and you’ve won three Stanley Cups and I don’t know how many presidents trophies and you’ve been in this league for 25 years, is that the job you wanna take? Is that how hard you wanna work? 
  • On Keith Gretzky: The best thing that Keith Gretzky has done since he’s been in this role has been to bring everybody back together again. He’s done a great job of mending some fences in that front office, getting everyone on board, being the communicator and team player that I think has made him and kept him in the mix in terms of this position moving forward.

3) Elliotte Friedman discussed the Oilers on this week’s 31 Thoughts Podcast and here’s what they had to say,

  • This week I expect the Oilers to get clarity now that the u18s are over on Kelly McCrimmon and Ken Holland. From what I can tell, the Oilers did not have the “official written permission” to interview Kelly McCrimmon. So they were hoping to get that this week.I’ve been on Ken Holland since the beginning as the guy I believe is no. 1 on Bob Nicholson’s list. I think they’ll also find out this week if Ken Holland is a legit contender, legitimately interested. If Ken Holland is interested, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if they offer him the job and see what he says.
  • One of the things I’ve heard is that Steve Yzerman legitimately wanted Ken Holland there, he wants him there to bounce ideas off of.
  • After I wrote the list of guys who interviewed, I forgot to add someone. Bill Zito interviewed for the Oilers GM job. (Sean Burke, John Ferguson, Mike Futa, Ross Mahoney, Scott Mellanby). I left out Bill Zito. That’s a name somebody told me.
  • What somebody told me is not everybody suggested a quick recovery. Apparently, there were some people there that said, ‘You’re gonna have to take some more pain if you want to do this right.’ Maybe more than one (candidate) said this. ‘The way you get yourself into trouble is you try to trade your way out of these problems. You may have to take a couple years more pain to get better.’
  • You take a look at Ken Holland. He’s done it both ways in Detroit, right? Like, Detroit’s way was. ‘We’re going to keep our playoff streak alive.’ So he made moves to keep their playoff streak alive.
  • But if you take a look at it now, Larkin looks like he’s a player. Athanasiou looks like he’s a player. Mantha is up and down but he’s still there, Bertuzzi looks like he’s a player. They are stocked with picks and prospects. I know there are people killing Holland in the interim but when this team is good again, a lot of his pieces, whether they’re draft picks or prospects, are gonna be part of it. People are going to notice that. So he’s done it both ways. I’m curious to know what he’s going to say.
  • If I really believe that the guy who says two more years is right, I go there. Now I realize I’m not sitting in that chair, but if you bring somebody in and they make a bunch of trades that go badly, they could go well, but if they go badly, that’s always tied to you. That’s one thing where you have to go to McDavid and say, ‘This is what we’re thinking.’
  • But I think it’s really interesting that guys would go in there and say, ‘Okay… It’s gonna take some time.’

4) The Jason Gregor Show had a few guests on that chimed in on this including Gregor himself, former Oiler defensive legend Jason Strudwick, and Ryan Rishaug. Here are some quotes from Gregor’s show yesterday.

  • Gregor: Holland isn’t really in from what I’ve been told.
  • Strudwick: Keith Gretzky, who I’ve said in the past, has an advantage over other people, not that he’s ahead, but he’s got an advantage on people because of the fact that he has a plan in place here and now.
  • Strudwick: This idea of a 3-headed monster where everyone has equal say, why would he (Hunter) do that?… If Mark Hunter is here, I believe he’s the GM.
  • Gregor: Rishaug said that Sean Burke is out of the race. Like I’ve said all along, I’ve thought it was Mark Hunter. Now here’s the thing, a lot of people think it’s Hunter and Keith Gretzky.
  • Gregor: Do you think the Oilers, the reaction to season ticket holders, and at this point, no offense to non-season ticket holders; because right now when you have renewals for season seat holders, that’s your priority today. Once season seat renewals are up, now it changes and it’s open to everybody.I’m curious if they’re leery of that impacting season ticket renewals where it looks like you didn’t make an actual change and you’ve kept somebody from within.
  • Strudwick: Who is the best candidate and do we truly feel that this is the best choice? And if it’s Keith Gretzky and you feel he’s the best one, then it might hurt you in the short term, yes Gregs, there’s no doubt about it. But with the name association, I think it would hurt the team. But if you firmly believe that long-term that he is the right guy, I think you win those fans back by the success that happens under his regime and that’s Keith Gretzky’s regime.
  • Strudwick: Keith Gretzky has a plan in place now. He has the plan. If he’s hired in 5 minutes, his plan starts at 4 pm. Boom! ‘Thanks for hiring me!’ and he starts making adjustments to the group whatever he feels on the ice, off the ice, whatever it is.
  • Gregor: I’ll say this for Keith Gretzky, he wasn’t here for the Hall and Reinhart trades. I spoke pretty candidly about the Caggiula trade, that had numerous people tell me that I trust that that was more of a GM with a little bit of input from the head coach and no one else.
  • Rishaug on Holland resurfacing: The wildcard is Ken Holland and a change of heart from Ken Holland to me. Then you look at Pierre LeBrun’s tweet, his understanding that Holland is currently taking stock of what lies ahead for him. Edmonton remains a possibility. Seattle is of intrigue or he could stay on in Detroit. But it seems like Holland will want to resurface at some point as a GM somewhere.So, a Ken Holland change of heart that felt like a wildcard a number of hours ago based on that tweet from Pierre LeBrun I think becomes a bit more realistic. I would say, I don’t know what the chances are, I don’t know how to handicap it, but I guess what I’d say is that I believe that if Ken Holland wanted to be a general manager, he would be a prime candidate for the Oilers that Bob Nicholson would have extreme interest in him and it’s just a matter of if Holland wanted to be here (Edmonton).

    So with the news that he may be interested, it definitely shakes things up quite a bit and he would move into the pole position in my opinion, IF he’s interested.

  • Rishaug on Sean Burke: I think he was close. I think Burke was a darkhorse that really impressed and it wouldn’t surprise me if moving forward he’s not in the mix if he wants to be, for some other positions that become available. I think he raised some eyebrows and impressed and there’s an appetite to potentially have him part of things and maybe he’s a, not necessarily the guy in this moment, but maybe the guy in the making.
  • Rishaug on Keith Gretzky: I think they’d worry a tremendous amount about the optics of it, but I think that if they feel he’s the best man for the job, they’ve got to hire him. I don’t think that you don’t hire Keith Gretzky because you’re worried about optics. If you go through this whole rigamarole and this whole process if you’re Bob Nicholson, you bring in all these people and you talk to them and you decide that Keith Gretzky’s presentation and his vision is what the organization needs, you gotta hire him. That’s the hardest decision Nicholson would have to make to hire Keith Gretzky in that role.
  • Rishaug on Holland Pt.2: By going back to someone who’s had success in the past, there is some risk in that.A couple of the things that would draw you to Ken Holland were Detroit’s absolute iron-clad reputation as an organization that handled development extremely well. They didn’t rush people. They had lots of home-grown talent. Their attitude towards development was solid and they were known for that and I think that’s very attractive if you’re the Edmonton Oilers based on what their problems have been.

    I think there’s also a willingness to be open and work with different people and not be somebody who’s just going to go in there and close your office door and do everything yourself. I think he would be an inclusive type of guy. I think that’s a draw for them.

    The other thing he’s shown he can do is develop good people underneath him. He’s developed some exceptional people underneath him and maybe that’s part of this as well. You want a guy that can do it now for sure but there’ve been a number of guys, the Jim Nills of the world, Steve Yzermans, and people like this. Maybe it’s a tandem type thing. Maybe it’s Ken Holland overseeing everything but then it IS a more increased role for Keith Gretzky developing into that role eventually. I don’t know.

    I think maybe Nicholson after McCrimmon falls off the board, maybe it’s about circling back and making sure and double-checking. Maybe increasing an offer before going down the path of the next candidate.

    Nicholson has to be careful here. This is dragging out and people need answers too.

  • Rishaug on Keith Gretzky pt. 2: I think Keith Gretzky is a good candidate for this job and I know that’s an unpopular opinion to hold in this city because people tend to get irate over it and I’m sure the Oilers take notice of that. But Keith Gretzky has been around this game a long time and he’s got lots of experience and he’s done things on his own. Nevermind the name, people need to get that out of their head that if he gets the job it has anything to do with his name, it doesn’t. It has everything to do with his accomplishments.

5) Next is a clip from yesterday’s TSN Overdrive that involves mostly Bob McKenzie and Gord Miller discussing Ken Holland with Jamie McLennan chiming in briefly. The feeling here that I got listening to this is similar to what you’ve already read, IF Holland wants the GM’s job in Edmonton, he can have it but there’s no indication (yet) that he wants it.

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Shocking News! Oilers Recent Losing Streak Coincides with Injuries to Klefbom and Russell, Fans Blame Secondary Scoring?

From November 23rd until December 11th, the Edmonton Oilers were 7-2-1 but on the last day of that ten game stretch, they lost both Oscar Klefbom and Kris Russell to injury.

As a result, everyone, save for Adam Larsson, was moved up a slot in the lineup.

(Didn’t Hitchcock say something about the importance of where players are slotted in the lineup? I feel like this was predicted.)

Against the Winnipeg Jets and the Philadelphia Flyers, the Oilers gutted out three points, an overtime loss in the ‘Peg and an easy win at home to the Flyers. Back to back games might I add.

https://twitter.com/HoltzPelle/status/1081218752358735874

But the adrenaline wasn’t to last. For the next six games, five of them at home against teams who were playing VERY well, the Oilers couldn’t manage a single measly Bettman point.

Now the story that pundits and grumpy Oilers fans are grasping onto for dear life is,  if they had better secondary scoring, the team would be better off for it. I’m assuming they think that the Oilers wouldn’t have lost those 6 games as well.

Well, how many goals did they score in the losing streak that lasted from December 16th to New Year’s Eve?

15 goals for in six losses for, 29 against.

Just to put it into a bit of perspective. Let’s look at how many goals they scored during the six games previous to Klefbom and Russell getting hurt.

17 goals in 5 wins and a loss, 11 goals against.

Well that’s a shade over three goals per game, right?

So you’re telling me that when Klefbom and Russell are out of the lineup, the Oilers have trouble not getting scored on? Furthermore, you’re telling me that they should go out and trade for a forward when it’s their defense and goaltending that is leaking?

Put the bottle down son… I think you’ve had enough.

Did we notice that after Chiarelli went out and upgraded the Oilers defense that the way the team was playing changed too? Another tight game versus a Stanley Cup favorite in Winnipeg and a resounding win over a team the Oilers are competing with for a wild card spot.

Thank God Peter got us those two defensemen because they made a huge difference again tonight. – Oilers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock folling the Arizona win. 

Two games, six goals for and five against.

So tell me more about this secondary scoring problem because it shouldn’t even be on the radar.

Now you might want to throw some more statistics at me to show me the long-term effects of having poor scoring depth and some irresponsible cap management. That’s fine but it’s a waste of your time to do that mid-season.

My feeling is that I do not give one flying f*ck who does the scoring (No offense to Jameson here). Seriously. If it’s Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Alex Chiasson only, GOOD! Someone has to put the puck in the net and I’m glad it’s those guys. But if it weren’t those players, someone else would step up.

My concern is if the rest of the team can keep the puck out of the net and it should be yours too if you’re a fan of playoff success because that is a MASSIVE key to success in the post-season. The risk-taking and open play stops once the puck drops in the playoffs. It’s a grind and you need players that can do that effectively.

Defense wins championships. Well, that and stellar goaltending.

All I’m concerned about is the next game and at the end of the season we can all sit down, grab a pint, and see where it all went right or wrong. 

King Me!

Good teams have a couple of great pairs in their top-6, right? Looks to me that Edmonton has two GREAT pairs with Chiasson returning tonight in LA.

Ideally, you’d like to compliment those great pairs with another solid NHL-level player or highly touted prospect. Zack Kassian (Who had 5 shots on net vs. ARI) and Tobias Rieder (Not my choice personally) will be the ones responsible for rounding out the top-6.

I’m not concerned about the Lucic-Khaira-Puljujarvi line as much, I think they’re job is to lean on the Kings and really cause them some trouble in the dirty areas. Milan will be in good spirits I’m guessing and JJ and Pulju have formed some chemistry this season. I’d give them the edge over what LA might send onto the ice to face them.

And since when do we give two shits about a team’s 4th line? Oh yeah, Oilers fans… Spooner (most likely), Brodziak, and Rattie form one of the weirdest lines I’ve ever seen since I started this site. I guess it could throw off the Kings or it could get dominated brutally. 

One thing is certain, the lines you see posted later today will not be the lines that end the game. Hitch loves him a line blender.

More on Spooner

Do you actually think that Drake Caggiula was going to move the needle for the Oilers this year after that hot start? He and Ryan Spooner have the EXACT same amount of goals 5×5 since the beginning of last season. Fourteen! Caggiula actually has one more goal that Spooner in all situations as well. Twenty.

So it goes back to the intangibles, right? Well since we can’t quantify those, we shouldn’t really be talking about it, should we? Or maybe, just maybe Coach Hitchcock couldn’t stand the poor defense and all the mistakes coming from Caggiula…

Yeah, that’s a guy I’d be using my valuable airtime to be championing if I were a radio host in Edmonton.

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Radio Bla Bla

Speaking of radio hosts, when is Jason Gregor going to stop humping this dead horse?

This week Jason Gregor had the audacity to say that Puljujarvi wasn’t even dominating at the AHL level. That goes to show you how ignorant this guy is.

He didn’t watch one minute of Jesse’s games in Bakersfield this year and he’s claiming that?! He should be ashamed. Most pundits have the integrity to know what they’re talking about instead of going on a crusade to run a 20-year-old player out of town.

Did you know that Gregor didn’t even want Puljujarvi if the Oilers were choosing at #3 in the 2016 draft? Check this out from a Reddit AMA from back in 2016,

Peluche99: Hey Jason, Is this year finally ‘the year’ for the Oilers? And who do you think the Oilers draft if they stay at #4?

Gregor: If I’m picking I would take Dubois.

So is he playing the long game here? Using his platform to slowing push Puljujarvi out of town and say he was right all along if the Oilers do trade him?

How about this Sather-like trade proposal from the stick guru himself?

I would trade the fourth pick for Travis Hamonic in a heartbeat, but I suspect the Oilers would have to give up more than the pick to acquire him. (source)

Nice! This would be some gold over at HFBoards…

Do you remember how good Hamonic was last year? Not very…

Funny that Dan Tencer, the head scout for the Saskatoon Blades, called Puljujarvi a potential reclamation project. At 20 years of age… We’re calling him a reclamation project now… You’d think a guy that makes a living projecting hockey players would have a more informed outlook at a player other than “he doesn’t look part of the core of the team.”

Absolutely white hot elephant diarrhea wrapped in moldy cheese and covered in stinky tofu are these opinions. 

A new season means a new design! Click the image above to get the new Pulju shirt!

At the moment, Jesse is playing 13 minutes a night approximately. Isn’t that exactly where you’d want a 20-year-old to be playing at? Nooooo… He’s a reclamation project now. Right…

Over the last three seasons, our big Finn has some interesting 5×5 metrics when it concerns which of the Oilers’ big name centers he’s played with.

McDavid – 385 min TOI, 2.18 pts/60
Draisaitl – 263 min TOI, 1.59 pts/60
RNH – 331 min TOI, 0.9 pts/60

(source)

I’m a huge supporter of Jesse Puljujarvi if you can’t tell and I might be tempted to hop on the fire Chiarelli train 100% if he does trade him. Maybe, just maybe, try him with Connor and Leon for more than 5 seconds…

How Can the Oilers Fix the Forward Depth IF It Needs Fixing?

I won’t sit here and tell you that the scoring on the wings past the second line is adequate. It’s not. I also won’t sit here and tell you that the players that are playing there are playing to their potential either and that’s something I feel like a lot of people are missing here.

Some forwards aren’t scoring right now but that doesn’t mean they won’t score in the future.

According to the lines posted yesterday, Edmonton has Pulju, Milan Lucic, Ty Rattie, and Joe Gambardella/Ryan Spooner slated to play wing in their bottom six. My opinion is that those players have not lost the ability to score, they’re just not doing what’s necessary to twinkle the twine.

The boss says they’ve got to kick it up a gear and I agree. The coach says they have to do more than pass the time on the ice, I agree.

So the answer is better defensive play in their own zone.

Stop the other team from controlling the puck in the defensive zone and start controlling it in the offensive zone. Get pucks on the net, asses in the blue paint, and I guarantee you the ketchup bottle will start to flow!

Give me some proactivity and a little less reactivity please!

But if you’re looking for a few names to tease the palate, here are a few:

  • Alexander Wennberg (CBJ) – Same 5×5 shooting percentage as Lucic… ZERO!
  • Kevin Labanc (SJ) – Shooting 3.54% (5×5) with two goals to show for it.
  • Connor Brown (TOR) – Two goals, 5.13% shooting percentage.

All three players are shooting blanks this year. They’re not scoring and their shooting % is in the toilet. Buy low, sell high.

Elias Pettersson’s nickname is “Alien”. Here’s a shirt to celebrate it! Click the image to buy one!

San Jose has a kid on their AHL club named Francis Perron (AHL All-Star this year) that is having a very good season, he could be due for a call-up if the Sharks were to move Labanc. Toronto might move Brown to bolster their defense for a deep playoff run and we know Brown as one of McDavid’s old linemates in junior, right? Wennberg is another story. He was playing 1st line center for them the other night but he’s not getting it done this year at all.

The Bottom Line Because BLH Said So!

I think that the Oilers are going to fire Chiarelli at season’s end. I won’t shed a tear though. You can see it coming a mile away even if you don’t spend time on Oilers social media. But whatever happens, he must not be allowed to mortgage the future.

At some point between now and February 25th, there’s going to be an audit on the roster and the brass is going to have to come to a conclusion regarding their playoff chances. Whatever that conclusion is, patience with the young players MUST be practiced.

Go the way of Winnipeg and Tampa and if that costs Chiarelli his job, so be it. You can be assured the next guy who comes in will make the most of the amateur work done by Chiarelli’s staff (hopefully) and have the Oilers back in the post-season for 2019-20.

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Edmonton Oilers: More MSM Chime in on Puljujarvi ft. Burke, Rishaug, Seravalli, Dreger, etc.

I thought my previous post on the mainstream media’s comments on Jesse Puljujarvi was a lot. Yesterday I woke up to TWICE as much and now I’m going to bring that to you but I think today I’ll just post the most debatable points that the pundits made. I’ll save you (and me) some time.

Before I do that I just want to touch on Jesse and let you know what I’m thinking with regards to his situation at this very moment.

You’re not going to find a bigger supporter for Jesse Puljujarvi who doesn’t live in Canada or Finland than myself (and maybe another, I think she knows who she is) but I can see that this young man is struggling. He’s struggling with his teammates, his coaches, and a game he very dearly loves and that he’s SO so good at playing. I do not believe that he has the right support structure in Edmonton for him right now though.

As far as I know, he’s rooming with the Koskinens and if that is indeed true, it is a good place for him because he needs the camaraderie of a fellow countryman. Someone with whom he can relate to. Mikko Koskinen was also a touted young prospect that didn’t pan out at the pace he was expected but I’m not 100% certain that even big Mikko alone can help Jesse.

He needs the support of the Oilers leadership core. He needs Connor to go to bat for him. He needs Milan to sit beside him on the bench and offer words of encouragement or let him know where he could’ve done something better. Leon should be offering to set some time aside to work on some things with Jesse after practice and make an effort to work towards developing a potentially deadly partnership. Could Darnell take him out on the town and show some off-ice togetherness?

It’s so very apparent that the coach wants nothing to do with him and that he’s exhausted efforts in an attempt to communicate with Pulju and that makes me feel disappointed.

But on the other hand, it’s also incumbent on Jesse to take the first steps in asking for help. He’s a timid fellow which is fine but he still has to make that effort to go to his leadership group or his coaches and ask them to show him what he needs to do to make things easier for all and then work on those things.

I want the best for Jesse and I want the best for the Edmonton Oilers. That said, there’s something I’ve learned over my years following the team and that is that players will come and go and not to get too attached no matter how much you like the player. If Jesse or Leon or God forbid, Connor gets traded I will feel down but I’ll also feel relieved for him and I’ll wish him good luck on his new team. The same way I did with Nail Yakupov (or maybe the same way you did watching Ryan Smyth or Taylor Hall) and others who I’ve enjoyed watching play for the Oilers.

But if the Oilers were to meet an ex-Oiler that I really liked during his time in Edmonton in the playoffs or the Stanley Cup final, I’ll be cheering for the Oilers. No questions asked.

Let’s see what the pundits had to say about Pulju yesterday. I think you’ll be very interested in Brian Burke’s comments.

FRANK SERAVALLI (TSN)

That sound you hear is me banging my head off the desk repeatedly for the next hour trying to sort through this because I’ve said and I’ve been on record for time and time again with you (Lowetide) last week, Jesse Puljujarvi needs to play more not less. He needs to have more consistent shifts with upper echelon talent instead of playing with guys like Ryan Strome for most of the game.

This is not a guy you can just throw in there (the top-6) for spot duty with the big boys. You need to have him play, that’s the only way his game is going to become remotely more polished.

DARREN DREGER (TSN)

I get the feeling that they’re just trying to exhaust every scenario with Puljujarvi because I think that there’s been enough in his play to show them that there’s a really good player that’s just waiting to break out of this guy. They can’t coax it out of him on a consistent basis.

The question I always ask, and I’ve asked it of the Edmonton Oilers – not recently, but perhaps in the off-season – is at what point do you get where you go, ‘Alright, we’ve seen enough to know that maybe he’s not going to be the player that we hoped he would be when he landed in our lap on the draft floor.’

Well, that’s not an indictment on the player or the organization – sometimes that stuff just happens, so at what point are you better to use him as a tradeable asset? And at least in the off-season, the message that I got back was – they wouldn’t even discuss it with me. It was like, ‘We’re not trading Puljujarvi.’ They just didn’t want that narrative out there at any point.

And look, 10 games from now, 15, 20 – whatever the timeline is in this regular season – we might be signing a completely different tune because he’s playing with that consistency that everybody is searching for. (source)

RYAN RISHAUG (TSN)

Not only is he not creating offensively and having positive things happen for him offensively on a given night but he’s starting to make mistakes and do things that are costly and the Oilers are at a pivotal point in their season where they can’t be developing a player on the fly in the games against this kind of competition. 

There are two conversations here, two different focal lengths. How do you feel about Jesse Puljujarvi being scratched tonight and that (above) would be the answer to that question. Completely different conversation, how do you feel about Jesse Puljujarvi’s development and the way the organization has handled it from draft day to this point?

Rishaug on Accountability

I think coddling him to the point to where when his play dips to unusable status, I think you need to hit him with a natural concequence and I think you need to let him get right back on his horse and see how it goes. 

If it comes to the point to where they’re considering doing it again, send him to the American Hockey League. Enough is enough. 

Rishaug on Expectations

The organization expected this player to develop quicker and you can tell by the way they handled him. Straight to the NHL out of the draft then they realized it might be a little early, sent him down, then after some success brought him back and then last season they did their best to believe he was a full-time NHL player and for tiny little portions here and there he was. Still poured in 12 goals last season but the base has not been built in Puljujarvi’s game and the coach does not trust him enough to use him enough to justify having him here.

A Reasonable Comparison?

We’ve seen this with other players, I mean Adrian Kempe is a good example. 16 goals in 81 games last season, drafted a few years ago and 1 goal in 9 games this year. Down to the minors he goes. Drafted as an offensive player to be an offensive player and hasn’t been and so down to the minors he goes and this might just be where it lands. Let’s see where Puljujarvi rebounds.

BRIAN BURKE (SPORTSNET/HNIC)

Remember Henrik Sedin? He didn’t put up any meaningful numbers until his fourth year after he was drafted. Remember Daniel Sedin? Same thing. Remember Markus Naslund? So you gotta be careful. 

And I can tell you, it’s very fashionable to criticize the Edmonton Oilers and say Puljujarvi is a bad pick. We all had him there. We all loved him. We all think he’s going to be a player.

I’m telling you, the Calgary Flames had those guys in the exact same spots or close to, within one or two. We had Puljujarvi, we loved him, absolutely loved him. So did every other team. So if the Edmonton Oilers blew that pick, a lot of other teams would’ve done the same thing. Peter Chiarelli got offers for that pick so teams could leapfrog Edmonton and take Puljujarvi. 

Burke on Trading Young Players

You’d better not be too impatient because the best trade Pat Quinn ever made, he made a ton of great trades, was when he got Markus Naslund from Pittsburgh for Alex Stojanov.

LOUIE DeBRUSK (SPORTSNET)

This is a young man who’s still trying to find his own way and if I was speaking to my own son I’d say control the things you can control, don’t worry about the things you can’t. 

Right now I think there’s some expectation there from Jesse’s perspective where he’s thinking he has to do more and in reality I think he has to do less in the sense of basic down the game. 

I would tell him to be the hardest working guy on the line each and every night. Go out there and make it known that you are the guy that is working the hardest on the ice. 

DeBrusk on Mindsets and Consistency

When you’re a dominant player like Puljujarvi was in his younger years, big physical specimen, bigger than most of the guys he was playing against. He could manhandle, drive through, he was like a bulldozer going through the middle of the ice. I saw so many highlight reel videos of him just kinda dangling through people, blowing past guys getting off that wrist shot and getting a goal. Different animal here in the NHL and he’s still finding that out but he has it in his ability to do it because we saw that speed. It’s a matter of doing it consistently. 

Here’s the other thing, when you have that mindset as a top-rated guy it’s sometimes hard to go back to the ‘Let’s put the work boots back on and drind this out’ type of an attitude. 

If you want to play with better players make sure you’re playing harder than those guys are playing and everybody will want to play with you. 

LOWETIDE (TSN 1260)

The organization has handled this player poorly. Puljujarvi has far too much skill to give up on, or trade for 10 cents on the dollar. His game has been broken. It might be time to repair and rebuild in Bakersfield. This time next year the Oilers won’t be able to send him to the AHL without waivers. For Oilers fans, the blame game (player, coach, general manager) is less important than unlocking Puljujarvi’s considerable talent while he is an Edmonton Oilers winger. What is best for his development should be the only consideration. (paywall source)

What do you think after reading this group of hockey analysts’ opinions on Jesse Puljujarvi? Let us know in the comments and also tell us what you’d do with him?

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Edmonton Oilers: What the MSM had to say about Jesse Puljujarvi Yesterday (Ferraro, Simpson, Stauffer, Lowetide, etc)


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It seemed like everyone was talking about Jesse Puljujarvi yesterday on Oilers talk radio or in the blogosphere. I counted 7 different personalities commenting on him and I’m going to share what each of them said for you and then you can decide if you believe they are talking out of their aces or what they’re telling us holds water.

If I missed anybody please let me know! Buckle up because this is a long-form post this morning.

**I started writing this post early in the morning Edmonton time (late night Taipei time) and now that I’ve awoken here in Taipei I can see there’s a shite ton of posts on this with much more opinion. But I’ll be honest, I’ve not got the time to go through all of that. So I hope what I’ve presented to you is of value and if possible, I’ll put out a part 2 if the messages have changed. – BLH**

Merriam-Webster defines the word nuance as “a subtle distinction or variation”.

“EARN”

“CURRENCY”

What the f*ck is Bob talking about? How in the world is Puljujarvi supposed to “earn currency” on the 3rd line and the 2nd PP unit when neither line really gets enough TOI to make a noticeable impact on the game? Maybe someone will tell us below.

Here’s what the several different pundits had to say about Jesse Puljujarvi yesterday on Oilers talk radio or the blogs.

BOB STAUFFER (OILERS NOW)

Everybody’s just gotta relax here. But I personally don’t believe that Puljujarvi should be on the 1st unit PP and based on his play over the last three of four games, there’s no way you can play him with McDavid and frankly, I think the best spot for him is to play him with Strome and Lucic on the 3rd line. Give him matchups against 3rd defense pairings, give him 2nd unit PP time. 

He has to learn the nuances of the North American game.

There’s something there with the player but it’s not happening so far and for those of you who have revisionist history that say “Well, the Oilers took him too high.” Guys were ready to block slapshots in the nude when Puljujarvi fell to Edmonton at four. The Oilers had him ranked 3rd on their board. They did not have PL Dubois ranked in their top-4 because they had Sergachev ranked 4th and they thought they were going to get Sergachev at the draft. You can argue they should’ve had Tkachuk ranked higher. Fine. I personally like Tkachuk, I understood the concerns with him. His skating was a little bit of a concern, the fact that he was playing with a broken ankle in the Memorial Cup that year, I liked a lot about what Matthew Tkachuk brings.

But in terms of Puljujarvi, I don’t think he should be handed front-line opportunity and I still think the Oilers need to be patient.

The only way I’d consider trading him is if you got another really good young prospect back. Would you trade him for Anthony Mantha from Detroit who’s minus 12 in 9 games this year and has got one goal? He’s 24. He scored 24 goals last year. Would you do a deal like that?

CRAIG SIMPSON (HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA)

I go back and I’ve said it I think many times to you (Stauffer) and about different players, I’m a firm believer in taking responsibility as the player and you can sit in an armchair and say he’s not getting this chance and he’s not getting that chance.

You have a chance everyday, everyday at practise, every single game, to show that you’re ready to play and make an impact and the difficulty of becoming a really good everyday NHL player is that consistency factor. Can you do it night-in and night-out? it doesn’t always mean that it’s scoring goals and I’ve said to you (Stauffer) before and I heard you talking about Hemsky and I’ve relayed a number of stories talking about helping him as a rookie trying to understand what we’re trying to get out of you as a player.

It’s not about cheating and trying to score goals, it’s about how you have to play to have success to stay in the lineup, to play bigger minutes and the goals will come on the heels of that. 

I’ve just said watching Jesse in the American League, I just found at some point you have to take that responsibility of being hard everyday and being an impactful player and being impactful doesn’t mean scoring a goal. 

Being impactful means playing with that energy and drive every game, getting in on the forecheck and you turn pucks over. Can you make some plays? Can you forecheck hard and play a couple consecutive shifts in the offensive zone?

All of those little things will build up that currency you’re talking about for Puljujarvi and I’m a firm believer when you start on a consistent basis playing that way everyday, the goals will come and the offense will come on the heels of that but I think a lot of times guys expect the offense to be there without putting in that work

JASON GREGOR (TSN 1260)

Part 1:

I’ve said this all along. I wouldn’t even have Puljujarvi in the NHL. So that to me is on the organization not on Puljujarvi. I’m not upset at Puljujarvi as a player. At all. Do I think he’s NHL ready? No, I don’t. Do I think that’s a bad thing? Not at all. Because the majority of 20-year olds in the world aren’t ready. They’re just not. 

We saw a no.3 pick, Dylan Strome, play in the minors last year, why can’t an Oilers 20-year-old play there? It’s not Siberia. It’s not the end of the world if he plays there and if you’re Jesse Puljujarvi, sure it would suck at first to go down to the minors, I get it. 

He wants to be playing, he wants to be scoring. You can’t tell me it’s fun and you can’t tell me his confidence is where it should be at this stage of his career. It just isn’t. He’s not making many plays. 

So, me personally, I’d send him down there and I’d play him on the top line and I’d play him a ton. I’d play him on the PP, I’d play him on the PK, and if he makes mistakes, I’d put him right back out there because it’s the American League and that’s what it’s for. It’s for developing players. And you have a full-on strategy and you sit down with Jay Woodcroft and you say, “Jay, we’re playing him this many minutes a night because he needs to get his confidence back and it might take some time. Deal with it.”

Part 2:

It’s never about a coach liking or not. Everybody has different things that they look for. I think there’s a lot of fans who love Jesse Puljujarvi, they like his attitude, they like that he hitches rides from Oilers fans, and he’s just a down-to-Earth good kid. What’s not to like? I totally get it. 

But you want him to develop. You want him to be an NHL player who could be a difference maker for you in the future. Could be a complimentary top-6 forward. Probably that’s the minimum you’d like from Jesse Puljujarvi. 

Is he showing anything right now that says he’s close now? What’s wrong with a stint in the American League?

I think the organization has to get over this stigma that they have with the, “Oh geez, we can’t send anybody down there…” And the thing is they already sent him down. He’s been down there for parts of the last two seasons. So he’ll survive. He’s not gonna wilt at all. He could do it. I totally think he could do it. 

Because if it continues and when Ty Rattie and Caggiula and those guys get healthy, I don’t want Jesse Puljujarvi playing on the 4th line. And if the other guys are doing more then they deserve to play because the no.1 important thing for the Edmonton Oilers this year as an organization is to win games. That’s the no.1 important thing and at the same time you have to figure out how to develop your players. 

Easy Solution. Play the guys that give you the best chance to win here and if you can develop Puljujarvi and he gains his confidence and he can give you a better chance to win next year, that’s what I want. Because right now, the way he’s played, he’s not doing enough to really impact games. 

There are ways to help the team win without getting points and you’re not seeing a lot of that from Puljujarvi. A) He’s not playing a ton of minutes. He’s not doing a lot and he’s a young player. 

So I would definitely give him a stint in the American League and I wouldn’t look at it as a negative. I’d sit down and have a mature conversation with him and say “Jesse, we need to get your confidence up. We know your confidence isn’t high. We think you’ve got a lot of pieces that could make you an NHL player but you gotta be playing and you’ve got to be playing a lot. We want you to be on the PK.”

Because look at Jesse Puljujarvi, look at his stick length and everything. Wouldn’t he be a good penalty killer? He could be a guy who could be in your top-6, your PP and your PK. Why not? Let him try it in the American League. 

Part 3:

Puljujarvi is a player who doesn’t look confident making plays. He doesn’t look confident thinking the game. He’s also only 20 years of age. I don’t expect him to be ready. 

So, for me, I think the Edmonton Oilers got to wake up, grab a clue, and send him to the minors. Shane Doan went down his third year after playing two full seasons in the NHL and Puljujarvi has been 10 games in the AHL last year, 39 the year before. Wouldn’t be the worst thing for him. 

Yeah it sucks for your ego short-term but I’ll tell you, if you could talk to Jesse Puljujarvi as a 30 year old and if that meant that going down to the minors for 40 games when he was 20 allowing him to have a ten year NHL career making millions of dollars. He would gladly take it. 

RAY FERRARO (TSN)

When I watch Puljujarvi, I see some really good things and then I see some and he looks like a timid kid. 

Why don’t they send him down? There’s a couple of reasons I can think, one is cover your ass a little bit. You’ve got another high draft pick and it looks like a failure when the other three guys ahead of him in the draft are already playing in the NHL and they’re producing. Maybe that’s some of it. Some of it maybe that they feel like they can keep a close eye on his development while he plays sporadically in Edmonton.

I know as a skilled player or a player that was supposed to produce, it’s really difficult to have the confidence to make a play when you know that if you make a mistake you’re going to lose your spot, you’re going to lose your ice, you’re going to sit for five or six minutes. So you make the safe play all the time.

When I watch Puljujarvi, I think he’s just trying to survive. He’s not trying to produce. I mean he’s trying to score but he’s not trying to produce, he’s trying to survive. 

You mentioned 40 games, I think that’s a mistake. If you’re going to send him (to the AHL), commit to sending him. We’ll see you when we see you. You’re going to tell us when you’re ready by being in the American League and being too good for that league.

LOWETIDE (TSN 1260)

I don’t think anybody wants Jesse Puljujarvi to fail. I don’t think Todd McLellan does, I don’t think Peter Chiarelli does, I don’t think any fan wants Jesse Puljujarvi to fail. In fact, I think most people would be delighted because of the strength of his personality and the type of player he could be, to see him succeed. 

And I think he will, I just don’t know if it’s going to be in Edmonton. 

Last night was a microcosm of Jesse Puljujarvi’s career in Edmonton. He starts on the 2nd line and he ends on the 4th line, which was a disaster. The line itself was giving up goals left, right, and center. 

The two right wings in trouble today are Zack Kassian and Jesse Puljujarvi and I’m not ever going to give up on this guy and you have to be patient.

BRUCE McCURDY (THE CULT OF HOCKEY)

He’s really fighting it and you know he scored one point on the year and mind you it was a very important tying goal in the 3rd period in Winnipeg that ultimately laid the table for a two point win for the Oilers in a game they were trailing but he’s had a lot of things go wrong. He’s taken some bad penalties, some questionable line changes, some of his defensive coverage has been a little suspect and he’s playing like a player, frankly, without a lot of confidence.I don’t think he’s got a lot of confidence from his coach at this point either and that can be a concern.

KURT LEAVINS (THE CULT OF HOCKEY)

I like Jesse Puljujarvi lots. But some sure look at the kid through rose-coloured glasses. He is making a lot of rookie mistakes that are causing problems. Late Saturday, the club needed to maintain the pressure on a Nashville team that had played the night but Puljujarvi took a lazy hooking penalty. Against Boston it was that blind pass up the middle. Poor work along the wall against Winnipeg cost his club zone time (but he finished strong). In Boston, we saw bad line changes. Look: Players of Puljujarvi’s maturity will make mistakes. But when it happens to other players (and it absolutely does), I hear calls for benchings. (source)

Leavins also dedicated an entire post to Jesse Puljujarvi here. A very balanced point-of-view in my opinion.

So while the opinions are different there are similar underlying messages we’re hearing here from former NHL players to pundits alike. There’s something there with Jesse Puljujarvi worth saving and it’s incumbent on the Edmonton Oilers to do the right thing for his long-term development.

I think that Jesse will be scratched for the game versus Washington and I’m completely fine with that. If he’s struggling, give him some time off to watch the game from above. You never know what he might glean from it. Besides, when I was growing up prospects used to get scratched all of the time, it was no big deal. The vets got to play.

That said, the prospects used to come up through the minor system until they were ready to play too…

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Former NHL Defenceman Shane Hnidy on Oilers PTO signing Jason Garrison

It’s funny. Sometimes Oilers news or rumors are flying at you day-by-day and then sometimes it takes a week to get something worth writing about unless you feel like blogging about donairs. I can’t do it. The juice simply isn’t worth the squeeze.

Anyways, yesterday Shane Hnidy was on The Jason Gregor show to discuss the Vegas Golden Knights and more importantly to Oiler fans, Jason Garrison. Edmonton’s shiny new PTO signing. I’ll toss the audio up at the end of this section for you to hear if you’d like.

The foot speed is the big thing. Garrison is still a quality guy. Could be a depth guy you have for injuries but if there was one thing that was knocking, it was probably his foot speed.

Nothing new there. Jason Garrison is 33 years old and to be honest, I think they’re bringing him in to play a sort of Chris Kelly-type role. A veteran comes into camp and pushes the other players a bit, teaches the kids some lessons.

If he did sign, I could see it being more of a Matt Hendricks-like role. He’d be a PT NHLer where the value he’d bring would be off of the ice. Especially if Evan Bouchard spends any time outside of pre-season with the Oilers because Edmonton doesn’t have that old general on the back end to teach the youngins.

He’s a big strong defenceman. Big Shot.

Right. A big shot he does have but it’s been too long since it was an effective weapon at the NHL level, I’m not sure if we can even say that’s one of the pros to signing him anymore. Even Garrison said on Gregor’s show today that he’d probably bring more defensively than offensively.

I think his salary last year kinda hurt his opportunites. So maybe depending on what you can get him in, maybe if he has a good showing at camp, which he’ll be trying to do at his age to show he has some stuff left. 

Yeah, could very well be but even then, if the Golden Knights saw any value in bringing him up, they would’ve and he would’ve stuck.

He thinks the game very well, a guy that’s been around but depends on what price point possibly you can get him on. I think he could be a good depth guy to have. 

If you didn’t know, Garrison has the same agent as current Oiler Brad Malone and was coached by former Oilers assistant coach Rocky Thompson in Chicago (AHL) last season.

You can listen to the segment here. Fast forward to 12:20 to get right to the Hnidy part.

SUPPORTING THE OILERS

I read over on the Cult of Hockey about an Oilers supporter who is regretting renewing their season tickets this year and I wanted to comment on that.

At least he didn’t write a letter and put his stuff in a box and give it to his parents.

That said, the Oilers fan in that article isn’t far off from Letter Boy. What I mean by that is, I can understand if you wanted to pack up shop after the Boys on the Bus were pilfered off or during the Tambellini days but why in Sam’s Hell would you regret having the chance to watch, at the very least, Connor McDavid 41 times a year?

Full disclosure, I never had season tickets as a kid growing up in Camrose. Oilers season tickets were like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. A myth to me. It’s crazy talk to me when I hear people giving them up, especially now with McDavid and Draisaitl, Nuge, Nurse, Larsson, and Puljujarvi.

I just really feel like quitting now is selling low.

I will say this though, I don’t really enjoy the regular season in-game experience anymore. When I was a kid I loved it, what child didn’t or doesn’t today? But it is too expensive, the food is marginally good, the seats are okay I guess, and it’s generally more of a hassle than not. I prefer watching the games on the TV and in a pub setting where it’s a bit noisier and the drinks are cheaper and I can hear some commentary. So from that perspective, I get it.

But if you’re not looking forward to the season because social media has soured your Oilers experience and you can afford to have season’s tickets (not a lot of people can but buy them anyhow), doesn’t that sound a bit entitled? It sounds like an uptown problem to be honest. GROW A PAIR AND GET OFF OF SOCIAL MEDIA! It’s that simple.

Be grateful there’s even a team there! Be grateful you even have season tickets! Be grateful you can afford them…

I mean, an experience is what you make it and if you’re letting an outside influence take control of said experience, you’ve got to remove that influence.

Maybe my life is that boring that the day the hockey season ends for the Oilers, I’m counting the days until training camp opens. Maybe I remember the days where the Oilers were nearly moved to Houston and I cherish the fact Edmonton even has a team for the residents of the city to support. Maybe that little boy who liked to go to games at Northlands Coliseum and race down to the glass to watch the players warm-up still lives on inside me.

Find that little boy or girl inside you that fell in love with the Oilers for the very first time. You won’t regret it.

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