Tag Archives: Jesse Puljujarvi

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

Edmonton Oilers Rumors: New Questions Arise in Puljujarvi Mess and How the NHL is Helping the Oilers Win Another Draft Lottery

Yesterday, as a result of probably the dirtiest hit of the season, the NHL decided that it had had enough of Connor McDavid’s tough guy act and decided to sit him down for two games. And during what Oilers CEO Bob Nicholson described as a “critical” point in Edmonton’s season no less.

Look, Connor caught Leddy high. No denying that. Did he deserve a suspension? Not. One. Bit. I don’t think McDavid is happy at all and the fact that the Oilers CEO prepared a statement for this is pretty telling with regards to how the organization feels about the suspension.

That said, the timing probably couldn’t be better for 97 as an individual. Meaning, he was just coming off of a sickness and you could tell he wasn’t 100% vs the Islanders. A couple games off to recharge will probably be a good thing for him.

Now, if I were him and I was legitimately pissed off, maybe I’d take an extra game off after the suspension was up. Maybe the one where the Oilers play the Maple Leafs on national television. I mean, how many times have we seen McDavid get molested in the corners or slashed driving past a defender and nothing get called because “he’s too fast”?

If the NHL is making a statement here, that it’s not biased or there’s no favoritism here, then I hope that they instruct their refs to call every infraction against these stars too. Not just McDavid either. The league HAS to do a much better job of protecting its money-makers.

The NHL has done NOTHING to help its stars and guess what this might end up doing? It might end up gifting Jack Hughes or Kappo Kakko to the Oilers this summer…

Thank you, NHL!

NEW QUESTIONS ARISE IN THE PULJUJARVI DEBACLE

As I was listening to Jason Gregor’s show, I heard him say something very interesting,

The agent coming out last Friday to say maybe he should get traded when he knew at that time his was injured is the most ridiculous unprofessional thing he could do. All he did is throw gasoline on it. You couldn’t have traded him, he was injured. (source)

The agent knew about the injury?!! What the fack?! If that’s the case then Jesse should indeed get rid of this guy because he’s screwing everything up.

But then there was this quote from Keith Gretzky’s media avail yesterday morning,

Q: Do you think that had a bearing on how he was playing?

A: I think it was there a little bit for a while and it hasn’t improved. It’s gotten a little bit worse. They’ve tried different things and now this is the best route.

BOTH PARTIES HAVE KNOWN ABOUT THIS INJURY FOR SOME TIME NOW! Is what I’m lead to believe here…

Egg on my face… I was wrong. We move on.

But then there’s this issue of trust. I think most people were coming to the conclusion that perhaps Jesse’s knee had been hurt. After he was drafted he had surgery on his knee, therefore that is a logical conclusion to come to, right? Yesterday, John Shannon came out and told the world that the injury might not be a knee one.

Well, how in the hell would John Shannon be privy to that if someone close to Bob Nicholson (if not Nicholson himself) wasn’t leaking the information?

Now we’re on to boiling down the motivations of the agent in going public about moving on and the team in leaking out the information to Rishaug.

It’s very messy right now and for what? We’ve got the team talking through John Shannon and the agent talking through Mark Spector. To me, it doesn’t sound like anybody is looking for a peaceful resolve regardless of what I’ve been told privately.

One theory from the agent’s perspective might be that if Jesse goes on IR from season-ending surgery, he can’t go to the AHL. The AHL assignment seems to be a constant factor here.

Now I’m not 100% certain on OP’s tweet here but I trust his word. He’s a man of high character.

It’s a clever play on Markus Lehto’s part if it is true. He’d have to clear waivers next season in order to be sent down. No doubt he’d probably get claimed and in a roundabout way, has more or less forced a trade.

Another theory might be that both parties had agreed on a trade and wanted to get things done as quickly as possible in order to be able to make said deal at the draft (Thanks Mari!). Which makes a ton of sense given that’s probably when he’d have been traded anyhow.

The one problem I have with that scenario is, how are the Oilers going to get even close to what they’re asking for from other teams in return for Puljujarvi? Also, when is he supposed to raise his value?

The most prominent result of all of this is the one I posted yesterday where Jesse gets moved with Milan Lucic to a team like Ottawa who needs to hit the cap floor next year.

But, another possibility that is creeping into the public forum is the KHL.

Bob Stauffer mentioned a Finnish team playing in the KHL where “Jesse could make a million dollars tax-free.” That club happens to be Jokerit and if I’m not mistaken, is managed by former Oiler great Jari Kurri. Their coach is Lauri Marjamaki, who you might remember as the guy who dressed Puljujarvi at the World Championships a couple of years ago but kept him at the end of the bench. I’m not sure about that dynamic. Marjamaki seems to be well regarded, so you never know.

Maybe a season overseas would do a world of good. Jesse is only 20-years-old right now and there’s plenty of time to right the ship here. What better way to keep him in the family than to have him playing for Kurri eh?

I think the bottom line during all of this is that the team thinks their getting screwed by the agent, how else would the likes of Ryan Rishaug, John Shannon, Bob Stauffer, and Jason Gregor be getting their info? But also, the agent doesn’t trust the team one bit due to said leakage.

Just an aside, on Oilers Now, during the segment with Elliotte Friedman, did anybody else hear Bob say on his show yesterday that he had dinner with John Shannon the other night?…

I learn some new detail every day on this and I’m willing to bet I’ll learn something new today as well. You’ll have to wait until my next post to read what that is.

Big game tonight vs. Anaheim. Gotta get these two points in regulation if that 1% chance of the playoffs is to grow much and it’s going to be hard without the services of that goon Connor McDavid.

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

Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Bob McKenzie’s Solution to the Oilers’ Salary Cap Woes

TSN’s Bob McKenzie released his NHL trade deadline special podcast yesterday and within it, he went over an interesting scenario in which the Edmonton Oilers could relieve themselves of Milan Lucic’s contract AND perhaps the Jesse Puljujarvi issue.

If Mark Stone is not back with the Senators and Duchene, they’re going to have to get to the salary cap floor. They may have to do some deals where they bring in money just to bring in money. But if you’re going to do that, weaponize that ability to take on other people’s bad contracts and I’m thinking Lucic. 

I’m thinking out loud but if I were a general manager and I had plenty of room and didn’t mind shelling out the money and I’ve got to get to the cap floor, I might go to Edmonton and say, “Tell you what, I’ll take the Lucic contract from you but I want Puljujarvi and something else to do it.” 

And that’s how you get out from underneath it. I don’t know how Edmonton would feel about that. Maybe Puljujarvi is going to get traded anyways but maybe they want an asset for him… But cap space is an asset and if the new general manager comes in there and is hamstrung with all these contracts, it’s going to be really difficult for them to turn the corner… (source)

I know my good friend SPR brought this exact scenario up earlier this week and I think he’s a little pissed that the Bobfather has stolen it…

https://twitter.com/TheOilKnight/status/1098761834293653504

This whole Puljujarvi debacle has me in pieces. I’m way too emotionally invested in this player, but it’s one of those things, right? We all have something or someone that we’d die on a hill for and for me it’s Pulju. I think I was the same with Yakupov though. I have a soft spot in my heart for those uber happy go lucky players who are always smiling.

I think I’m so used to seeing what Leon and Connor bring to the table that I’ve been watching the Oilers games this year to see what Jesse might do.

Well, he might not be doing much for them anymore. I’m pretty resigned to him leaving now and it’s upsetting. I did say that I’d hop on the “Fire Chiarelli” bandwagon if he traded Pulju and I feel like I’ve got nowhere to go now. OH, THE IRONY!

So I’m on the “Retire Hitchcock” bandwagon now. I blame him for this mess because he’s the one that said: “I can fix him”. Instead, he’s done the ol’ “Hitch and Ditch” with Puljujarvi and it won’t matter to him because he’s gone at the end of the year…

THE 2019 NHL ENTRY DRAFT

Anyways, I didn’t want to just talk about my boy. I wanted to talk about the draft a little bit.

Right now, as I write this, the Oilers are sitting at 5th overall according to Tankathon.com. They have a 26.1% chance of hopping into the top-3 and an 8.5% chance of winning the draft lottery outright and getting the chance to draft Jack Hughes.

Wouldn’t that be something if the Oilers won the lottery again? Could you imagine the outrage? You’d have to think that the NHL would institute some rule (again) that would prevent a team from drafting 1st overall more than three times in a five year period or something to that effect if it did go down.

But I’m looking at the top-5 of this year’s draft and I’m seeing a lot of skill on the wing.

Mynhldraft.com has the following players in their top-5:

  1. Jack Hughes – C – USNTDP (USA)
  2. Kappo Kakko – RW – TPS (SM-Liiga)
  3. Kirby Dach – C – Saskatoon (WHL)
  4. Dylan Cozens – RW – Lethbridge (WHL)
  5. Trevor Zegras – C – USNTDP (USA)

That website aggregates all the major rankings and posts a mock draft once or twice a month. So I enjoy using that resource to see where the draft prospects are situated at any given time during the season.

So if Edmonton were to draft today and the rankings didn’t change, then their man would be Trevor Zegras. I’ve read reports that have referred him to as “Jack Hughes-lite”.

“A creative player with exciting puck skills. Zegras blends good speed with unique lines to cause separation through the neutral zone and distribute effectively to his mates.” (source)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQWUNxfbGV4

Tankathon.com’s top-5 players for the 2019 entry draft look like this:

  1. Jack Hughes – C – USNTDP (USA)
  2. Kappo Kakko – RW – TPS (SM-Liiga)
  3. Vasili Podkolzin – RW – Vityaz Podolsk (Russia u17)
  4. Dylan Cozens – C – Lethbridge (WHL)
  5. Kirby Dach – C – Saskatoon (WHL)

You’ll probably notice the position change for Cozens there from RW to C. He can play both but I expect him to be a winger to start his NHL career at least and perhaps make the jump a bit later when he’s grown into his body a bit.

I simmed the draft lottery and what do you know, the Oilers jumped up two spots into 3rd overall. They’d have the enigmatic Russian known as Vasili Podkolzin if that were the case.

A multi-tool force who plays nasty but also can beat you with ridiculous puck skills, Podkolzin’s desire to develop in Russia shouldn’t trump his game-breaking upside.” (source)

I’ve heard Podkolzin being described as a mean mother f*cker and with his skill and ability to take over games, doesn’t that remind you of Evgeni Malkin? Edmonton could take him and then leave him in Russia for a year or two and bring him over as a 20-year-old to maximize the impact upon arrival too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrtc2JWvHGU

One thing for certain, this guy is no Nail Yakupov.

For me, my top-5 players I’d like to draft go as thus:

  1. Jack Hughes – Closest thing to Patrick Kane you’ll see.
  2. Kappo Kakko – Combine Matt Duchene’s speed and agility with Joe Sakic’s wrist shot.
  3. Vasili Podkolzin – Russian Peter Forsberg?
  4. Kirby Dach – He reminds me of Ryan Getzlaf sans the jerk part.
  5. Dylan Cozens – I get a Jeff Carter feel when I watch Cozens play.

The comparisons are a bit glorified but you get the gist.

I think we all hope that the Oilers aren’t drafting in these spots anymore but the reality is that the combination of Chiarelli and Hitchcock has left us where we are. So we might as well cover it and get to know the players that could be part of the organization.

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

Edmonton Oilers: Puljujarvi’s Agent Has Been Through This Before

Right now Jesse Puljujarvi is at home nursing a lower-body injury that not even he knows what it is or how he got it. The Edmonton Oilers simply told him he’s unable to play. Meanwhile, his agent, Markus Lehto, is making the rounds and getting in touch with other clients and GMs.

I don’t think a lot of fans know about this agent. What is he all about?

This article here from 2014 dives into Lehto’s past. It also discloses what kind of person he is and how he helps the players that he represents. Two quotes jump out at me that I feel are important.

“I think one part of the agent’s job is to be able to educate the client and the player about pro hockey,” Lehto said. “For example with [19-year-old] Teuvo, it’s pretty clear moving from the European culture to North America it takes time to get used to it. We are helping with that. He needs to understand what kind of hockey the NHL is. Coaches help with this, but the smaller details I can work with Teuvo to prepare for it physically and mentally.

“I know Teuvo is ready to play in the NHL. But is he going to play in 82 games with the Blackhawks, in the playoffs, is he going to get that spot with tough players to pass in the hierarchy? That remains to be seen. He needs to understand that, ‘Hey I’m going to fight for that spot, and I’m going to take it. If I don’t get it right way, yes, it means I’m going to be in the American League and I’m going to be the best player I can be, and I’ll get the NHL spot in November, December or January. That’s where the support comes in.”

I can only imagine how many times Lehto has had to tell young Jesse to relax and keep his nose to the grindstone with Hitchcock behind the bench…

This situation between Puljujarvi and the Oilers is one that is familiar to Lehto. He’s been in this position before with one of his clients.

TEUVO TERAVAINEN

Teuvo Teravainen wasn’t his usual cheerful self as he met with the media after the Rockford IceHogs’ game Sunday.

The 20-year-old Finn knew the questions before they were asked. As the Chicago Blackhawks‘ top prospect, he has become accustomed to queries about his development and his path to the NHL. He often has been more than happy to provide those answers.

But lately, it has been different for Teravainen. He expected to be in the NHL by now. Even when he was assigned to the AHL out of Blackhawks training camp, the center was optimistic his time in Rockford would be short. It hasn’t been. (source)

Back in 2014, Teravainen was upset that the Chicago Blackhawks still had him playing in the AHL, a league that didn’t quite adhere to the skilled puck-possession style of play that he was accustomed to. But the Blackhawks were preaching patience with him. They didn’t want him to change his game, just adapt to the way the game was played at that level.

“Teuvo is coming over [from Finland]. He’s 20 years old. This is a foreign country for him. He’s left a lot behind, his family. He’s learning the game on a smaller ice surface where things develop and happen a lot quicker…” – Mark Bernard, the Blackhawks’ hockey-administration director and minor league affiliations general manager (source)

This is how it should’ve been with Jesse but the Oilers shoved him right into the line up from day 1 and we’re left with similar problems that could’ve been alleviated had they brought him along properly.

This next quote from the agent (Lehto) is very interesting and that’s why I think this whole “Puljujarvi wants to be traded” schtick is a bunch of BS. Either someone in the organization wants Jesse gone or wants to undermine Gretzky and/or Nicholson and Pulju is the collateral damage.

“It’s about being mentally tough and seeing the big picture,” Lehto said. “No just floating around and going through the emotions and waiting for that day. ‘When is someone coming to pick me up?’ It’s not about that. It’s about playing hockey. It’s not NHL hockey, but you adjust.” (source)

The agent knows how the game works in North America for Europeans. He knows what the old hockey men want/expect and he passes that knowledge on to his young clients.

I think that this whole article, “Top Hawks prospect Teravainen dealing with frustration“, is a really good look at how Lehto handled a previously aggravated client.

For Teravainen, he had 12 goals and 22 assists in his first full year for Chicago before getting packaged along with the Milan Lucic of the time, Brian Bickell, in a cost-cutting trade to Carolina for two draft picks.

But after jerking him up and down the lineup in the 2015-16 regular season (and a playoff performance that admittedly wasn’t great in a 7-game series loss to the St. Louis Blues), Bowman elected to use Teravainen as the bait to get the Bryan Bickell contract off the books. (source)

That quote comes from a particularly interesting post from A Blackhawks blog called Second City Hockey. A bit of a “look back at what was and how it turned out to be” kind of post. Important if you’re one of those fans who has already made up their mind on Puljujarvi.

One difference I’d point out is that Chicago was actually good and had depth. They had the rope to do this kind of thing. The Oilers don’t have depth nor are they good… Yet.

I could see something akin to the Teravainen scenario going down for Puljujarvi in Edmonton. Maybe the Oilers send him to Bakersfield for the remainder of the season, although I don’t see the point if they’re going to be trading off the only wingers that score goals for them, and then they extend him this summer only to deal him next trade deadline.

What the Oilers should be hoping for is a Pulju breakout season so when they go to Ray Shero and tell them they’d like to trade for Taylor Hall, they have a tangible asset that they could dangle. Even if Shero said no, it wouldn’t matter because they’d still have a young winger on a good contract gaining value and producing for the club.

You’ll hear a lot about how “the player” doesn’t want to go to the AHL from the likes of Friedman and McKenzie and it’s just garble. No young player who’s spent as much time in the NHL as Pulju has wants to go to the AHL. So let’s not try and paint this young man into the same picture as Nail Yakupov. Got that Matheson?

KAPANEN, KASPERI

To a lesser extent, another client of Lehto’s, Kasperi Kapanen (TOR), has had his dark moments since he came to North America. It’s my understanding that he was very spoiled, described to me as a prima donna when he came over and needed to be set in his place by his player rep.

But he’s another young Finnish player that came over, had issues, was traded, It’s required some drastic actions to be taken in order for the player to get his head out of his ass in order to find his game, but in the end, things have seemingly worked out.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

Some who are reading this might take what I’ve presented here as some sort of indictment on Markus Lehto. That’s the farthest thing from the truth. All I’m attempting to do here is present Puljujarvi’s camp in a light that we might not be getting from the boys with the press passes.

Jesse’s agent is the type to get things done quietly. He’s not an antagonist. Why would he be here? Koskinen’s deal just put that much more cash in his pocket. The only way that we are where we are is if the team (or someone in the organization) had an agenda and is trying to accomplish their goal by leaking bad info to the media. So the agent’s hand has been forced.

Remember when Frank Seravalli said the relationship between Milan Lucic and the Oilers had become untenable without anything but his word? Do you reckon Gerry Johansson (Lucic’s agent) got in touch with Frankie boy directly or indirectly and told him that the shit’s hit the fan in Edmonton, he has to get moved? Of course not! Bob Stauffer, who’s a friend of Johannson, has told us what kind of agent he is. He’s said in so many words that he wouldn’t put up with that kind of behavior from a client and to buck up and play better if you want out.

I don’t think this stuff about Jesse is true but that might not matter now.

A new season means a new design! Click the image above to get the new Pulju shirt!
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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors, Trades

Edmonton Oilers Rumor Roundup: Will Taylor Hall Return to the Oilers?

Last night during the Coyotes/Oilers game, a tweet from @PunjabiOil came across my timeline that quoted Elliotte Friedman saying on a local podcast if he were GM of the Oilers and he knew that Taylor Hall was going to free agency, his plan would be to bring him back to Edmonton.

This was funny because Bob Stauffer and Mark Spector sort of brought Hall up during yesterday’s edition of Oilers Now and it’s not the first time we’ve heard Bob talk about Taylor Hall coming back to Edmonton, right?

I’ve talked to my sources about the possibility of Hall coming back and some of them have told me that “it’s doable” and some of them believe there’s no chance. Edmonton would have to do major surgery to the roster to fit him in long term.

Now, that does leave the possibility of him coming back for the final year of his current deal though. Which would be next season. Edmonton could definitely deal in that a lot easier than competing for his services on the open market if he were to go UFA status.

Combine that with murmurs of Jordan Eberle possibly being willing to go back to Edmonton on a deal that could pay him $4M/yr for three years…

How ridiculous would that be if both Hall and Eberle returned?

All they’d have to do is find some way to get Hall out of NJ via trade, deal Lucic and one of Russell or Sekera without retaining salary, and then sign Ebs… It’s THAT easy! Wing depth restored!

Personally, I can’t see it happening but every GM, agent, and player are watching Toronto to see what they do and if it is deemed successful, every other team will try to copy it, including the Oilers.

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

NEWS ON PULJUJARVI

On the latest “Insider Trading”, Bob McKenzie wonders aloud if the relationship between the player and team is “fractured beyond repair”. He says there’s lots of speculation that Pulju would not look kindly on being sent down to the AHL and even goes as far as to question if Jesse would even go to the AHL.

It’s all bullshit.

From what I’ve gathered, Puljujarvi IS pissed. He’s angry because he’s watching teammates of his who are of lesser talent getting the push up the lineup instead of him. Players like Alex Chiasson and oddly enough, Ty Rattie.

Now we could all argue about how he hasn’t earned it, right? If “earning it” means not scoring, then wouldn’t Jesse be fitting right in with Rieder, Rattie, and Chiasson?

I feel for him. Two coaches in a row refuse to even give him a chance on the PP.

I mean if you want a direct example of how old-school Ken Hitchcock is, look no further than how Josh Currie was used last night. I don’t even want to go into how much of a bullshitter Hitch is based on how he said he was going to use the player in the pre-game media avail…

https://twitter.com/AdamsOnHockey/status/1098089308567687169

Even in the OT, a perfect time to use a player who has speed and a shot, as Ty Rattie does, Hitchcock throws Chiasson out?!

3v3 OT is the PERFECT scenario for a player like Rattie or Puljujarvi (if he’d been on the roster and not out with some “mystery” LBI) or Currie for that matter. Sam Gagner comes straight into the roster and he’s GIFTED with 2nd line TOI and 1st unit PP time…

Think about it for a second. This young man is one of the hardest working players on the team. He stays after practice to work on little things. A quote I got from a former teammate of his said, “He’s the hardest worker and so unselfish.”

How does it make any sense for the media to be portraying Puljujarvi in a selfish light when he’s literally the polar opposite? Well, it gets the eyes and ears directed to their websites and TV channels is what it does.

I’ve said this on Twitter before, but the media is going to try and paint Jesse into the same corner that Nail Yakupov once occupied. We might even start to hear things about how he’s not liked in the dressing room or he’s hard to get along with. Maybe more on the language barrier…

It’s already started with McKenzie saying things like, “the Oilers would LIKE to send him (Pulju) down to the American Hockey League…”

“Like” as in they’re being held hostage here?

Don’t believe it…

He is NOT going to refuse an assignment to the AHL. His camp might feel that Bakersfield isn’t the right move for him right now but he’d report.

As far as I’ve been told, Jesse loves Edmonton, he wants to stay and play. He’s young, he’s got certain expectations of himself and also the team I imagine. It’s just that he’s been told one thing and the opposite is happening. That’d enrage anybody.

I think it’s possible that there’s someone in the organization that is leaking things that simply aren’t true (that he wants out) and the media is running with it because if it bleeds it leads.

If the Oilers truly want to repair this, find the leak and plug it!

My Solution: Get Hitchcock off that bench and have Manny Viveiros run the show. He had a young Finn in Swift Current that ran the show there for some time. I think his name was Heponiemi.

My Solution 2: Let Jay Woodcroft work his magic with him. Winning is the cure to a lot of ailments.

Grab a Grinning Finn tee by clicking on the pic!!

THE NEXT MOVE: BENNING/PETROVIC OUT?

I’m still hearing that Pittsburgh has interest in Alex Petrovic, but teams like Toronto and Tampa Bay are also looking for depth right-hand shots. Matt Benning also fits the description there and in all honesty is probably who the Oilers would prefer to move given he’s got an extra year left on his deal.

Keep an eye on Alex Chiasson. He’s getting a ton of media attention right now. I think Boston is looking at him AND Kassian.

https://twitter.com/NHLbyMatty/status/1098251428445876229

The name of the game is clearing cap space folks. If Edmonton can rid themselves of all those players AND possibly one of Sekera or Russell, I think they do it with a smile on their faces and I think they’d even retain salary to do it.

Whatever it takes to get Hallsy and Ebs back into the fold, right? :p

Elias Pettersson’s nickname is “Alien”. Here’s a shirt to celebrate it! Click the image to buy one!
What a hilarious phrase! Click the pic to get yours today!
The Vegas Golden Misfits are going to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018!!! Love ’em or hate ’em it’s an amazing story and this is one punk rocker’s way of giving tribute! Click the pic above and get yours today!
Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Trades

Edmonton Oilers Speculation: My Two Theories on What the Oilers Are Doing with Jesse Puljujarvi

I was fully expecting to read the news that my boy Jesse Puljujarvi had been sent to Bakersfield upon waking this morning. Instead, I get to read that he’s been put on the IR with a “lower body injury”. Did he stub his toe at West Edmonton Mall signing autographs today or is he suffering from swollen scrotum syndrome from being kicked in the nuts repeatedly by the organization?

Either way, things are not rosy between the two camps, but I’ve got a couple of theories as it is.

THEORY #1: REBUILDING THE RELATIONSHIP

It’s no secret that Keith Gretzky is attempting to undo what Peter Chiarelli did. This includes the trades to bring in Brandon Manning, Alex Petrovic, and Ryan Spooner. We can also throw in the hiring of Ken Hitchcock.

What if the Oilers put Jesse on the IR to give themselves time to move out the bodies that Hitch has been playing ahead of Jesse in the lineup? Meaning Zack Kassian and Alex Chiasson. This would be an attempt to extend the olive branch while satisfying the wishes of the player and his agent by not sending him to the AHL. Additionally, it would give Puljujarvi the opportunity to show what he’s got playing alongside McDavid or RNH for the remainder of the season and as a bi-product all the team to showcase him at the same time.

Of course, in this scenario, Hitchcock would need to be on board but there are some rumblings that he won’t last after the deadline as it is…

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

THEORY #2: HE GONE!

The other theory is that the Oilers have placed him on IR in order to gain time to make a proper deal for him.

If the deal doesn’t come up, Puljujarvi can be sent to the minors or he spends the rest of the season in Hitch’s doghouse IF Hitch is even around. The latter being something I’ve been told he’d be willing to do if it means he stays in the NHL.

I don’t think that they were planning on trading him before the conversation between the Oilers and Puljujarvi’s agent was leaked to Rishaug. The agent has been in damage control mode since then and it’s not really surprising that the decision, in the end, is that the player/agent prefer to part ways with the Oilers.

As far as I know, Jesse would love nothing more than to stay in Edmonton and help the team. He loves the city and the people there but he’s still confident in his abilities. He knows in his heart that he doesn’t belong in the AHL and that if he’s given the opportunity, he can contribute positively to the top-6.

Wouldn’t you be pissed if you had two coaches in a row attempt to reformat the way you played? Both McLellan and Hitchcock have tried to turn him into a grinder when he’s a playmaker. Board play is not his bread and butter, it’s skating and playmaking. So it’s no wonder he looks like he’s lost sometimes. I mean if Darnell Nurse would actually give him the puck when he circles down deep into the zone, that would help. Instead, Nurse would rather look for the 150ft pass and risk an icing. Folks give Jesse a hard time for his hockey IQ and Nurse is doing stupid shit like that on a nightly basis.

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WILDCARD THEORY: HE’S ACTUALLY HURT

I don’t know about this one. There’s always the possibility that he tweaked something taking shots during the warmup vs. the Islanders or he slipped on some ice in Edmonton. You never know.

Bottom line, Pulju’s value on the trade market is not high right now. It’s probably at it’s lowest and by unofficially asking out, that puts the team behind the 8-ball. I just reckon he should go to the AHL, play out the string, and then re-visit everything this summer when the new GM is in place and a new coach is in place. He might be surprised when he finds out that not everyone is as daft as the folks he’s been working with to date.

We’re going to find out which one of these theories plays out in 7-days or less folks. Stay tuned!

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