Tag Archives: Ryan Rishaug

Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Edmonton Oilers: Rishaug Drops Puljujarvi Bombshell, “It’s Reasonable to Assume That There’s Issues in the Room”

Just before we get started here, the 2019 NHL entry draft is coming and we’re ramping up the coverage in the final stretch. Please feel free to click on the link below if you’re curious about who the Oilers might pick this year.

Edmonton Oilers: Drafting with The Future Considerations Draft Guide

This morning, Dan Tencer and Ryan Rishaug were talking about this whole Jesse Puljujarvi situation and the future of this player in Edmonton. A lot of what was said was fair and then Rishaug dropped the locker room problems bomb. I’ll transcribe it below but I want to first off say that Rishaug DID NOT say there were problems in the room, only that is reasonable to assume there are given the agent still wants the player out of Edmonton.

I’ve always been told that Jesse really likes it in Edmonton as it reminds him of his home in Oulu, Finland. He likes the people in Edmonton, he likes walking around the city and playing shinny with the kids on the outdoor rinks there… On the other hand, I have also heard that he’s had trouble assimilating in that dressing room and the guys at the top of that power pyramid are mostly responsible for that. You can come to your own conclusions as to who you think that might be.

As for the players that he has become friends with, they’ve been the outsiders of the team. Matt Benning, Milan Lucic, Drake Caggiula, Ryan Strome, and Ty Rattie were all members of the Oilers that took him in. Not to mention Mikko Koskinen.

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

I don’t reckon any of those players will be on the Oilers next season, by the way, leaving Puljujarvi with even fewer friends in the room.

**Just an aside, Rishaug had quite the brainfart on the Jason Gregor Show yesterday when he said (I’m paraphrasing) that he thought Mikko Koskinen’s “poor season” was a result of having to babysit Puljujarvi… Yikes…**

So here is the transcription of what Rishaug said on Nielson’s show this morning,

What can we read into the fact that there is a new coach and a new manager and there’s STILL the idea from the agent is that it’s better if he moves on. Right? That tells you there’s problems in the room. That it’s not a comfortable situation for him and that it goes just beyond opportunity on the ice and the way the organization has handled the past three years. That tells you there are issues and I’m not saying that anybody in the Oiler room has caused problems, I’m not saying I know this to be true, I’m saying it’s reasonable to assume that by them STILL wanting out even with a new coach coming in and with a new manager and the team is desperate for skilled wingers and probably one of the best options for a skilled winger to get opportunity in the league right now, he still wants out? It’s reasonable to assume there’s issues happening in the room. That his acclimation to the locker room, his ability to gel and bond with this group of teammates, the way things have played out. There has to be more to it based on the fact that he still wants out at this point. I’m not blaming anybody in the room, I’m just saying it’s a natural deduction.

Listen to the segment here.

The Rishaug/Puljujarvi part starts around the 17:50 mark and I just also want to point out that Rishaug is in favor of keeping Jesse on the team and see what he can do under the new coaching/management.

My thoughts are that, if this locker room drama is true (and I believe it to be), maybe everybody in the room should be sat down and told to cut out the middle school bullshit and reminded of what that locker room was like before Connor arrived (and for his rookie season). Plenty of ex-Oilers have spoken to it. If they don’t get over themselves and start to appreciate what they have in that locker room, the playoff-less seasons will continue.

I reckon if Holland can bring in some good strong character guys who can also put the puck in the net, that’ll break up the cliques. Maybe bring in a Finn or two if they plan on keeping Pulju to help him out a bit. We know Holland likes his vets, so you have to wonder how a Joonas Donskoi or Rasmus Ristolainen would help out?

And for Jesse, maybe his agent has to sit him down and tell him to grow up a bit. We don’t always work with the people we like and not everyone is going to be nice to us all of the time. He’s got to simply go out, put a brave face on, and do what he does best and not worry about how others see him or even treat him, because if he doesn’t, he’ll be back in Finland before he knows it and the NHL will be a distant memory.

Egos…

Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Edmonton Oilers: Reasons to Love, Hate, and Be Cautious About Ken Holland

It’s going to be a momentous day in Oilers history when they finally get around to publicly announcing the hiring of Ken Holland as the Oilers next general manager, but you’d never know it if you hopped on the socials. The vocal minority is hard at work shaping the opinion of fence sitting Oilers fans everywhere. How do I know this? Check out whose backs got up in hurry after this tweet from Gord Miller,

Nearly 2000 likes and over 300 retweets but look at all the people talking abou it… Says enough to me. If you’re brave, click on the tweet and read the replies.

I’ll touch on this briefly and then move on.

There is a reason that players ask for more money (and get it) when negotiating with the Oilers. Be they of Edmonton property or simply free agents, the “tax” that this team pays to bring in other players is real and it has nothing to do with how small of a market it is or how cold it gets during the winters and don’t blame it on management either. The “tax” has been around since before they were running the show… I’ll leave it at that.

I know I named this post “Reasons to Love, Hate, and Be Cautious about Ken Holland” but there’ll be no hate in this post. It’s not a term I like to use in my vernacular. So instead I’ve replaced it with sarcasm as you’ll soon read.

A Few Reasons Why Ken Holland is the Right Choice
  • The book on Holland around the league is that he is a team player. His communication skills are top-notch. He doesn’t micromanage either. Something he probably learned from Jim Devellano who learned it from Bill Torrey. Both Stanley Cup-winning GMs for what it’s worth.
  • He is known to be a VERY good problem solver and a tremendous manager of people. Peter Chiarelli probably could’ve used some time in his presence and learned a thing or two.
  • His top character traits being that he’s devoid of ego, a very humble gentleman, and he brings a burning passion for the game of hockey to the office, day-in, and day-out. This is a GM that won’t be afraid to be seen at hockey games across North America and Europe.
  • His resume is as good as you’re going to find. Full stop. This is a job that requires a steady hand and a shite ton of wisdom, not a rookie GM that has yet to experience the speed bumps that accompany doing the job for the first time.
  • In hiring Holland you not only get the best general manager in the game for the last 30 years, but you also get one of the elite mentors who himself has learned from some of the best minds in the game (Scotty Bowman, Jim Devellano (who learned from Bill Torrey), and Bryan Murray). So if the Oilers have an executive that they’d like to have groomed to be the general manager of the team someday, now they’ve got the best teacher to do said mentoring.
  • This dovetails nicely into the next chapter entitled, “How to Change Your Team’s Culture”
  • When’s the last time Holland made a terrible hockey trade? I’ll hang up and listen.
  • This is a man who not only slashed a $77M payroll in half to become salary cap compliant but also managed to stay on top of the league standings!
  • He won multiple Stanley Cups in two different eras!
But Ken Holland is the New Peter Chiarelli!

This is the low-hanging fruit that all the galaxy brained Oilers “supporters” are grabbing onto this weekend and it just goes to show you how deep their intelligence really goes.

  • Once where small sample sizes were frowned upon, now a three year run out of the playoffs is enough to tarnish a run of 25 consecutive years of playoff appearances. Maybe their thinking is that the run would never end.
  • Building and running those great teams had nothing to do with Ken Holland, he was just the lucky recipient of having good players on his team like any good team’s GM is only so lucky to have good players.
  • “He walked into an already stacked team when he was named GM of the Red Wings in ’97.” As if he wasn’t part of the scouting department who drafted most of the players that were part of his first NHL championship.
  • “He’s terrible at cap management!” He didn’t leave Yzerman around $10M in cap room to play with going into next season or anything. Then once Zetterberg, Franzen, and any other player with a mystery illness is put on LTIR, they’ll have a massive chunk of cash available to use… So terrible.
  • “He’s too old and out of touch.” Meanwhile Jim Rutherford is over there in Pittsburgh shining the rings he won with the Penguins after so many detractors said the same thing about him. Say, how is Don Waddell doing in Carolina?
  • “His director of amateur scouting, Tyler Wright, doesn’t really have a good record.” Yeah, I’m sure Columbus is hating the fact that they’ve got Boone Jenner, Alexander Wennberg, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Ryan Murray, and Josh Anderson playing for them. Whereas Detroit is probably really sad about Anthony Manta, Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Zadina, Filip Hronek, Dennis Chowolski, Joe Veleno, Jared McIsaac, etc. in their organization. Terrible drafting by Tyler Wright… Would HATE to have someone like that contributing to the Oilers.
  • “He doesn’t believe in using analytics!” There’s a quote going around from 2014 that has Holland saying he uses gut-analytics and this is something the Anti-Holland crowd is attempting to use as a leg to stand on. They fail to realize that in 2015 the Red Wings hired a fella by the name of Bryan Campbell to head their analytics dept.”Not only will Campbell be taking care of statistics, he will handle salary efficiency, trends, contract evaluations, scouting and CBA related issues. Seems like they got themselves a true all-in-one Hockey Administration guy.” (source)

    Will this brain be joining the revolution in Edmonton?

The folks leading the #FireHolland brigade are simply the OBC of Oilers Twitter. People with massive egos who think they’re smarter than everyone else. (I borrowed that from my Mo Jaber)

They’re all pissy because Bob Nicholson went about and performed this extensive search (something they wanted him to do), interviewed all these guys that they really loved and hoped he would hire, and then out of nowhere got his buddy to come and do the job. Grrrr. How frustrating!

Mark Hunter was touted as the man leading the race for the position but was he really ever? And if he was, what’s his record with signing free agents and making trades? His draft record wasn’t anything to write home about.

The same questions could be asked of Keith Gretzky. What trades does he have on his resume that could be used to make a judgment on? What about his work with contracts? His draft record is infinitely better than that of Hunter’s.

And then there’s Sean Burke. I don’t know anything about this guy apart from he’s spent a lot of time in the west scouting for the Montreal Canadiens. What’s his resume look like past that?

As I said before, this is a job that needs experience, confidence, passion, wisdom, and patience. There’s no room for mistakes this time around and so if the only complaint you have about the Oilers hiring Ken Holland is that he’s had a few rough years with the cap, that sounds like you were determined not to like the hire from the get-go.

The fact of the matter is, the best man for the job made himself available after the 2nd best man took himself out of the running. I respect the fact that Darryl Katz is willing to open up his wallet and hire the best, even if it means his buddies will be working elsewhere in 2019/20…

Lowetide likes to say that after a while you develop a history and Mr. Holland has developed a history of winning. What better person to seek and root out all the problems in Edmonton?

It’s Not All Sunshine and Lollipops

There’s a lot of work to be done with the Oilers roster. These days Holland hasn’t made a lot of player for player trades, just a lot of players for draft picks. How is he planning to turn over his playing personnel?

One fact that does remain is the Red Wings haven’t made it out of the 1st round of the playoffs in 6 years. The last time they did was in 2012/13 where they bowed out to the Chicago Blackhawks in seven games. Can he reverse this trend in Edmonton?

I’ve haven’t been a fan of Jimmy Howard really and Holland, it seems, never really wanted to move away from him. He was loyal to Howard, almost to a fault. The one thing he has almost always had was a decent backup. Manny Legace, Ty Conklin, Chris Osgood, Norm Maracle, and more recently Jonathan Bernier for example.

I’m not sure he made the right choice in hiring Jeff Blashill as head coach. I’m sure there was a host of other really good candidates but Todd Nelson was right there running their AHL team. This will be of great concern to me as I’m very much in favor of the team re-visiting Nelson as head coach.

In Conclusion

If it’s not obvious, I’m stoked for this hiring. I’m not scared of Ken Holland’s recent history, I see it as a necessary evil. After 25 years of winning, there had to be a comedown at some point.

I will support this GM as I did the last one and I will attempt to understand his future moves. Just as I did with Chiarelli, I’ll let you know if I like the move or not, even if that does involve the team trading Jesse Puljujarvi or Adam Larsson. I’m here to support the club in good times and bad, as I feel that is what a good supporter does.

This team is not far off from being a playoff contender again. With a little luck (aka health) and this hiring of a man who will rise above the local politics, I can see Edmonton being back in the race as early as next season.

Now we’ve got the amateur/pro scout meetings this week and then I assume Keith Gretzky will be running the draft and after that, it’s go time!

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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, Trades

Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Friedman/Rishaug Comment on Oilers Trade Options

Yesterday was a busy day for Edmonton Oilers rumors. Between Elliotte Friedman and Ryan Rishaug, Oilers Twitter was en Fuego with proposals! Couple that with a 7-2 shellacking of the Buffalo Sabres and it was an emotionally confusing time.

I got a message from two of my sources last night with regards to some potential moves the Oilers are looking at as well. Those will follow the Friedman and Rishaug segments.

We’ll try to make this a brief post to save you some time.

**Preface: Use your own judgment here. I’m only a guy who happens to know some people within, or very close to, a professional hockey organization. I’m not an insider per se, but I hear things and I’ve been given permission to pass them on to you. All of this could come true or none of it could. It’s more likely the latter because things change all of the time. My advice, treat this like water cooler banter and don’t take it too seriously. It’s all entertainment at the end of the day anyhow, right?**

Let’s start with Elliotte Friedman. He was on the NHL network and was asked about what’s going on with the Oilers, he had this to say,

I think a lot of these are business-driven decisions. The Oilers ticket season renewals are going out soon. They’re in the third year of the new arena and a number of their suites are three-year leases, so they’re up again and when you have decisions like this that you need to make about selling tickets, about selling suites, the idea of stepping back and missing the playoffs, I don’t think ownership is that interested in.

So I think they are looking for more scoring. They let it be known that Ryan Spooner is available. I think people know that Puljujarvi could be available. There was a report today that they’ve made their first round draft pick available and one of their goalies, Talbot or Koskinen available.

That says to me that that’s a team that is desperate to make the playoffs this year and they’re going to go out and  see if they can find someone to play with McDavid. 

Some reports on Twitter came up not long after this aired that said Friedman was saying Puljujarvi IS available. In that interview, he only said he “could” be available. This dovetails with what he said in the Jan. 2nd edition of 31 Thoughts when he wrote: “Jesse Puljujarvi’s future is uncertain”

What this says to me is that Puljujarvi’s name is coming up in talks and the Oilers are listening but there’s no urgency to move him per se.

Every team listens to offers on every player they have. It’s that simple and the reason for that is you never know when a GM is going to ring you up and offer you Taylor Hall, right?

I think you know my stance on Pulju, you don’t deal a 20-year-old who hasn’t quite panned out after you’ve screwed up his development path. You double down and do your best to put that player on the path to success and do what you can. 20-years-old is far too young to give up on a player in my opinion. Besides, he’s up for contract renewal this summer and he’s a good candidate for a value deal as he’s just about to turn the corner as a full-time NHLer.

If the Oilers deal him now, they’ll regret it. Just like they did with all the other kids they pilfered off. We’re not talking about Nail Yakupov here. We’re talking about a young man who spends extra time after practise to work on his game and has done nothing but listen to the instructions of his coach(es) since joining as a fresh 18-year-old.

Chiarelli has to stand firm here and throw his support behind Jesse.

That tweet had Oilers twitter running around with its head cut off. I don’t know why though. The assumed players (Talbot and Puljujarvi) have been in the rumor mill for over a year.

Rishaug also had this to say on Jason Gregor’s show yesterday afternoon,

I think they’re trying really hard and they’re looking for something that makes sense but when you’re talking about a first round pick, you’re talking about Jesse Puljujarvi, well you have to bring players back that you can control. You can’t do that for rentals possibly.

So those are hard deals to find and then you’ve got the money issue that all those players come with probably pretty good price tags.

So it’s not easy to do, if it was, they’d have done it already. And on top of it all, you’ve got a general manager who has misfired pretty badly recently. It’ll be interesting IF or WHAT he can pull off here but I know they are definitely trying and scouring all corners right now. 

Leave it to Rishaug to name Puljujarvi but not Talbot or Koskinen.

Moving on, the messages I got from my sources were thus,

Oilers are in talks to get Ho-Sang from the Isles… Sounds like it might be Pulju going the other way. I hope not. I like Yamo and Pulju but I think one of them goes. 

Chiarelli won’t go for Simmonds. Price is too high.

The Oilers need a winger for Connor and Ho-Sang isn’t that guy.

That was from Source A.

God forbid Chiarelli deal Jesse Puljujarvi to the Islanders straight across for Josh Ho-Sang. I will hop on board the #FireChiarelli bandwagon so fast it’ll feel like I was there the whole time.

Now if it’s Yamamoto on the other hand, I would be okay with that.

More realistically, the Oilers should just be sending over a prospect or one of their extra defensemen. Say, Matt Benning, Brandon Manning, or Kevin Gravel. Ryan Spooner would probably be most ideal.

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Ho-Sang has 24 points in 27 games for the Islanders farm team in Bridgeport. Amazingly, only two of those 24 points are goals. I’m not sure I’ve seen that before.

He’s far too good for the AHL but what I’m worried about is another Ryan Spooner debacle. I simply don’t see Ho-Sang as the kind of player Ken Hitchcock is going to play a lot and two points in ten games playing good minutes for the Islanders doesn’t illicit optimism.

On the other hand, this is how the Islanders have controlled the shot share when Ho-Sang has been on the ice for them this season,

He only had the one goal and one assist in 10 games, but the Islanders had 60 percent of the shots on goal with Ho-Sang on the ice, along with 53.7 percent of the scoring chances and 57.6 percent of the high-danger chances, as measured by Natural Stat Trick. (source)

That is from The Athletic, if you need a subscription, click HERE.

What you can’t take away from the Islanders troubled winger is his high skill level. He’s very good with the puck but coaches like Ken Hitchcock, Barry Trotz, and the likes, can’t accept his effort on the other side of the puck.

But you have to ask yourself, is this the kind of trade that is going to get the Oilers over the hump and clear their path to the playoffs?

Source B had this to say,

I know Cam has been discussed but I have no direct knowledge of the team offering or being interested in trading Puljujarvi. 

My feeling is that Mikko Koskinen is going to get four or five starts here before the 10-day break and that will determine if the Oilers keep him or Cam Talbot leading up to the trade deadline.

The Oilers can go a couple of different routes leading up to the trade deadline at the end of February here.

  • Option #1: Deal away large contracts with picks and prospects and set themselves up for a clean slate going into the next season.
  • Option #2: Deal away large contracts with picks and prospects and set themselves up for a good run at the playoffs.

The first option obviously means that Chiarelli would at some point be relieved of his duties as GM of the team. The second option would be the ultimate gamble but the payoff could be the largest.

I’m betting that Darryl Katz is tired of being the laughing stock of the NHL and he’d prefer to go with option #2 but man is that a waste if it fails. Not only that but the league, the media, and the fans of every team (including your own) continue to laugh heartily at the joke that is the Edmonton Oilers.

There is an option #3 and that is to leave things as they are and ride this roster to whatever place in the standings that may come. If the recent uptick in secondary scoring continues to climb, there’s a real chance that no trades would need to be made.

What do you think? Which option would you take? Let us know in the comments below!

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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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