Puljujarvi for 10th Overall?

[hockeypoolfanatic]

Thanks for the help guys. Much appreciated. Pulled the trigger.

[jshed2]

I prefer Puljujarvi to Lundell/Jarvis/Quinn by a hair, but should someone reach and leave one of the 7 forwards/Askarov/Dysdale I keep the pick. Though from my drafts so far its 50/50 whether someone reaches. I'd wait to see if that happens. If the deal gets pulled back at that point I wouldn't have any lost sleep over picking one of the next trio of forwards then.

[metaldude26]

Arrived too late, would not have done this. Puljujarvi probably isn't a top 6 guy. I normally prefer to get my production now. But I'm not sure what you are getting out of Puljujarvi here, but he's almost certainly not getting consistent top-6 or PP minutes. I'd have drafted Jarvis and bet on the upside. Pulju's upside has eroded, now we're just trying to hope he can be a middle sixer.

[hockeypoolfanatic]

Arrived too late, would not have done this. Puljujarvi probably isn't a top 6 guy. I normally prefer to get my production now. But I'm not sure what you are getting out of Puljujarvi here, but he's almost certainly not getting consistent top-6 or PP minutes. I'd have drafted Jarvis and bet on the upside. Pulju's upside has eroded, now we're just trying to hope he can be a middle sixer.

Can you give some more insight as to why you don't think he is a top-6 winger and why his upside has eroded? Don't you think if they're going to bring him back they're going to give him a shot at least. Looking at his numbers when he did play with McDavid they were actually better than Draisatl's, although obviously a small sample size. Guys like Jarvis are likely at least 3-4 years from helping me. Have you seen any footage of Jesse's recent play overseas? To me it looks like he's gotten his game back on track and I just don't see a scenario where EDM doesn't give him a long(ish) leash to succeed. Who else is there at RW besides Yamamoto?

[Belexus75]

Arrived too late, would not have done this. Puljujarvi probably isn't a top 6 guy. I normally prefer to get my production now. But I'm not sure what you are getting out of Puljujarvi here, but he's almost certainly not getting consistent top-6 or PP minutes. I'd have drafted Jarvis and bet on the upside. Pulju's upside has eroded, now we're just trying to hope he can be a middle sixer.

well, is he going to get consistent play along side McDavid or Leon? i guess we dont know but i think its up to him. I can tell you with some confidence that he will start there as he probably negotiated that before signing. I think he will get a chance, my personal opinion is that he will keep it too. Dude is shooting at insane rate and obviously it wont be the same in NHL but if its at 50% its still elite. i lived the hype once and got burned..but im willing to live it again, i got good feeling about this one. i think he pushes for 70 points in full 82 game season.

[Skeeps]

The pizza eating Poolparty is my jam!!!!

[tweetdrivr]

Current wingers on Oiler's roster aside from Pujlujarvi...
Chiasson
Neal
Kassian
Archibald
Khaira
Haas
Nygard
Yamanoto
Ennis (also a C)

Ready to make the jump...Qunie maybe?

So I like Puljujarvi's chances of lading squarely in the top 6

[metaldude26]

Can you give some more insight as to why you don't think he is a top-6 winger and why his upside has eroded? Don't you think if they're going to bring him back they're going to give him a shot at least. Looking at his numbers when he did play with McDavid they were actually better than Draisatl's, although obviously a small sample size. Guys like Jarvis are likely at least 3-4 years from helping me. Have you seen any footage of Jesse's recent play overseas? To me it looks like he's gotten his game back on track and I just don't see a scenario where EDM doesn't give him a long(ish) leash to succeed. Who else is there at RW besides Yamamoto?

His upside eroded the second he came over and it became clear that the NHL game was too fast for him. That's fine. It's rare that a player is ready at such a young age, and the Oilers are complicit in their mishandling of the situation and eroding his development/confidence but ultimately, he takes his ball and he goes home and tries to rebuild his market. He was successful in that. But I'm going to need to see way enhanced processing speed before I'm buying top-6 upside. So much of what I saw from his go around in Europe was the stuff that won't work at the NHL level. He's scoring on these shots that NHL goalies will save, or he's getting chances on the rush that are only available because the Euro ice is bigger, otherwise he'd have to make a play through someone or be forced to dump it.

I see all the tools, but where is the small area game? The fast thinking? That's the stuff you need to be successful with McDavid or anyone really. Being fast enough is nice, but you don't have to be fast when McDavid is doing all the work of transitioning from offense to defense. He works better with smart guys who can work the cycle game once the zone is gained. Guys with a defensive conscience. Guys with anticipation and the ability to get lost in the coverage. Is that Puljujarvi? I'd love for him to get there.

And here's the thing, this can't be a "learn on the fly" situation. That was tried and it failed. He had some brief success scoring with McDavid, but everyone has that. McDavid literally turned Ty Rattie into an elite scorer for like two weeks. They can't have Puljujarvi on the top line putting up numbers and meanwhile the McDavid line is still getting outscored.

Puljujarvi will get minutes there. Everyone gets a shot. Maybe he'll take advantage. I see a bottom-six skillset. And I don't see the path to top unit PP time, so kiss high end upside goodbye. He's not a net-front guy, and they've got two of those. He's not filling in if one of McDavid, Drai or Nuge get hurt, because Yamamoto is waiting to grab that opportunity.

He just needs to stick on a third line that saws off their minutes dead even. Take advantage of odd-man rushes and get some opportunistic scoring. Dump and chase when it isn't there. Stick to the system and be reliable enough to be a nightly regular whom the coach trusts, and build some confidence.

Anyhow, there's a point where I think buying Puljujarvi stock is worthwhile. A top-10 pick in this class wasn't it. I think there were forwards available with a higher likelyhood of achieving that first-line scorer outcome you want.

[hockeypoolfanatic]

His upside eroded the second he came over and it became clear that the NHL game was too fast for him. That's fine. It's rare that a player is ready at such a young age, and the Oilers are complicit in their mishandling of the situation and eroding his development/confidence but ultimately, he takes his ball and he goes home and tries to rebuild his market. He was successful in that. But I'm going to need to see way enhanced processing speed before I'm buying top-6 upside. So much of what I saw from his go around in Europe was the stuff that won't work at the NHL level. He's scoring on these shots that NHL goalies will save, or he's getting chances on the rush that are only available because the Euro ice is bigger, otherwise he'd have to make a play through someone or be forced to dump it.

I see all the tools, but where is the small area game? The fast thinking? That's the stuff you need to be successful with McDavid or anyone really. Being fast enough is nice, but you don't have to be fast when McDavid is doing all the work of transitioning from offense to defense. He works better with smart guys who can work the cycle game once the zone is gained. Guys with a defensive conscience. Guys with anticipation and the ability to get lost in the coverage. Is that Puljujarvi? I'd love for him to get there.

And here's the thing, this can't be a "learn on the fly" situation. That was tried and it failed. He had some brief success scoring with McDavid, but everyone has that. McDavid literally turned Ty Rattie into an elite scorer for like two weeks. They can't have Puljujarvi on the top line putting up numbers and meanwhile the McDavid line is still getting outscored.

Puljujarvi will get minutes there. Everyone gets a shot. Maybe he'll take advantage. I see a bottom-six skillset. And I don't see the path to top unit PP time, so kiss high end upside goodbye. He's not a net-front guy, and they've got two of those. He's not filling in if one of McDavid, Drai or Nuge get hurt, because Yamamoto is waiting to grab that opportunity.

He just needs to stick on a third line that saws off their minutes dead even. Take advantage of odd-man rushes and get some opportunistic scoring. Dump and chase when it isn't there. Stick to the system and be reliable enough to be a nightly regular whom the coach trusts, and build some confidence.

Anyhow, there's a point where I think buying Puljujarvi stock is worthwhile. A top-10 pick in this class wasn't it. I think there were forwards available with a higher likelyhood of achieving that first-line scorer outcome you want.

Thank you for the in-depth response and insight. Much appreciated. Rep given. I had never thought of a number of the points you made which are all very valid. Top 8 pick, I don’t make the deal. But I’m willing to roll the dice on Jesse since at least I will be getting some kind of production out of him this season where any other guy would be 2-3 years minimum. I will be getting Byfield at 2 so at least I’ll be getting one of the studs from this class and time will tell whether this was a good bet or not.