PULJUJARVI WANTS OUT
Oilers not ready to let go
If Jesse Puljujarvi wants out, it’ll be on Ken Holland’s timeline.
“Has he asked for a trade? I think he would prefer to be traded,” said the Edmonton Oilers’ general manager, who absolutely is not giving him away to get him out of his hair. He would be selling basement-low, just as he was in Detroit as GM with Andreas Athanasiou. Athanasious made noises of wanting a change of scenery in 2017, but Holland worked things out with the forward.
“He wanted a trade and I signed him to two more contracts,” Holland said.
In his heart of hearts Holland would like to see the 21-year-old Puljujarvi signed this summer, coming to camp in the fall and starting on the third line with a playmaking centre to get him the puck. Embrace being in the NHL first, then show coach Dave Tippett you deserve more. Will that happen? Maybe not. Puljujarvi’s agent, Markus Lehto, told Finnish countryman/writer Tommi Seppala: “It doesn’t make sense to go back to where we were last season. It’s not good for either side. Discussions about parting ways have been going on for weeks. Jesse needs a fresh start, nothing against the Oilers.”
Nothing against Edmonton? Well, then who?
The Oilers went to the 2016 draft feeling defenceman Mikhail Sergachev was their guy with their first pick, maybe even moving back from No. 4 to still get him. But when they found out Columbus at No. 3 wasn’t taking the Finn, they changed gears. With 37 points in 139 games, he’s even short of Nail Yakupov’s early Oiler days, but Holland is not making a deal just to make a deal where he’d get killed, taking a draft pick or just another failed first-round selection like, say, Dallas’s Valeri Nichushkin.
Holland is from the Glen Sather school. The former Oilers GM would tell a disgruntled player he wasn’t trading him until a month or so into the following season. If the player worked hard and produced, the price would go up.
There is no market for Puljujarvi right now.
He was fantastic as a world junior but he has 17 NHL goals. His hockey IQ has been questioned and also he hasn’t learned or wanted to use his big frame along the boards, holding people off like, say, Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen. He has to learn to be an NHL pro.
For sure, the Oilers are culpable in his stalled career. They probably should have told him to stay another year in Finland after the 2016 draft, playing against men, but in a more comfortable setting, rather than just giving him a spot in their lineup because he was the No. 4 pick. They messed up big time, but Puljujarvi has to look in the mirror. It’s 75-25 on the player to play better and get top-six work.
The St. Louis Blues did the right thing with Robert Thomas in 2017, drafting him in the first round and sending him back to junior. When he made the NHL club this season, he was on their third line. In the playoffs, with all his skill, he was digging into the corners, working the cycle, showing flashes with Tyler Bozak and Patrick Maroon.
Thomas is a top-six player in waiting. But not yet.
Maybe it’s the same with Puljujarvi.
“What you want to do as a player is go to the rink every day and know that your jersey is hanging up and you’ll play that night,” Holland said. “You’ll play and you’ll figure out a role and eventually what you want is to work yourself up the ladder and be more important. It’s a process. Just because you were drafted high doesn’t mean you’re handed anything.”
“But he is six-foot-four, he is 21 years old and fourth in his draft class. There’s lots of examples of players who have gone on at 22 or 23 to maybe not be star players, but useful players,” Holland said.
If Puljujarvi, rehabbing from double hip surgery, wants out, is there an obvious trade fit there? Obviously, Winnipeg and Carolina come to mind as possible destinations in trades because he played with Patrik Laine and Sebastian Aho in junior, but the ’Canes have little to give up at forward and the Jets might take Puljujarvi but only in a package.
Nobody’s coming to Holland Friday, either, and saying, “We’ll give you the ninth overall pick for Puljujarvi.” Ain’t gonna happen.
Would the Oilers be interested in nemesis/winger Corey Perry, just bought out by Anaheim, for say one year? Maybe, but only for cheap money in the US$1-million to US$1.5-million range. And they also have fellow RW Alex Chiasson to sign who, incidentally, is also represented by agent Pat Morris.
The Oilers definitely want to get faster and Perry, while a terrific player in his prime, is slowing down at 34. He had six goals in 31 games last season after returning from knee surgery. But for bargain money? Maybe.
Perry will get US$2.625 million next year as his buyout figure, then US$6.25 million, then US$2 million and US$2 million. This ’n that: The Oilers development camp will run from June 24-27 at the Downtown Community Rink … The Leafs’ Connor Brown still seems the most logical role-player add because they laid the groundwork last February. Brown could be a third-line $2-million winger. This would have to be dollars-in, dollars-out though with Matt Benning ($1.9 million), the underappreciated third-pairing D, perhaps moving ... The Sharks’ Joonas Donskoi (UFA) is also in play but had one goal in his last 46 games … Former Oilers assistant coach Manny Viveiros is in the running for an assistant’s job with Ottawa.