Oilers at risk of losing top-5 pick due to a combined lack of opportunity and poor deployment; Another Leafs reclamation project?
Owners of a 15-12-0 record through their first 27 games, the Edmonton Oilers have not had a 2022-23 season to celebrate so far and the same could also be said for the Oilers' 1st round pick, 4th overall in 2016, Jesse Puljujarvi.
The 24-year-old appeared to be finally coming out of his shell and showing flashes of skill that are more befitting a budding, young NHL star last season, scoring 14 goals and adding 22 assists for a total of 36 points in 65 games, but after 27 games with those same Oilers this season, Puljujarvi has managed just 1 goal and 5 assists for a total of 6 points on the year.
Everyone's frustrated here. The Oilers would like a return on their investment in Puljujarvi in the form of an effective player, after using a top-5 draft pick on him. The Oilers fans simply want Puljujarvi to live up to even a sliver of his draft day potential and Puljujarvi himself just can't seem to get the puck across the goal line for one reason or another. Maybe it's a chemistry thing, maybe it's a deployment thing, but whatever the cause, there seems to be no easy solution.
During a recent interview with YLE's Tommi Seppälä, a Finnish reporter, Puljujarvi appears to have tipped his hand as to what might come next for him when his current deal expires in July - and unfortunately, it may not involve the Oilers or the NHL.
-Puljujarvi on his frustrating 2022-23 season so far
The Finnish winger has played for long stints with the uncontested best player in the world in Connor McDavid in Edmonton, but even riding shotgun to the best player in the world brings a unique set of challenges. Puljujarvi's next comments to Seppälä really give some good insight as to where his head is at right now. His confidence is completely shot. The Oilers really don't seem to be doing much to remedy that and it may end up costing them a pretty good player as a result.
"It's hard to tell why I'm not scoring. I've been thinking about it a lot. I scored earlier and I think now I'm older, more experienced and a better player. Yet I'm not scoring.
"If you play with Connor, you have to score. Maybe I just don't have it."
-Puljujarvi on the challenges of playing with a player like McDavid
Honestly, Puljujarvi has shown himself capable of being an effective player in the NHL. He may not have flowered out the way he was projected to, but I'd imagine that his deployment and his assignment have a lot to do with why he's struggling right now. Puljujarvi is not a crash and bang player. He's not a grunt. He's a skilled winger who still has a pretty decent ceiling.
We all saw what happened when Valeri Nichushkin, who was once a top prospect in the Dallas Stars' organization, wound up in Colorado and was cast in the right role and given ample opportunity to succeed. He succeeded. If the Oilers want to avoid having Puljujarvi land somewhere else and become the next Nichushkin, they had better get back to the drawing board and carve out a role for this kid that is more befitting a player with his skill set.
Conversely, if the Oilers do want to let him go for cheap, he'd make an excellent reclamation project for a more forward-thinking organization like the Leafs.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 8 | 213 ANSWERS Oilers at risk of losing top-5 pick due to a combined lack of opportunity and poor deployment; Another Leafs reclamation project? Should the Leafs go after Oilers winger Jesse Puljujarvi? | ||
| Yes | 57 | 26.8 % |
| No | 156 | 73.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
