Future of Jesse Puljujärvi
- Thread starter gritdash60
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TheGreenTBer
the only language I speak is FAILURE
- Apr 30, 2021
- 9,944
- 12,173
Hip surgery on a rather marginal player can be a death sentence.
gritdash60
Registered User
Thank you!
Yeah finnish people dont do Russia these days, maybe Switzerland instead?
(ofc we got the traitor Teemu Pulkkinen who is the only finnish player in KHL atm, i hope he never comes back)
Bounces R Way
Registered User
Was never going to happen. Dumber than a sack of hammers.
I bet he gets another NHL deal, big toolsy high draft picks get more rope than most.
Connor McConnor
Registered User
- Nov 22, 2017
- 5,508
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Great history lesson for future draft evaluators to not overlook hockey IQ even if they guy has all the tools. Clearly Jarmo knew the guy was dumb as hell.
He had those back/knee injuries around the time he got drafted (can't remember if it pre or post), he never looked the same.
Bounces R Way
Registered User
I'm sure injuries contributed, especially the hips, but to be a star in this league you need to process the game at a higher speed and level than Puljujarvi has ever shown in the NHL.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
The hip surgery is a really significant turning point. Last season he was skating almost standing-up-straight because he couldn't even get into a proper hockey skating stance. It made him non-functional on the ice.
My guess is that the surgery goes fine but he never really recovers to the NHL level again. This is the kind of thing that can destroy even a star player's career, like Bure and his knee surgeries. It's hard to imagine coming off double hip surgeries as a struggling bottom-6 winger, and turning out to have an NHL future.
My guess is that the surgery goes fine but he never really recovers to the NHL level again. This is the kind of thing that can destroy even a star player's career, like Bure and his knee surgeries. It's hard to imagine coming off double hip surgeries as a struggling bottom-6 winger, and turning out to have an NHL future.
KevinRedkey
12/18/23 and beyond!
- Jan 22, 2010
- 10,428
- 5,661
No scouting report mentioned anything about him lacking hockey IQ before he was drafted though.
Sidney the Kidney
One last time
- Jun 29, 2009
- 56,512
- 48,534
I don't know. He never seemed to "wow" you with anything he did like you'd expect from a high end player. Didn't seem to have that one elite, high end skill to separate him. He just seemed to be "decent" at a lot of things.
I remember that Finnish line at the WJC with him, Laine and Aho and thinking that every time Finland played Laine and Aho looked dominant, but then you'd look at the boxscore and Puljujarvi somehow had a 4 point game even though I rarely remember him doing anything special out there.
That trio reminded me a bit of the London Knight line of Tkachuk/Dvorak/Marner where even though Dvorak put up huge totals, he didn't seem to have that "it" factor out there the other two did.
Two double hip surgeries would end the career of really good players too.
He was plenty gritty his first year back from his last round of surgeries. He drove play forward really well - the Oilers were rarely in their zone with Jesse on the forecheck. 6'5 hoss, and he was a problem around the net. It just didn't last as his body fell apart again.
biturbo19
Registered User
- Jul 13, 2010
- 27,039
- 12,188
I think his NHL runway has run out.
I originally thought he'd get one last reclamation project attempt from someone, but his useless play in Carolina kind of nixed that i think.
He's just not a good fit anywhere in the lineup. He's not agile or defensively responsible enough to be a good bottom-6 checker. He doesn't have any ability whatsoever to generate his own offense there either. But he's not nearly skilled enough and completely lacks the vision to be a Top-6 winger.
Combine that with his previous little pouting episode heading back to Europe because he didn't like his opportunity, and his struggles in actually embracing a bottom-6 grinder role...and i figure he probably just goes back home to Europe and doesn't return. Probably for the best for everybody involved tbh. He'll probably be a decent scorer in Finland or wherever he lands.
I caught flak for suggesting it and being really low on him in his draft year, but i think i summed him up at the time as a very, "head down, stick up" player. He's big and straight-line fast, but doesn't see the ice well enough and he doesn't change direction well. He doesn't see plays developing at either end of the ice and that translates to him not really using his stick well offensively or defensively. He's basically just out there skating around.
Waste of a lot of good tools, but you can't fix hockey sense.
I originally thought he'd get one last reclamation project attempt from someone, but his useless play in Carolina kind of nixed that i think.
He's just not a good fit anywhere in the lineup. He's not agile or defensively responsible enough to be a good bottom-6 checker. He doesn't have any ability whatsoever to generate his own offense there either. But he's not nearly skilled enough and completely lacks the vision to be a Top-6 winger.
Combine that with his previous little pouting episode heading back to Europe because he didn't like his opportunity, and his struggles in actually embracing a bottom-6 grinder role...and i figure he probably just goes back home to Europe and doesn't return. Probably for the best for everybody involved tbh. He'll probably be a decent scorer in Finland or wherever he lands.
I caught flak for suggesting it and being really low on him in his draft year, but i think i summed him up at the time as a very, "head down, stick up" player. He's big and straight-line fast, but doesn't see the ice well enough and he doesn't change direction well. He doesn't see plays developing at either end of the ice and that translates to him not really using his stick well offensively or defensively. He's basically just out there skating around.
Waste of a lot of good tools, but you can't fix hockey sense.
biturbo19
Registered User
- Jul 13, 2010
- 27,039
- 12,188
That dynamite Finnish team had a bunch of red herrings.
Juolevi was the other big one, who looked outstanding moving the puck up to that dominant line...but it turned out, his terrific first pass was actually the only skill he actually really had. Which...also got masked with the London Knights and that similarly dominant line.
It's kind of hilarious how it's the relatively unheralded nobody depth players or 3rd wheels like Aho from that team, or like Rantanen and Hintz that ended up being the actual superstars. Kapanen probably being the third best player from the team as well, though he was fairly highly regarded due to the obvious pedigree. Even the goaltenders kind of flipped in NHL terms, though that's less surprising given Veini's lack of size or technical refinement.
Just so many players who posted so many points and everyone was convinced were going to be quality NHLers, who amounted to absolutely nothing. What a weird, memorable but strange team.
I think his NHL runway has run out.
I originally thought he'd get one last reclamation project attempt from someone, but his useless play in Carolina kind of nixed that i think.
He's just not a good fit anywhere in the lineup. He's not agile or defensively responsible enough to be a good bottom-6 checker. He doesn't have any ability whatsoever to generate his own offense there either. But he's not nearly skilled enough and completely lacks the vision to be a Top-6 winger.
Combine that with his previous little pouting episode heading back to Europe because he didn't like his opportunity, and his struggles in actually embracing a bottom-6 grinder role...and i figure he probably just goes back home to Europe and doesn't return. Probably for the best for everybody involved tbh. He'll probably be a decent scorer in Finland or wherever he lands.
I caught flak for suggesting it and being really low on him in his draft year, but i think i summed him up at the time as a very, "head down, stick up" player. He's big and straight-line fast, but doesn't see the ice well enough and he doesn't change direction well. He doesn't see plays developing at either end of the ice and that translates to him not really using his stick well offensively or defensively. He's basically just out there skating around.
Waste of a lot of good tools, but you can't fix hockey sense.
From this post it would seem you were totally unaware of the hips problem. He'd be a terrific checking forward if not for the hips, that's the only reason his NHL career is likely over.
dirtydanglez
Registered User
- Oct 30, 2022
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Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
I hate the "I told you so" stuff, but it wasn't hidden before the draft and Jarmo was some genius. Some just ignored it.
OKR
Registered User
- Nov 18, 2015
- 3,591
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From this post it would seem you have never seen Puljujärvi play hockey, not even for a second. He wasn’t even close to a good NHL player with healthy hips, to think that’s the only reason he isn’t a ”terrific checking forward” is objectively false.
biturbo19
Registered User
- Jul 13, 2010
- 27,039
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I really don't think so.
Before his hip issues, he was still a deeply un-agile straight-line player who spent most of the game with his head down and didn't seem to understand how to use his stick effectively in lanes. His positional sense has also always been really poor. Those are basic faults for a good checking forward.
The hip stuff may have been the final nail in the coffin because it exacerbated his existing problems, but he had fundamental issues that made him a flawed player from the start. He played plenty of NHL games before he ran into these issues and just was not a good, effective player.
I'd have more time of day to contemplate whether the hip injury issues derailed a guy like Hunter Shinkaruk, who ran into them at probably the worst possible time. Just as he was also trying to transition to the Pro level as an already smaller/physically weak player. I can buy the idea that it absolutely killed the agility that he relied so heavily on as a player.
But Puljujarvi was never agile. His skating and hockey reads were always straightline. Hip problems may spell the end of it for him in the NHL...but his problems as an ineffective player trace well back before that.
That's not true, his first year back in Edmonton after his previous recovery he was a terror on the forecheck and drove fantastic possession results. You can go and check! He fit the role of the prototypical big bottom sixer that drives the net and keeps the puck out of your zone. Teams want that. Have a look at Oilers boards from back then, most of the fanbase thought he needed to be locked up on a long term extension!
Was pretty obvious when watching him play next to Aho, though.
