Juolevi, Laine & Puljujärvi.

[AvatarAang]

The replies are so predictable, it's the weekly "never draft Finns, they are all busts" discussion number 2541. zzzzzzzzzzz... Some Finnish posters on this site tend to overrate Finnish prospects and can be annoying, but the narrative has shifted too far the other way now.

The sample size for a small country is small enough to have ebbs and flows with busts and good picks. Draft players, not nationalities.

(Go tell Florida, Colorado, Dallas and Carolina to not draft Finns. Just saying, some pretty good teams seem to have a lot of those bust country citizens. )

Dude everyone in this thread is discussing why some players from Finland appear to be injury prone.

You are the only person in this thread who mentioned the word bust (3 times) so I’m not sure why you are so upset.

 

[AnInjuredJasonZucker]

There was one Oilers training camp that Puljujarvi looked great but it never translated to the regular season. He looks great very briefly and then gets lost on the ice for the next 10-15 games and can't seem to get much done.

The language barrier and no consistancy in coaching didn't help.

 

[McShogun99]

I thought he was the safe pick of the D in that draft. The guy I wanted was Sergachev though. Sometimes wonder who we would have drafted if Puljujarvi was drafted by Columbus as expected.

I think it would have been Tkachuk. There was a lot of smoke from Oilers media about him leading up to the draft.

 

[behemolari]

I think its rather finnish prospects are either overhyped or undervalued

 

[Ianturnedbull]

I thought we went through this about Laine already. A knee in the recent preseason game was not his M.O. before he became a Hab.

He had some good play in WPG in his 1st season, and the spiraled.

He's been a reclamation project ever since he started with CBJ.

 

[DingDongCharlie]

I think it would have been Tkachuk. There was a lot of smoke from Oilers media about him leading up to the draft.

Yeah that would have been something. Imagine him on McDavid's wing.

There was also the rumours Montreal wanted PLD and we potentially could have made a much worse trade for PK Subban. Wouldn't have done the Hall for Larsson trade. Lot of dominos fell when Puljujarvi dropped that spot. Chiarelli stated something along the lines of drafting Puljujarvi made doing the Hall trade easier.

 

[Leafidelity]

JP's hips have been an issue sure but it's more his lack of hockey sense that has held him back. Laine couldn't have done anything to avoid being kneehunted by a goon. Juolevi is really the only one of those three who qualifies.

Patrick Laine hasn't played a full NHL season since 2019, and only twice since 2016.

At some point, its on him for not protecting himself.

 

[All Mod Cons]

All 3 of them would smash Matthews in a poll.

 

[VeteranPresence]

Patrick Laine hasn't played a full NHL season since 2019, and only twice since 2016.

At some point, its on him for not protecting himself.

So if somebody blatantly knees Matthews and puts him out for 3+ months, that's on him? After all, he has only played a full season once in his career.

 

[Leafidelity]

So if somebody blatantly knees Matthews and puts him out for 3+ months, that's on him? After all, he has only played a full season once in his career.

You can try to gaslight all you want, but nothing about Pare hitting Laine was blatant. Laine made a dumb decision trying to split two defenders (while another was still behind them?) and got caught going through.

Also, Matthews has played an entire season more games than Laine since they were drafted

 

[VeteranPresence]

You can try to gaslight all you want, but nothing about Pare hitting Laine was blatant. Laine made a dumb decision trying to split two defenders (while another was still behind them?) and got caught going through.

Also, Matthews has played an entire season more games than Laine since they were drafted

Soooo no, the same standard does not apply. Just wanted to make sure.

 

[SEALBound]

Puljujarvi seems to be playing his way on to the NHL roster for the Penguins. He's looked quite decent in the pre-season. Hopefully he can keep it up. I'd really like it if he was able to rebound a bit.

 

[CraigBillington]

Laine is injured all the time and spends his time w/ PlayStation.
Pulju is a crackpot.
Juolevi was overhyped 100x by the Finnish dick riders.

When has Finland developed real talent? Like never? Just some ok grinders but not real stars.

Never never? I think you might need to look into that

 

[oba]

Shhhh ...... Barky ..... Shhhh ....