LD Jesse Pulkkinen - JYP, Liiga (2023 undrafted)

[Steve Kournianos]

The last two posts in this thread are hard to square. @Steve Kournianos

I do want to preface this by saying I see his skill and confidence as major selling points. But today he was shit defensively. Team lost a big game and he was a big reason why, which has happened in other levels. I don’t stat watch so the numbers mean little after seeing that abomination. I have Leijonat TV and take 3-4 hours to watch a game because I need to confirm why things happened. He was terrible in his own end. Only excuse is he might be exhausted from a hefty slate but he was so bad in multiple areas and made lazy, poor, costly and definitely bench-worthy decisions. I’ll watch his next game to see if he rebounds but in Game 2 I called it like I saw it. On offense he was dangerous and even had a partial breakaway but 7-2 is 7-2

 

[Erikfromfin]

His 2 goals from Wild card round game 3. First one was sweet backhander coast to coast

 

[19Simon19]

Here's my Scouting Report on Jesse Pulkkinen

 

[QJL]

I have Pulkkinen in my top 5. He will be an elite player in NHL. Leaving this post here before draft day for you all to revisit in 5 years. Thank you for your time.

 

[majormajor]

I have Pulkkinen in my top 5. He will be an elite player in NHL. Leaving this post here before draft day for you all to revisit in 5 years. Thank you for your time.

I won't be surprised with Pulkkinen.

 

[jaa]

I have Pulkkinen in my top 5. He will be an elite player in NHL. Leaving this post here before draft day for you all to revisit in 5 years. Thank you for your time.

I think he doesn't have the IQ to be more than bottom 6 D in NHL. He has skills and guts obviously, but his play in the wjc and liiga just show that he is lacking in the IQ/awareness department.

 

[illone84]

I hope he gets drafted by Carolina in the late second round.


*OT question about Jesse Pulkkinen. I noticed his bday is on December 27, 2004. Does this mean he could play for Finland U20 in Ottawa at the end of the year, given it commences on boxing day?

 

[FinPanda]

I hope he gets drafted by Carolina in the late second round.


*OT question about Jesse Pulkkinen. I noticed his bday is on December 27, 2004. Does this mean he could play for Finland U20 in Ottawa at the end of the year, given it commences on boxing day?

Only place where birthday matters is draft, international tournament are by age group so no. 2004 born tournament was 2024 so he is too old.

 

[QJL]

I think he doesn't have the IQ to be more than bottom 6 D in NHL. He has skills and guts obviously, but his play in the wjc and liiga just show that he is lacking in the IQ/awareness department.

If you read up on Pulkkinen, he is admits he didn't take hockey seriously enough until prior to this season. He wasn't surprised he didn't get picked last year.

He is lacking experience and maturity, not necessarily IQ/awareness. If he puts the work in for a few years and focuses on learning the defensive side of the game, he's going to be a monster.

 

[Albatros]

I doubt anyone wants to rush him, let him marinate in the AHL until his defensive game is good enough. He has a better chance of making it than most.

 

[Hollel]

If you read up on Pulkkinen, he is admits he didn't take hockey seriously enough until prior to this season. He wasn't surprised he didn't get picked last year.

He is lacking experience and maturity, not necessarily IQ/awareness. If he puts the work in for a few years and focuses on learning the defensive side of the game, he's going to be a monster.

I do get it, and it's a nice story. But this seems to get tossed around as some kind of positive more often than not whereas I view it as adding to his overall risk. It takes sooo much detail and reliance on pro habits to be a true NHL defenseman. He still gets lost in games far too often, and has so much work to do with managing the puck effectively to be taking advantage of his offensive gifts. If he's only just focusing on this stuff for the last year, how much longer will it take to get everything in place? On top of this, I worry that his physical tools have made him look even more impressive playing in a pro league like Liiga, it's just not very physical and slower paced. There's still a ton of upside in his game, and I don't think as you said that being top 5 player from the draft is impossible. I just don't see that, or even being a true career NHL'er as any kind of safe bet right now. I think a career not unlike Philippe Myers is an even likelier outcome. But he still rocks and I'd be happy with my team taking the chance around 30OA or so.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I don’t like this draft that much. I think the talent drops off after around 10, and the players from 10 on are varying degrees of risks. I don’t think the players have that much upside in the 20’s. I wont list overagers, but I’d have no problem using a pick in the 20’s on this guy. You could get a top 4 defenseman, and I agree with some of the above posts that there’s a chance for first pair.

 

[majormajor]

I think he doesn't have the IQ to be more than bottom 6 D in NHL. He has skills and guts obviously, but his play in the wjc and liiga just show that he is lacking in the IQ/awareness department.

I do get it, and it's a nice story. But this seems to get tossed around as some kind of positive more often than not whereas I view it as adding to his overall risk. It takes sooo much detail and reliance on pro habits to be a true NHL defenseman. He still gets lost in games far too often, and has so much work to do with managing the puck effectively to be taking advantage of his offensive gifts. If he's only just focusing on this stuff for the last year, how much longer will it take to get everything in place? On top of this, I worry that his physical tools have made him look even more impressive playing in a pro league like Liiga, it's just not very physical and slower paced. There's still a ton of upside in his game, and I don't think as you said that being top 5 player from the draft is impossible. I just don't see that, or even being a true career NHL'er as any kind of safe bet right now. I think a career not unlike Philippe Myers is an even likelier outcome. But he still rocks and I'd be happy with my team taking the chance around 30OA or so.

I think most of his mistakes are relatively easy to clean up, like "don't dangle two guys in front of your own net".

His recent commitment to being a pro and late development obscure whether he can learn finer details beyond that, but it doesn't tell me that he can or can't do it. There is a general tendency to believe that D can learn defense later, and I don't know why we wouldn't extend that benefit of the doubt to Pulkkinen. Certainly Yakemchuk and Parekh need that grace. Levshunov has many equally baffling moments, and contrary to myth he's actually been a highly developed prospect with high end tools for several years, before he came to North America.

Regarding how the tools look in Liiga, I've seen so many good small area plays and great breakout passes from Pulkkinen that I'm confident he'll look good in the North American style where there is less space. Pulkkinen's confidence under pressure is a big plus, he just needs to know when to take the low risk option.

 

[UpsideHockey]

Upside's direct link for our prospect profile on the Incredible Pulkkinen:

Jesse Pulkkinen - UPSIDE Hockey 2024 NHL Draft Prospect Profile​

bit.ly/JessePulkkinen