Contract Termination: [PIT] F Jesse Puljujarvi contract terminated by the Penguins

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

The Sullivan hate boner never ceases to amaze me. I will never forget page after page of him getting trashed because he misused imminent superstar Daniel Sprong too

 

[Kaptah]

Puljujarvi has had lots of chances and just isn't good enough. Plain and simple.

It's not for want of opportunity.

Sullivan didn't think Jesse was good enough defensively. I guess he did a lot of mistakes that didn't end up in net, since Jesse is -1 while Rust is -21, Malkin -19, Acciari -17, Bunting -16, Crosby -15, Rakell -14, Hayes -12, and Glass -10.

 

[Zbynek]

The Sullivan hate boner never ceases to amaze me. I will never forget page after page of him getting trashed because he misused imminent superstar Daniel Sprong too

The Sullivan hate boner has less to do with his utilization of 10 min TOI players like Sprong and Poolparty, and more to do with the fact he has 0 playoff wins this decade.

 

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

The Sullivan hate boner has less to do with his utilization of 10 min TOI players like Sprong and Poolparty, and more to do with the fact he has 0 playoff wins this decade.

I mean this with all courtesy to Penguins fans. His goalies couldn't stop a beach ball for most of it. Lately it's been terrible roster after terrible roster because the GMing and roster management the Penguins have had since their Cup wins has been probably the worst in the league.

 

[flyfysher]

Its amazing how a player can suck for nearly a decade wherever he went and people will still find a way to blame the coach or organization.

It wasn’t a decade but look how Nichuskin did on the Stars and later with the Avs. I’ll be the first to admit his path was atypical but it’s not always on the player

 

[McSuper]

Sullivan didn't ruin Puljujarvi, his hips getting destroyed ruined Puljujarvi.

He already cleared waivers once because no one wants him on their NHL team and now he's being terminated to go back to Europe.

Some of this was on Oilers management and some on Puljujarvi himself. Oilers should have got him a English tutor, Also JP should have dedicated himself to learning the language. He couldn't understand what the coaches were teaching him.

Lots of blame to go around but at the end of the day a player has to have the drive.

 

[34]

He has always been a bust.

 

[SEALBound]

I'm sad because I like having him in the organization, whether in the NHL or AHL, but I'm not going to pretend that he didn't get "his chance". When you're at that level with his skill sets and abilities, the window of opportunity is just smaller.

Him moving on doesn't mean he's a bad player. But when three NHL teams all basically give up on you, it's really tough to blame the teams. It's not like he's a PPG player getting the shaft because he looked at Sully's daughter the wrong way.

Jesse, go back to Finland and have a great rest of your career. You'll do great over there. Thanks for your contributions.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Some of this was on Oilers management and some on Puljujarvi himself. Oilers should have got him a English tutor, Also JP should have dedicated himself to learning the language. He couldn't understand what the coaches were teaching him.

Lots of blame to go around but at the end of the day a player has to have the drive.

Oilers should have sent someone to Finland? Or after hours to his house?

The notion that the org was responsible to pay someone to force him to do homework is just plain stupid.

It's also well known that the Fin crew spent ALOT of their extra time playing Fortnite.

There's a reason JP admitted to not working on English in his free time

Blaming the organization for his lack focus is ridiculous

It's also very naive to think this wasn't discussed with him several times. We know for a fact the org did a good job of keeping dialog and instructions with their players. They can't physically force players to read, workout and diet

It's like saying the Jets were to blame for not hiring someone to stay a Byfuglens house and force him to not go fishing or eat too much.

 

[MMC]

 

[SwedishFire]

Just saw this thread title... a little surprised. My impression was that Puljujarvi had been doing fairly well in Pittsburgh, but I see now it was just some early season numbers and then a big slow-down (maybe some clash with the coach as well?).

I'm an Edmonton fan, so I saw Pul's first few seasons in detail. My impression of him has always been that he has two really good qualities and two really bad ones:
GOOD
-- Size, strength, reach (though basically never hits anyone)
-- Positional play (advanced stats usually show that he's on the right side of the puck and generally knows where to be)
BAD
-- Offensive "hockey IQ" (there's just no getting around this when players lack it... in his case, he's positionally strong but offensively lost)
-- Complete and utter lack of finish (no pun intended)!

Two years ago, when McDavid scored 153 points, and three years ago as well, Puljujarvi got considerable time on his line. It was just sad. McDavid might have had 175 points in 2023 if Puljujarvi could fire a puck past a goalie and into the net. Lord knows how many times he was set up for Grade-A's and then missed the goal or fired a muffin...

Anyway, I think he will stay in the NHL if he really wants to. Don't know if he does, though.

Why keep a plyer in the league if he has ECHL hockey IQ. If he was 5 cm shorter, he would be put of the league 5 years ago.

 

[Tasteless Beaver]

...and so ends an era of Pulju NHL memes. Best of luck in Europe, Jesse.

 

[Mugzy97]

Looked so good in world juniors. I thought he’d have the best career out of him, aho, and Laine. Not even close.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Man what a bust

 

[chauron]

Oilers should have sent someone to Finland? Or after hours to his house?

The notion that the org was responsible to pay someone to force him to do homework is just plain stupid.

It's also well known that the Fin crew spent ALOT of their extra time playing Fortnite.

There's a reason JP admitted to not working on English in his free time

Blaming the organization for his lack focus is ridiculous

It's also very naive to think this wasn't discussed with him several times. We know for a fact the org did a good job of keeping dialog and instructions with their players. They can't physically force players to read, workout and diet

It's like saying the Jets were to blame for not hiring someone to stay a Byfuglens house and force him to not go fishing or eat too much.

Jesse should have come to NHL much later, like 5 seasons later than when he got there. Rushed and ruined.

 

[biturbo19]

I was a big JP defender... it's getting harder and harder.lol It's always the same thing

Nice guy
big body
hustles
good attitude

0 points in 10 games

I maintain if he had learned to PK and adjusted his game to a bottom 6 player that he'd still be a viable NHLer.

The thing about this is...it's a lot easier said than done for some players. It takes a certain level of hockey smarts and attention to detail to be good at all of this stuff. Puljujarvi never really showed an aptitude in either of those categories. There's a reason so many "Bottom-6 Plugs" end up being solid coaches. They work their asses off, and they learn to pay attention to every little detail to make the absolute most of what limited talent they have to give.

Whether that's an overall mentality with Puljujarvi that never registered, or just a critical lack of ability to think the game and see the ice on the move...he repeatedly showed to be the same player he always was, with no indication that he was developing any of that aspect to his game that would allow him to "adjust his game" to be effective in that sort of role. He's leaving the league looking like and older, more broken down version of the same player he was when he was a teenager in Finland. Trying to play a "superstar game" on instinct, without the superstar skillset or instincts.

 

[Zbynek]

I mean this with all courtesy to Penguins fans. His goalies couldn't stop a beach ball for most of it. Lately it's been terrible roster after terrible roster because the GMing and roster management the Penguins have had since their Cup wins has been probably the worst in the league.

Eh, no no really man. It's really only been the last 2 years where we've struggled due to the issues you've named.

Not saying we were a SC favorite back in 2020 but we definitely could have made a run in any of the years 2020-2023 with a new outlook. The reason our team has faded away is because we kept running the same thing back and back and back and back again. That starts with the system because obviously you're not going to trade your HOF guys.

It's a known fact that players like to play under Sully. Our guys got comfortable under Sully. Too comfortable.

 

[Frank Drebin]

It wasn’t a decade but look how Nichuskin did on the Stars and later with the Avs. I’ll be the first to admit his path was atypical but it’s not always on the player

fair point, but I dont think that was due to mishandling of the player. He just figured it out at a later age

Jesse should have come to NHL much later, like 5 seasons later than when he got there. Rushed and ruined.

then he could have sucked in the nhl for 5 less years. Sometimes the player just doesn't have it. Puju definitely doesn't have it

 

[Empoleon8771]

It's already been stated above, but I think Puljujarvi's issue is that he played his own way and never adapted to fit in as a bottom-6 forward in the NHL. When he's on, he looks like he can dominate possession by just carrying the puck and using his size to dictate play. When he's off, what exactly is he offering? There's really not much else there.

His play style reminds me of how Jordan Staal played for the Penguins back in the day. But the difference is when Staal wasn't scoring, he was playing Selke caliber defense at center. When Puljujarvi isn't scoring, he's an empty roster spot. And seeing how he's leaving the NHL with an average of 12 goals per 82 games, he did a lot of not scoring in the NHL.

 

[swissdude]

i think he is more than capable of scoring in switzerland and would be a good choice for any NL team, not the worst place to live and play hockey plus there are plenty of clubs with finnish coaches/players so the language thing will also be solvable

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

A career so bad you can’t even stick with the Pens….

It's actually hard to stick with the pens. It's a team filled with geriatric legacy guys and veteran plugs with a coach that won't give deserving players a chance.

 

[Petes2424]

He’s never passed the eye test playing in the NHL. Even in his best days, you seen it.

You’ll always have managers thinking they can fix it though. Which in his case, added a couple of stops, delaying the inevitable. In his case the commitment wasn’t there either, which should’ve been a double warning sign, but Dubas gave him another shot anyway. Probably because his analytics were good at some point.

 

[gach]

Oilers should have sent someone to Finland? Or after hours to his house?

The notion that the org was responsible to pay someone to force him to do homework is just plain stupid.

It's also well known that the Fin crew spent ALOT of their extra time playing Fortnite.

There's a reason JP admitted to not working on English in his free time

Blaming the organization for his lack focus is ridiculous

It's also very naive to think this wasn't discussed with him several times. We know for a fact the org did a good job of keeping dialog and instructions with their players. They can't physically force players to read, workout and diet

It's like saying the Jets were to blame for not hiring someone to stay a Byfuglens house and force him to not go fishing or eat too much.

How big would the guy have to be so he could get between Big Byf and the fridge?

 

[King Woodballs]

It's actually hard to stick with the pens. It's a team filled with geriatric legacy guys and veteran plugs with a coach that won't give deserving players a chance.

True enough I suppose. But he couldn’t cut it with McJesus….

 

[behemolari]