I thought EDM was really high on his progress since he returned?

I'd say his progress is decent and he is a solid player but if I had to pick one guy that had to leave to accompany Nurse's massive pay raise, I take Pulju out. Any other player creates a hole on the roster and despite Barrie's name being thrown around for a trade, where will the Oilers ever find such a point-producing offensive D man at his price. Another option That would take an asset to leave to juice up a trade is letting go of the physical presence of Kassian

They have the offensive Dman in Bouchard… they need a Right side that is solid defensively. Kassian makes 3.2M… physical presences can be found for 3x less against the cap.

That being said keeping an aging defensive liability & an overpaid plumber who doesn’t give a **** over a 23year old with some of the best underlying numbers on the team would be the Oilers thing to do.

In this case, I hope Fitz has Holland in his Favorite Contacts in his iPhone

Losing Adam Larsson pretty much means that defensive RD became a hole, but trading Barrie will require more assets going the other way as other teams don't like him. Then picking up a defensive RD on a trade is probably one of the hardest positions to trade for (aka. Hall for Larsson lol), Josh Manson signing is another option but him and other free agents don't like Edmonton unless they are getting overpaid, Kassian buyout it is then

Edmonton is really high on Puljujarvi. There are a few exceptions among fans, but very few. He's worth his weight in gold.

Worth noting that this guy is a Canucks fan first.

Pulju is highly skilled, but he's not an elite skater and needs work on the edges. You can see his playmaking abilities, skill, puck handling and shot is there but can't deliver due to the skating and edge work

You could say that about lots of guys in the league. Doesn't mean they aren't valuable players.