Quoting: F50marco
Well you are assuming his role this year will be as it was prior. I think it was pretty clear that management and the coaching staff weren't happy with his game during the playoffs last year and that is what has led to him being shopped this offseason.
Jesse's playoffs weren't great, but do you know who had a worse playoff run? Warren Foegele. Foegele was healthy scratched 3 times in the playoffs and scored zero goals at 5v5 vs Puljujarvi's 0.77/60 rate. His on-ice goals were 3-7 (30.00 GF%) with a 47.73 xGF%, while Puljujarvi posted 8-8 goals (50.00 GF%) with a 59.54 xGF%.
Moreover, at the beginning of summer Holland was asked about re-signing Puljujarvi and his response was to talk about playoffs and how important a big body like Puljujarvi is in the postseason.
Quoting: justaBoss
Admittedly his playoffs last year were far from impressive, but I'm of the opinion that it was strongly because back in February when Woodcroft became their head coach Puljujärvi was injured, and when he returned he was never able to gain Woodcroft's trust, which ultimately lead to a diminishing role in the roster, and especially during playoff time Woodcroft didn't want to take any risks with a guy he didn't fully trust. It was a downward spiral from the get go.
Quoting: F50marco
I don't think he's going to break out this year, in EDM, if he stays. Might stagnate or decline. He however could potentially breakout on another team.
There's evidence to the contrary. Jesse started out last season at 28, 10-13-23 (a 29 goal, 67 point pace) before his production was derailed by long-COVID and injuries. Despite this, he still finished
top-5 in the entire league for on-ice metrics as measured relative to his team. Every single Edmonton forward to play with Puljujarvi had better results with him than without him last year. He's a significant contributor in many ways already. I don't think there's any evidence of stagnation or decline as long as he's healthy.