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Ryed

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Jun. 24, 2019
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Edmonton Oilers
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Forum: Armchair-GMJun. 7, 2020 at 12:28 p.m.
Thread: Puljujarvi to Carolina
In another forum a few couple years ago we looked into the way Puljujarvi had been bounced around the lineup and up and down between the AHL and NHL, how he was forced to "earn" his playing time, etc. I took a look at several young European wingers who entered the league just prior to Puljujarvi and how much ice they got with skill centers, and the difference is stark - even though Jesse was putting up similar numbers.

Here are each winger's 5v5 P/60 with their top 2 centers:

DRAFT +1
Rantanen w/ MacKinnon: 0.00 (0:43)
Rantanen w/ Duchene: 0.00 (29:09)
Pastrnak w/ Bergeron: 1.31 (45:49)
Pastrnak w/ Krejci: 2.55 (141:15)
Nylander: NO NHL TOI
Puljujarvi w/ McDavid: 2.86 (84:01)
Puljujarvi w/ Draisaitl: 1.67 (107:28)

Rantanen and Nylander did nothing, Toronto smartly leaving Nylander in the AHL for the entire year. Puljujarvi’s numbers were better than Pastrnak’s.

DRAFT +2
Rantanen w/ MacKinnon: 1.66 (684:55)
Rantanen w/ Duchene: 0.86 (350:34)
Pastrnak w/ Bergeron: 1.96 (61:19)
Pastrnak w/ Krejci: 2.04 (499:06)
Nylander w/ Kadri: 0.00 (4:57)
Nylander w/ Bozak: 0.00 (1.45)
Puljujarvi w/ McDavid: 1.87 (256:57)
Puljujarvi w/ Draisaitl: 2.37 (101:22)

Note the differences? Rantanen gets glued to the top-6 despite not achieving much, Pastrnak is playing with skill but also not getting top defensive assignments with Bergeron, while Nylander is playing on the 3rd line after having played well for the first half of the season in the AHL. Meanwhile Puljujarvi is not getting consistent linemates anywhere, despite scoring a an equal or better rate than his peers. Nice development plan.

DRAFT +3
Rantanen w/ MacKinnon: 2.28 (946:52)
Rantanen w/ Duchene: 0.00 (12:48)
Pastrnak w/ Bergeron: 2.22 (541:19)
Pastrnak w/ Krejci: 1.54 (429:40)
Nylander w/ Kadri: 2.17 (360:06)
Nylander w/ Matthews: 1.82 (624:42)
Puljujarvi w/ McDavid: 1.80 (66:46)
Puljujarvi w/ Draisaitl: 0.00 (74:25)

Here we see where the other team's development plans worked out, as all 3 are getting consistent top-6 ice time and all 3 are delivering consistent results.
Unfortunately we see Puljujarvi getting jacked around still. Remember that JP was playing with a hip issue all year, until the team finally pulled the plug on his season and ordered surgery.

No question that Puljujarvi has ability, he put up similar or better numbers to these 3 very good players when healthy despite the screw up that was his development plan in Edmonton. I think there are multiple GM's that see a whole lot of untapped potential in this young man, they just aren't sure if they can undo the damage that's already been done. Jesse playing well in Finland has helped, but it's not the NHL and there will still be some reserves.