Edmonton Oilers: Ranking Players That Are Trending Down This Season

VANCOUVER, BC - DECEMBER 17: Milan Lucic #27 of the Edmonton Oilers looks on from the bench during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena December 17, 2018 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)"n
VANCOUVER, BC - DECEMBER 17: Milan Lucic #27 of the Edmonton Oilers looks on from the bench during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena December 17, 2018 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)"n
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Edmonton Oilers
EDMONTON, AB – NOVEMBER 29: Jesse Puljujarvi #98 of the Edmonton Oilers walks to the dressing room prior to the game against the Los Angeles Kings on November 29, 2018 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

Fifth Player Trending Down

5.  Jesse Puljujarvi

Puljujarvi is pretty much the poster boy for the Oilers’ scoring past the big 3 and Alex Chiasson.

He was expected to take a step forward this year after killing it in the AHL (both last year and this year) and finishing as one of the top scorers in training camp. Puljujarvi suffered from a lack of confidence early on in the season, and thus his earlier stint in Bakersfield did him some good after he got his confidence back putting up 4 points in 4 games down there.

He fell out of favor with Todd McLellan, and Ken Hitchcock wanted him to get another look up here, and although his guns have gone silent in the last four games, he has three goals and 5 points in 29 games.  At that rate, he’ll finish with eight goals and 14 points, nothing to write home about.

If the Oilers plan to keep Puljujarvi up here for the rest of season, I hope they plan to leave him in Bakersfield for longer next season because it really seems like he needs it.  Ken Hitchcock says he’s already too good for the AHL and needs to be learning up here, but I don’t buy that for a second.  The NHL is not a learning league, that’s what the AHL is for.  He needs to develop his consistency down in Bakersfield, not here.

He’s only 20, so it’s not like he’s a lost cause or anything, far from it.  That being said, we don’t want to turn him into another Sam Gagner.  Leave him in the AHL until he’s absolutely ready.

But, if the Oilers have any sense whether it’s PC or somebody else in the GM’s chair next year, priority #1 should be to get at least 1 veteran right winger so we can leave both Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto in the AHL for the bulk of next year and only call them back up in case of injury or when they’re absolutely ready.

The one silver lining to Puljujarvi’s season is he won’t be due for a big raise or even a 1-way contract.  He’ll be signed for a minimum 2-way contract after this season and then once he’s absolutely ready to go here, then he comes back and kills it when it counts.