Oilers Should Consider Selling High on Jesse Puljujärvi

Say what you will about Edmonton Oilers’ general manager Ken Holland’s overall performance in the summer of 2021, but you can’t say he wasn’t busy.

Trades, signings, extensions, and the National Hockey League Entry Draft all took up portions of his time as he finally shook off the financial shackles he inherited from Peter Chiarelli and, for better or worse, installed fiscal handcuffs of his own for the foreseeable future with the Oilers.

Back up against the salary cap, with big money committed to a number of players, the team will certainly look different in 2021-22, and only time will tell if Holland’s roster design can lead the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup. Edmonton is now committed long-term to a selection of players, such as Zack Hyman and Darnell Nurse, who will either form important parts of the championship core or be vilified as they decline and clog the system down the road.

What that offseason spending means for the Oilers’ GM, if he plans to make any further moves, is that dollars will need to move out for anyone else to move in. One player, in particular, has a boatload of rediscovered value and has the potential to net Edmonton a nice return if they were to put him on the market, namely Jesse Puljujärvi.

I don’t know if I’d make the trade, and beyond that, I’m not certain that Holland has the negotiating skills to move Puljujärvi without losing the deal. But, only a year ago, the young Finn was a sunk cost, a potentially wasted fourth overall pick, and unlikely to be a part of the team’s long-term plans.

More from Oil On Whyte

All of that changed in a hurry when he returned in 2020-21, Puljujärvi was consistently noticeable, in a good way, and he worked his way up the Oilers lineup until finding himself on Connor McDavid’s wing.

The one weak area in his game seems to be offensive finish. Puljujärvi plays a good 200ft game, passes well, can get physical, and knows where to be on the ice. But while he scored 15 goals this past season, he did so playing a large number of minutes with #97. Anyone who gets top-line time in Edmonton receives the “McDavid bump” and JP’s goal total only extrapolates to 22 over a full 82 game schedule. He brings other aspects to the table as mentioned above, but the question is whether that’s his ceiling, or if he can take yet another step forward.

If Holland believes Puljujärvi is capable of more and therefore sees him as a part of the team’s future, he should hang up on anyone calling about a trade, but if the player we saw last year is peak Puljujärvi, there will never be a better time to sell. Opposing GMs will be attracted to his size, skating, and the scoring potential he demonstrated at lower levels in other leagues.

Puljujärvi could be packaged with someone like backup goaltender Mikko Koskinen, who only has one year left at $4.5million but is otherwise unmovable, making the overall deal much more attractive, but also freeing up salary for an incoming player, be it a starting goalie or a proven scoring forward. It’s a risky strategy, and it’ll raise the ire of the large segment of Oiler fans who enjoy Puljujärvi’s positive attitude and potential upside, but the facts are simple; Edmonton’s window to win a Stanley Cup is now.

The team that got swept out of the playoffs by the Winnipeg Jets wasn’t a contender, and while the roster looks very different, one can’t confidently say they’re better, or amongst the league’s best. Something else will have to happen between today and the trade deadline to push the team over the edge, and while we would all miss Puljujärvi, a Cup win would soften the blow.

Home / Editorials