The Edmonton Oilers have are lucky to have Jesse Puljujarvi on this team.
Through the first five games of the season, Jesse Puljujarvi has eight points with the Edmonton Oilers. He has a point in every game, and two goals in the first two games. He has been on fire compared to years past with Edmonton.
Pujujarvi is finally becoming the player they need him to be. Drafted fourth overall in 2016, Puljujarvi did not start his Oilers career on the best note. He never really looked comfortable in the league and was someone the team did not utilize correctly. Now at the age of 23, Puljujarvi is poised to have his best season yet, oh and it is a contract year for him.
Right now, Edmonton is expected to have five million in cap space for next season according to CapFriendly. They have more than a few free agents to get signed as well as just trying to improve the team as anyway as possible. Getting another bridge deal done between the two parties needs to happen sooner rather than later.
Puljujarvi is definitely in for a pay raise from the current 1.175 million dollar deal he is on right now. He has been the clear pick to be the next top winger on this team, and they are going to want to get a deal done soon especially if they are going to keep playing him with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Puljujarvi might have his numbers affected from playing with one of the best players ever, but he still is going to ask for a pay raise. If the Oilers have to pay him two to four million a year for the next handful of seasons I am on board with a bridge deal like that, but if he keeps this up all season and is around a point per game they are going to have a hard time getting him at the number they want, especially when looking around the league and seeing different teams offer sheet players more often like last season with Carolina.
The Oilers are in an interesting position. They want Puljujarvi to have a good season with guys like McDavid and Draisait, but every game he plays well with that bunch he drives up his asking price for 2022-23. It will be interesting to see how much he gets in the end, let’s hope we know sooner rather than later.