Three Edmonton Oilers Who Have Something To Prove At Camp

Jesse Puljujarvi

After an offseason of trade rumours surrounding him, I think Jesse Puljujarvi will be either playing to stay with the Edmonton Oilers long term or playing to increase his trade value. With either of these to options he will need to improve on his last season stats and play.

Coming into this season I think Puljujarvi should get a crack on the first line with Kane and McDavid. He played on that line last season for a while and that line had success. I just don’t know if that was because of Puljujarvi or in spite of him.

Honestkly if you put anyone else in that spot they will have at least a small amount of success. This preseason and training camp Puljujarvi needs to show up and make the line better than it is with any other player.

He has the ability to do it I think, as he did show glimpses of it early last season. His season took a turn for the worse with illness and injury, after that he just couldn’t get back into the grove of things.

The Battle For McDavid’s Wing

There will be lots of other players looking to grab that spot on the wing with McDavid and Woodcroft is going to chose the best player at the time not the player that played well a year ago. That could benefit Puljujarvi as well as in the time with Woodcroft as coach Puljujarvi had his struggles.

I previously wrote that I do believe that Puljujarvi will be one of McDavid’s wingers. In the article I highlighted a few reasons as to why I think he would be a great fit. One of them being his ability to win puck battles. He is one of the best on the Edmonton Oilers at doing that.

None of this will matter if he comes into camp and gets outplayed by another player. This isn’t the Edmonton Oilers of a few years ago where Ty Rattie is playing on McDavid’s wing. There is lots of skill on this team and Puljujarvi will need to earn his spot.