Revisiting the 2016 NHL entry draft - how did the Oilers make out?

We come to the second in the series of a look back at the Oilers drafts in the Connor McDavid era. The first look at the 2015 draft is here. Here's what Peter Chiarelli did for an encore in 2016, at a time when he had more of a stamp on the team as not only had he been in charge for a full season but the new scouting staff that he hired after doing a housecleaning of staffing personnel that had largely failed to draft anyone meaningfully outside of the first round. Of course, we can't put all the hindsight in one draft as it takes on average five years for a draft pick to make it to the NHL, so this is merely a taste of what is to come.

Round one - Jesse Puljujarvi, fourth overall

The big hype at the time was whether the Oilers would take Pierre Lub-Dubios or Puljujarvi. Then Columbus then-GM Jarmo Kekalainen made the decision for us by unexpectedly taking Dubois instead of Puljujarvi with the third pick in 2016. Once it came time for the Oilers to pick next, Chiarelli was practically tripping over himself with glee picking Puljujarvi, a player pegged by many to fill a hole that at the time was present at RW. Well, that glee with Chiarelli was short lived, as both the player and the team would prove to mismanage Puljujarvi's development and subsequent pro career.

Seeing that Puljujarvi had already played two seasons in the Finnish pro leagues, the Oilers assumed that Puljujarvi was NHL ready from the get-go. This turned out to be not true, as in his rookie season he would play 28 games. Although he didn't do badly, putting up boxcars of 1-7-8, he certainly would've benefited more from time started earlier in the AHL rather than a belated send down to Bakersfield later that season. Since he had already played 28 games in his rookie season, that meant that the Oilers had effectively burned through a year of his ELC (a player is only allowed nine games in his rookie season in order for his ELC not to count until the year after), a terrible use of a rookie player. They mercifully sent him down to Bakersfield after realizing that, predictably, he was having trouble adjusting to both life in North America off the ice and trouble adjusting to the NHL game on the ice.

Of course, Puljujarvi himself did plenty to torpedo his own NHL career. The Oilers arranged for English lessons for him as at the time he spoke very broken English which in later interviews only marginally got better, and he effectively blew them off. He got his agent to start a public spat with the team, who rather than tuning in his entitled attitude as he should've, he enabled it, releasing public statements that Puljujarvi believed he was too good to play in the bottom six forward group in the NHL or the AHL, that he belonged in the top six forward group. This, of course, was not true, and Puljujarvi had gotten plenty of ice time in the top six as it was, and his play was found wanting. He didn't seem to realize that the NHL is a meritocracy (it's the best pro league in the world for a reason) and thus players have earned their keep every step of the way.

First, a forward has to cut his teeth ideally in the AHL, then prove he can play in the NHL, on the fourth line, then the third line, and then and only then in the top six once he's proven he can play both offence and defence against easier competition in the bottom six. But Puljujarvi came to the Oilers with an attitude problem, and developed baggage because he believed he was entitled to a spot in the top six right away despite the fact it wasn't a good place for him to start. Once Puljujarvi's ELC was up, and the NHL season had ended early due to COVID, JP went back to Finland to play and refused to come back to play for the Oilers, a move that ultimately proved futile because as a rookie just ending his first contract, and struggling to stay in the lineup never mind produce consistently he had literally no leverage. The Oilers held onto his playing rights and they weren't going to trade them away for nothing. The Oilers predictably - and rightly so - took a hard line with the player and essentially kept him in a stalemate, telling him if he wanted to stay in Europe then that was just fine with them. His NHL rights were retained by the Oilers and thus his NHL career was in limbo. Chiarelli rightly asked for a first round pick in return for Puljujarvi in trade, something his counterparts all balked at.

This didn't change until Chiarelli was fired and the Oilers hired Ken Holland to take his place. One of Holland's initial moves was to meet with Puljujarvi and his representation and to convince him to come back to Edmonton and resume his NHL career - but under certain conditions and with more open communication and understanding. Puljujarvi seemed to have learned his lesson and came back to the Oilers to resume his career in the 2020-21 season with more humility and less entitlement, and did the same thing as before - he put up OK results and played up and down the lineup trying to find a fit.

This continued for two more seasons before he finally got some leverage in contract negotiations the year prior and forced the Oilers to sign him for $3.25 million lest he take the team to arbitration and pay an even more inflated price for his services. By this time the Oilers had become playoff contenders and thus were hugging the cap ceiling and needed some cap space to load up at the trade deadline, so they shipped Puljujarvi off to Carolina for a prospect they had no intention of re-signing, where predictably he didn't fare much better, at which point Carolina didn't offer him a QO as an RFA and thus he became a UFA. The Pittsburgh Penguins eventually signed him to a PTO, which then turned into a modest full blown deal in the NHL. You can take a look for yourself here, but his career with the Pens so far has followed the same pattern as his time with the Oilers - able to score in the AHL, but score only sparingly in the NHL. Right now JP is nothing more than a bottom six forward for the Pens, and he only has this season remaining on his contract with the Pens, with his NHL future unclear as he has so far failed to deliver on his draft promise. Both the player and the Oilers deserve blame for this. Unless things drastically change for him this season, JP could be looking at the end of his NHL career and will have to be banished to play in lesser leagues in Europe until he retires from the game completely.

Hit or miss? Massive miss.

Who did the Oilers miss out on? Prepare yourself, because this is a very long list - Matthew Tkachuk (Calgary), Clayton Keller (Arizona), Mikahil Sergachev (Montreal), Michael Mcleod (New Jersey), Charlie McAvoy (Boston), Luke Kunin (Minnesota), Jakob Chychrun (Arizona), Brett Howden (Tampa Bay), Trent Frederic (Boston), Sam Steel (Anaheim). Some of these names are some of the best players in the game today - Tkahuck, Keller, and Chychrun especially hurt. Imagine how loaded the Oilers would be today if any of them suited up for us in the forward ranks (or in the case of Chychrun, the D corps). McAvoy or Sergachev would be welcome additions to the defence corps, even today. Even Michael Mcleod (Ryan Mcleod's brother) was rolling along in New Jersey right up until he was revealed as one of the perpetrators of SA in the London Knights incident from 2018 and is thus barred from playing in the NHL until he's cleared of charges. Man did missing on this pick ever hurt - especially considering Boston had two picks in this round and hit on them both.