February 28, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Well, I was wrong. I didn’t think Jesse Puljuarvi would be traded ahead of the deadline because of his $3 million qualifying offer. As it turns out, the Edmonton Oilers traded Puljujarvi to the Carolina Hurricanes for prospect Patrik Puistola on Tuesday. With that, the Puljujarvi saga in Edmonton comes to an end.

Puljujarvi was taken fourth overall by the Oilers in the 2016 draft. It was a surprise when Columbus passed on Puljujarvi because he was a consensus top three pick coming into that draft. Oilers fans, including myself, were excited that the 2016 World Junior MVP fell into their laps.

The love affair between Oilers fans and Puljujarvi started quickly. The video of him walking behind a dressing room interview while eating a slice of pizza was hilarious! Fans quickly gave him the nickname “Pool Party”. We fell in love with his dog, Jaffa. A picture of Puljujarvi spotting a bison at Elk Island Park went viral, and he was dubbed the “Bison King”. He leaned into it and trademarked the name so he could make some shirts! The way he curls his tongue to touch his nose, his big smile, and his personality will surely be missed.

Puljujarvi’s relationship with the team wasn’t anywhere close to as good as it was with the fans unfortunately. He started his rookie season with the Oilers on opening night at Rogers Place, and he scored a goal in that game. It turned out that he wasn’t ready for the NHL at that time, so he played 28 games before being sent down to Bakersfield. He should’ve started in Bakersfield.

He started the 2017-18 season in Bakersfield, but he ended up playing 65 games for the Oilers that year. Puljujarvi got 20 points that year, so it appeared that he was making strides. 

Then the 2018-19 season happened. He started out with the Oilers, but he scored one goal for his only point in the team’s first seven games. Then head coach Todd McLellan made Puljujarvi a healthy scratch for five games at the end of October 2018. He played four more pointless games before being sent to Bakersfield. Puljujarvi had four strong performances for Bakersfield.

McLellan was fired while Puljujarvi was down there. The new head coach, Ken Hitchcock, asked for Puljujarvi to be recalled because he believed that he could work with the big Finn. Hitchcock praised the details of Puljujarvi’s game and talked about how teams need players with Puljujarvi’s size to win.

Hitchcock talked a big game about developing Puljujarvi, but he was sparing with the ice time. He largely kept Puljujarvi in the bottom six. I recall a game against Tampa Bay where he got an assist on a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins goal while playing with Connor McDavid. He had a great first period, but he made one mistake that led to a goal against, and he was instantly taken off that line. Puljujarvi’s opportunities while elevated in the lineup under Hitchcock were short-lived. Puljujarvi’s 2018-19 season was cut short due to hip issues. He had surgery to correct issues in both hips that year. 

It was a frustrating year for Puljujarvi. He started out on the team, then got healthy scratched for an extended period. Then he got demoted only to be quickly brought back up after a new coach came in and failed to deliver on promises of better development and more opportunity. I don’t blame him for going back to Finland to play for a season after that debacle of a season. I feel that the organization bungled his development in those three seasons.

Puljujarvi came back from Finland after Ken Holland was hired. He had a promising season in 2020-21. He got 15 goals and 25 points in 55 games that year. The Bison King improved upon those numbers in 2021-22 by putting up 36 points in 65 games. He was producing and then coach Dave Tippett seemed to trust him. Puljujarvi earned a one-year, $3 million contract for the 2022-23 season.

This season hasn’t gone anywhere close to the way anyone hoped it would. Puljujarvi has a meagre five goals and 14 points in 58 games. He had opportunities to play with McDavid consistently early in the year, but he failed to produce. Puljujarvi talked about how he had lost confidence in himself and didn’t see how he fit into the Oilers lineup or even as an NHL player in November. That was the beginning of the end for Puljujarvi in Edmonton. He has been stuck getting eight minutes a night regardless of how well he played. His minutes were severely cut under Jay Woodcroft going back to the playoffs last spring. Here we are approaching the trade deadline, and Puljujarvi was dealt away for cap space.

Related: What Lies Ahead After Puljujarvi’s Comments

I was a supporter of Puljujarvi’s all along. He’s a great kid and he did lots of little things well when he wasn’t scoring. At some point though, you need your $3 million former fourth overall pick to do the big thing well, which is producing offence. That wasn’t happening anymore, and it became abundantly clear that it wasn’t going to happen in Edmonton. I wish Puljujarvi all the best in Carolina, and I think I speak for all Oilers fans when I say that we’ll miss him.

Puistola is an intriguing prospect. The 2019 third rounder is currently leading Jukurit of the Finnish Elite League in scoring with 38 points in 56 games. The left-handed winger has tantalizing puck skills, but fell down the draft board in 2019 because of his skating. He’s trending upwards in his fourth professional season. He’s another quality wing prospect to go with Xavier Bourgault, Raphael Lavioe, Tyt Tullio, Carter Savioe, and Matvei Petrov. This is a better return than many people, including myself, expected for Puljujarvi.

The more immediate benefit of this trade is the cap space that it provides leading up to the deadline. Moving Puljujarvi’s $3 million is a huge help in terms of potentially adding to the roster and increasing the number of players on the active roster. The Oilers are reportedly talking to teams about adding a second pairing left defenceman like Jakob Chychrun or Mattias Ekholm, so stay tuned for that.

For now, we say farewell and good luck to Puljujarvi.