Skookum Jim wrote on Wed, 28 August 2019 12:31

When Finnish GM Jarmo Kekäläinen passed on a super hyped Finnish wonder kid, a world junior champ, that was a big tell... I'm hoping the Oilers had a Finnish scout in the interview process, if not I hope they've learned ... (horse gone .. barn door closed). Despite all the discussion about a lack of a development plan, basically Pulju hasn't displayed an elite level at anything, which you should have seen at some point by now, I'm afraid he's looking more like what you see, is what he is. Two busted top picks (Yak & Pulju) have really burned this franchise... although on a + note... you could argue Yak kind of helped us get McD!! .. yeah Yak!!

I wouldn't give Yakupov a lot of credit for McDavid. That's on MacTavish and Eakins. Yakupov was just one small piece of the puzzle. The defence and goalies weren't good, we had some injuries, we entered the season with the weakest lineup of centers possible...

Holland said, rightly, yesterday that anyone in the league would have taken Puljujarvi top 5 that year. He was a top pick, and the Oilers didn't make a big mistake drafting him, but the development path they chose was very flawed and we are now where we are.

Even with those two picks failing to live up to their billing - Yakupov and Puljujarvi - if not for the management, we could be a top end team. We had 3 other first overall picks, plus another #3 and a #7 and a #8 and a #10 in the last 10 years. If you can't build with that kind of draft advantage, then you're not doing it right.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireLowe #FireBobbyNicks #FireKenHolland #FireKeithGretzky