Adam wrote on Wed, 28 August 2019 16:24

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.

It's clear the scouting on Pulju was poor at this point. People fell in love with his physical attributes and how he was able to dominate other kids with his huge frame and speed. The hockey sense was never quite there though and people looked past it. Watch his old highlights from the WJHC. He looks like he did in the NHL, almost exactly. Lots of speed, somewhat clumsy skating, choppy stick handling, and he's constantly forcing plays. It worked for him against kids, it hasn't at all in the NHL. His shot was never very accurate either.

It's a bummer. And we fell far too in love with the physical attributes like everyone else did. Pulju should probably be going into his 2nd ELC year next season if we properly brought him along based on where his actual smarts with the puck were at in his draft year with a top end still likely in the middle 6, but pretty clear he's not a top end talent. A guy actually worthy of the hype Pulju got would be able to figure out how to contribute in the NHL without needing to be babied by coaches. If you're good, you're good, and you force coaches to use you if they want to keep their job. He's not even close to the first guy that was able to trick scouts by being able to dominate other kids with physical attributes, but wasn't able to figure out how to make the head and hands work quickly enough in the NHL against skilled defenders. There are unfortunately a lot of parallels to Yak here.

[Updated on: Wed, 28 August 2019 19:20]

"We need to get better immediately. That starts today"
- Lowe, 2013

"Next year I would forecast as another developmental year"
- MacT, 2015

5 x $5,000,000