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 Kr55
Messages: 9640
Registered: May 2002
Location: Edmonton
6 Cups
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| Adam wrote on Thu, 29 August 2019 09:16 |
| RDOilerfan wrote on Thu, 29 August 2019 08:52 |
JP was bigger than a lot of the juniors he played against and he was the 3rd guy on a stacked Finnish junior line. He had a 80+ point center in Aho and a 35+ goal sniper on his line. Does he have talent, sure he does. You have to have some talent to play with those types of players. But do I think he was propped up a bit by having 2 NHL stars on his line? Hell yes. Kassian last year looked like he could be a top 6 player when he was on a line with the best player in the world in McDavid and a 50 goal, 100 pt player in Leon who's also elite. Do I think Kassian is a top 6 player if he wasn't with McDavid and Leon? Hell no.
JP has talent but it was raw. Teams got dazzled by the physical tools but in reality, he shouldn't have been taken that high given just how much development time he needs.
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I love the revisionist history here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_World_Junior_Ice_Hockey_C hampionships
As one of the youngest guys in the tournament, he led the tourney in points with 17 in 7 games. He was also reputed to be the defensive conscience on that line - there were scouting reports saying he was unlikely to hit the same numbers that Laine would, but looked like he'd be a more rounded player.
Pos Player Country GP G A Pts +/− PIM
1 Jesse Puljujärvi Finland 7 5 12 17 +8 0
2 Sebastian Aho Finland 7 5 9 14 +9 4
3 Patrik Laine Finland 7 7 6 13 +8 6
4 Auston Matthews United States 7 7 4 11 +6 2
5 Matthew Tkachuk United States 7 4 7 11 +7 6
6 Alexander Nylander Sweden 7 4 5 9 +5 0
7 Zach Werenski United States 7 2 7 9 +10 4
8 Denis Malgin Switzerland 6 1 8 9 −1 6
9 Olli Juolevi Finland 7 0 9 9 +6 4
10 Christian Dvorak United States 7 3 5 8 +8 0
10 Adrian Kempe Sweden 7 3 5 8 +1 8
That's a lot of good players in that tournament, and there's Puljujarvi at the very top on the gold-medal winning team.
Let's not pretend that there was a really good argument that he wasn't a top-5 pick. I don't defend a lot that the Oilers do - but the drafting of Puljujarvi was completely justifiable - and likely the right decision at the time.
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It was the right decision based on the consensus. Yak was the consensus #1 back when he was drafted. If he got to be RW on a line with Laine and Aho, he probably could have put up 17 points too in the WJHC. He could have won the tiny sample size battle vs those guys, despite being an inferior player to both like Pulju did.
Scouting is not a perfect science. You never truly know how a guy will actually adjust to the NHL, and how he will be able to fill the gaps in his game that every kid has some of at 17/18. The truly elite guys figure that stuff out, on their own or by finding the best coaches to help. The guys that were just physically gifted and got by by being able to dominate teenagers, but can't figure out how to make the necessary adjustments playing against men, well, those guys end up like Yak and the current Pulju.
Benson is older for sure, and he was drafted around where he was supposed to be. Pulju was drafted in a place where you're supposed to be getting an elite player. He could very well end up putting things together years down the road, but it gets significantly less likely every year, and IMO it's already safe to say the scouts were wrong here.
[Updated on: Thu, 29 August 2019 09:32]
"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
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Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Magnum on Tue, 27 August 2019 07:40 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 August 2019 08:39 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 August 2019 08:38 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Adam on Tue, 27 August 2019 09:09 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 August 2019 09:14 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Adam on Tue, 27 August 2019 09:49 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 August 2019 10:15 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Adam on Tue, 27 August 2019 10:21 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Adam on Tue, 27 August 2019 09:25 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: overdue on Tue, 27 August 2019 15:17 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 August 2019 10:21 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: jds308 on Tue, 27 August 2019 15:51 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 August 2019 16:30 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 August 2019 17:39 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Adam on Tue, 27 August 2019 17:52 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 August 2019 18:01 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Adam on Tue, 27 August 2019 17:01 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 August 2019 17:32 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 August 2019 16:26 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: jds308 on Tue, 27 August 2019 16:33 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 August 2019 18:39 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: jds308 on Wed, 28 August 2019 12:05 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Xombie on Wed, 28 August 2019 17:39 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Adam on Wed, 28 August 2019 16:24 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Wed, 28 August 2019 18:40 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Adam on Thu, 29 August 2019 08:43 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Adam on Thu, 29 August 2019 09:16 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Thu, 29 August 2019 09:30 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Adam on Thu, 29 August 2019 15:03 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Adam on Thu, 29 August 2019 15:07 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Fri, 30 August 2019 11:03 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: jds308 on Fri, 30 August 2019 12:53 |
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Re: Puljujarvi signs in Finland |
By: Kr55 on Mon, 02 September 2019 22:58 |
