Jesse Puljujärvi24, became the talk of Edmonton again late Wednesday night.
The frustrated player expressed his feelings earlier the same day in an interview with Urheilu with rare honesty and directness. The comments also made headlines in Canada and brought back to the surface the discussion about the inflamed relationship between the player and the club.
All parties to the situation seem to be on the same page about the saga: the situation already reached a dead end last spring, so that only a transfer to another club will probably trigger the pressure.
According to Urheilu, Oilers GM Ken Holland promised the Puljujärvi camp already in the summer to sell the Finnish striker out of town.
However, a player trade has never been heard of. The message from the direction of the club has reportedly been that the weak resale value does not allow for a transfer. Here Puljujärvi’s three million contract works as a stone in the shoe.
Puljujärvi’s comments naturally struck a chord with this player-agent as well Markus Lehdon into the eyes.
– Jesse is a warm and honest person who always speaks directly. Of course, I’m pretty well aware of what kind of feelings he has, so those comments didn’t surprise me in that sense. It’s a bit sad how the comments were handled in Canada, Lehto tells Urheilu.
A brutally honest message
Club director Holland also weighed in on the situation on Wednesday, Finnish time. For the Canadian sports channel Sportsnet, who has followed the Oilers closely for a long time by Mark Spector in the article (you will switch to another service) Holland practically raised his hand about Puljujärvi’s problems in the game.
– I don’t have a solution, that’s my answer. This is a tough league, Holland said.
– The NHL is a tough league and that’s why I keep young players in the AHL as long as possible. This is not a development league, but a series where you are judged on screens and not on potential. “Then when I hear that Jesse has lost his confidence, it’s not the first time I’ve heard that,” Holland said.
The way the Oilers communicate and act in relation to Puljujärvi leaves no room for interpretation. The local media has driven Puljujärvi out of town for a long time without the club or the team’s leading players having intervened in any way. Various reports from the city tell about star players’ reluctance to play with Puljujärvi.
Holland’s dry comments were a clear continuation of all this. The tendons are cut on both sides.
Still, neither side wanted to talk about a possible player trade on Wednesday.
– I can’t say anything about this now, Puljujärvi dodged.
It is clear why the Puljujärvi camp does not want to dwell on it. The Finnish striker, who played poorly, does not want to make a difficult situation any more difficult. Aggressive demands for a transfer, especially from a European player, would be easily accepted in the conservative community as snobbery – as if the player was looking for reasons for difficulties elsewhere than in the mirror.
Why the Oilers aren’t doing anything about it is a bigger mystery.
The club must think that they don’t want to give the player away for free. However, the situation is at such a dead end and is even developing into a distraction for the rest of the team that it would make sense to make a deal even with a small loss. Even if Puljujärvi broke through elsewhere, no one can say to Edmonton that it didn’t watch the Puljujärvi card to the last point.
Lehto commented on a possible player trade with his tongue in the middle of his mouth.
– However, the agent only has limited control over such matters. Primarily, I hope that Jesse will now have success on the ice and thus positivity in everything he does. The familiar broad smile should be returned to the face. I think with that amount of work, Jesse would already deserve success.
Lehto doesn’t say it out loud, but knows that a couple of scored goals will no longer trigger tensions. Edmonton has had months to resolve the situation, but it is and will remain. Lehto reminds the club management of the commitments made.
– When the last agreement was made, certain commitments were also made. Jesse promised to give his all and then it was stated that if it doesn’t work, changes will happen and the paths will part. Hardly anyone in hockey circles can say that Jesse wouldn’t have given that club his all, says Lehto.
– Now it would really be good to think about the person and the player as well.
If the club does not trade Puljujärvi – or put him on the transfer list – the winger will play the season in Edmonton. If the Oilers did not make Puljujärvi a so-called minimum offer (qualifying offer) next summer, the Finn would become an unrestricted free agent. However, in the current climate, summer is a long time away.
Faith does not waver
Puljujärvi deadlock is rare but not completely exceptional in Finnish NHL hockey. A Olli Jokinen came to North America at the end of the 1990s also as a youth WC gold hero with a really small reservation number, but went through a hard time before his breakthrough.
Jokinen, who returned from his first NHL gig in Finland in the middle of the season, went through the roles of the bottom chains up to fighting jobs before breaking through as a top chain player. The breakthrough didn’t happen until Jokinen’s sixth season and third NHL club in Florida.
Lehto’s faith in Puljujärvi has not gone.
– Jesse is a very good player, athlete and person. My faith in him hasn’t wavered and still won’t waver.
Club manager Holland had a simple instruction on how Puljujärvi, who scored only one goal this season, would open the taps.
– If you are a goal scorer, go for the goal, that’s where the goals come from. When you go there often, some puck goes in you, maybe you direct the goal or knock in a loose puck. It’s all about going to the goal, Holland instructed.