Monday Mailbag – Can Puljujarvi learn from Draisaitl’s rookie season?

My friends, it’s Monday and that means your ol’ pal Baggedmilk is here to give you a chance at some free wisdom from your friendly Oilersnation staff. As I do, I’ve taken five of your questions and sent them out to our writers to get the all of the worldly wisdoms that you’ve always been looking for. As always, I need questions for next week. If you have something you’d like to ask you can email me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk.com. 

A mammoth question I can’t possibly answer in a couple of lines. I will put it this way: Peter Chiarelli has reset the roster in his own image by giving up substantial talents for position-specific solutions, while making up for the talent loss on smaller trades. I think he gave up a lot but has the team in a position to win. If he wins, most won’t care how he got there. I include myself in that group.

He has made way more good moves than bad. It seems many focus on the one obvious error, Reinhart deal, and keep discussing it like it has had disastrous impacts on the team. It hasn’t. He got a legit goalie for draft picks. A 27-goal scorer for a late pick and a prospect who would never play. He added Zack Kassian for a goalie who played 15 games in the NHL after the deal and is now out of the league. He signed Sekera, Russell and Benning. Traded for Gryba. He signed Lucic, and while the final few years are risky, we won’t know for sure until we reach them. Trading Hall was a difficult decision, but he added a player the Oilers desperately needed in Larsson. It is too soon to evaluate the Eberle trade, but that deal was as also about salary. The Oilers won a playoff round last season and went to game 7 in the second round. They are trending upwards and are positioned to be a contender for the next nine years. After 10 years filled with way more bad decisions than good, I see no reason not to give him an A. The potential concerns about the team have yet to be proven, so today it is an A.

I’m going to start off by saying I’m a naturally tough marker. So I’ll give Chiarelli a B- overall. That’s going to sound wrong because the team has improved in performance significantly since his arrival but here we go.

Trades: A couple hands down winners (Maroon/Talbot) are offset by failures like Reinhart and Eberle. Mixed bag trades like Hall for Larsson we saw off despite where I personally rank it.

Signings/Negotiations: Lucic and Russell are both on deals that are too long. Lucic is arguably overpaid because of the length of his deal but in the short term the market is probably 6M. Russell and Draisaitl are both overpaid. I love Draisaitl. I really don’t love Russell. Still, at least 1.5M overpaid on each.

Coaching: I like McLellan. Every fan/pundit/journalist would do certain things differently than any coach sometimes. Even when I question certain choices, I believe he’s a very good coach. So B- because his trades and negotiations have not been incredible. Too tentative making the Oilers better at the last deadline and over the summer.

I’m not going to break it down into categories. What I see is a bigger, tougher team that is more difficult to play against and that size and toughness is functional — guys who can play higher up in the line-up like Lucic and Maroon. That was a shortcoming here for many years, so I might list that as his best work so far. Grading trades and UFA signings is easy with the benefit of hindsight and we won’t know how some moves will work out for a season or two yet. Every GM has hits and misses and there’s been some of both with Chiarelli. It’s the next couple of years — building on what he’s put together so far rather than cleaning up somebody else’s mess — that matter most for me.

Cam Lewis: He’s come in and made difficult deals. Some, like Hall for Larsson and Eberle for Strome, aren’t ideal, perfect one-for-one swaps but a lot of that comes down to the situation he inherited. Especially with the Hall deal, it was known Edmonton was desperate for a pretty specific player, a righty who’s rugged and reliable to play with Klefbom on the top pair, and nobody was going to hand it to him for free. Being gifted McDavid is a major game-changer for anyone, but Chiarelli has done a fine job building a big, difficult to play against team around him that can thrive in the playoffs. I worry though about his tendency to hand out big, long-term deals to older players, Russell and Lucic, which was his undoing in Boston. I say it’s best to wait until he’s five years in to assess.

I think Chiarelli has done a much better job of making bets than his predecessors and it’s paid off. That said, he also had Connor McDavid fall in his lap and that’s a hugely important piece of information in this story. There are obviously moves that Swag Daddy has made that I don’t agree with, but I’m also willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and see where things end up. When Chiarelli hits a homerun I’m going to shout his name from the heavens. I’ll do the same when he misses. Point is, if the Taylor Hall trade has taught us anything it’s that you have to see how things play out beyond the initial rage or acceptance.

Tough question. I’ll say Joe Gambardella, who has a wide open depth chart at centre. He could play in all three disciplines and is likely to be given two offensive wingers. I think Greg Chase and Kyle Platzer need to step up, this is the final season of their entry deals.

I’m not sure any have a dominant/breakout year, but I really like Caleb Jones and I believe he’ll have a solid rookie season.

Tough call. You would have to think the older first year pros like Gambardella might have that spot. It’s tough when defenders make the jump. Still, I’m going with Ethan Bear. I like the kid a lot from what I’ve seen. I hope he keeps improving his speed and agility. I’d say that Dillon Simpson needs to step up. Really haven’t seen much from him that screams NHLer.

I want to see what Ethan Bear can do against men. He’s been terrific in the WHL. Now, the step up in class.

I would go with JoeGambardella. He had a very good year in the NCAA and is probably just an injury or two away from seeing ice time on the NHL team. A hot start down in the AHL and a bad start for someone like Slepyshev, Pakarinen, or Puljujarvi could get him called up too.

Chad Butcher! I don’t know too much about him but he sounds like a guy that can become successful.

I’m excited to see what a guy like Caleb Jones can do. He’s only had a cup of coffee in Bakersfield so far and I’ll be interested to see what he can do in his first full year. I know people are all about Bear, and I hope that both of these guys succeed at the NHL level, but the more I read about Caleb Jones the more I like him.

I think Leon’s work ethic and determination to improve can serve as an inspiration to any young player.

Work ethic. Draisaitl put in the work in the summer. If Puljujarvi did (I heard he worked on getting more explosive), then he should be a more effective NHLer.

Probably just the knowledge that you can recover from a bad rookie campaign and go on to be an impact player. I think Jussi Jokinen will be playing the role of mentor more than Drai though.

Draisaitl just needs to be himself. Actions speak louder than words. Puljujarvi is a year older and has had some time to adjust to the language and cultural differences that often are a factor for European players. Jesse needs to be a sponge, taking everything around him in. Not just from Leon but from everybody.

Cam Lewis: They’re two completely different players and people, so it isn’t quite so simple. Puljujarvi played his pre-draft years in Europe and didn’t speak english, whereas Draisaitl had spent two years riding the bus in Price Albert. I think Leon is a great player for a rookie or sophomore to follow because he’s improved so much and plays such a good, well-rounded game at a young age, but there are more factors pushing against Pulju which likely means it’ll take him longer to develop.

I think the longer Puljujarvi spends playing hockey in North America the more he will become more comfortable to play his own game. I’m not sure if all it will take is Draisaitl giving him some advice, but just more time for him to settle in. Just like Draisaitl did.

At the very least, I hope Leon goes to Jesse and lets him know that he can succeed at this level. The storyline writes itself. Draisaitl was a high pick that struggled in his first year only to come out like a house on fire in years two and three. Puljujarvi has the size, speed, and skill to make that same jump, but he has to make it happen. Comparing the stories can only go so far. Let’s hope the big Finn brings the heat.

Kailer Yamamoto, I’ve been saying it for some time. I’m not certain it’s the best idea, but Yamamoto’s skill is likely to be on display. Edmonton needs skilled RW’s.

It won’t be Yamamoto. He isn’t strong enough yet, but he is very dynamic. I will go with Ryan Stanton on the blueline. He battles Auvitu for the #7 job.

Dark Horse is Yamamoto. A Slepy injury opens the door a touch for KY to get his nine games in. It’s still going to be a stretch and completely dependent on him playing out of his mind in camp, but he’s got a shot.

I don’t see a darkhorse. I see everybody on the right side moving up a spot on the depth chart until Slepyshev returns and there aren’t any names on that RW who would be coming out of nowhere.

I think it would be pretty weird to throw a small guy like Yamamoto into the deep end when you could have somebody like Ty Rattie with actual NHL experience fill the void for that couple of weeks. If Slepyshev isn’t good to go, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chris Kelly gets a contract.

Pool Party! I guess he’s not really a dark horse, but I definitely don’t think he’s a lock to make the roster. I’m feeling good about him though and believe he can do it!

With Slepyshev potentially out for the night, I’m thinking that Draisaitl plays on Connor’s wing and it’s a centreman that gets a taste. Chris Kelly on the fourth line with Letestu moonlighting at 3C.

I think 6-3-1 is fine, Edmonton fans don’t need to worry and fret as they did three years ago. Connor McDavid changed everything.

It is funny how we look at a good start. The Oilers were 7-1 in their first eight games last season, a great early start, but they were only 9-8-1 on November 17th. At that point many were questioning the team. They went 38-18-8 in their final 64 games, and some Oilers fans still weren’t impressed, which shows there will always be naysayers. If the Oilers have six wins in their first ten, they will be fine, but I suspect we see seven again.

Acceptable? 6-3-1 would be a fantastic start to the year given the fact that they are down Sekera. I think a lot of people are underestimating how important he is. If the Oilers are simply above .500 after 10 games I would call that acceptable.

Acceptable is setting the bar too low. Five or six wins is probably acceptable but why not seven or eight in the first 10 games?

The goal with Sekera out of the lineup is to stay above water. The divison isn’t so good that the Oilers need to go, like, 8-1-1 to start the season. Rolling out 5-5 with a not-full blueline wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Honestly, I think we might come out of the gate struggling without Sekera. I would be satisfied if we came out 6-4.

They have to come out at .500 or better. Making up ground is not an easy thing to do and the Oilers need to make sure they AT LEAST can find a way to win as many (or more obviously) than they lose. Ideally, they’ll be able to cash in off of some early season rust and bad teams (CANUCKS!) but I think .500 after 10 games would be acceptable.

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