POOL PARTY
7 years ago
There’s a Pool Party in Penticton starting tonight. Sounds like fun. Count me among the many who are looking forward to watching Edmonton Oilers’ prospect Jesse Puljujarvi hit the ice with 26 other hopefuls for the Young Stars Classic.
Puljujarvi, 18, the big Finnish winger who fell into GM Peter Chiarelli’s lap with the fourth overall pick at the 2016 Entry Draft, is the latest in a long line of blue chip Oiler prospects – Connor McDavid, Taylor Hall, Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse, to name four — who’ll take part in the tournament, which starts against the Vancouver Canucks tonight.
While I don’t consider Puljujarvi the same kind of obvious lock to make the opening night roster that McDavid and Hall were, I won’t be the least bit surprised to see him in Oiler silks when the regular season opens Oct. 12 against the Calgary Flames. That doesn’t mean you force the kid into the line-up if he isn’t clearly ready, but even with the addition of Kris Versteeg on a PTO, there’s a job to be had on the right wing. Some 2015 WJC highlights here.
For his part, Puljujarvi, who is coming off minor knee surgery that kept him out of the team’s orientation camp, has declared himself healthy and ready to take a run at a roster spot. “My knee is perfect and I’m 100 per cent,” he said. “I think I’m ready.” He’ll have a little catching up to because he’s missed some on-ice and workout time because of the surgery. We’ll get a first glimpse of where he’s at in Penticton.
MEN, NOT BOYS
Talent level aside, the six-foot-four, 203-pound Puljujarvi has a leg up on a lot of the younger kids in Penticton because he’s already played parts of two seasons against men, with Karpat of the SM-liiga (Finnish Elite League). As a 16-year-old, Puljujarvi played 21 games with Karpat in 2014-15, scoring 4-7-11. Last season, he scored 13-15-28 while playing just 50 of 60 games as the youngest player on the team. Puljujarvi was sixth in team scoring.
“I like his big, strong stride,” Chiarelli said. “He protects the puck very well. He shoots in traffic, and he can make plays, too. You don’t accomplish what he’s accomplished at the men’s level and at the international level without being a real good player. He’s obviously a real good player, but he does all this stuff and he’s a big, strong body, which I like.”
Puljujarvi should shine against the competition in Penticton and when main camp opens, barring something unforeseen, I expect he’ll be in the mix for a roster spot on RW behind Jordan Eberle along with Versteeg, Nail Yakupov, Zack Kassian and Iiro Pakarinen. That’s when we’ll find out where, or if, he fits this season.
“Jesse will dictate his entry into the league and the pace of it,” coach Todd McLellan said. “He’s highly skilled and he’s played against men in a pro league back in Finland. Jesse’s play gives him a head start, but we’ll see how it turns out. There’s years where you count on things and they don’t get done. In other years, there’s surprises.”
THE REST
Outside of Puljujarvi, I don’t see anybody in Penticton with a realistic shot of starting the season in Edmonton, although there will be a lot of eyes on forward Drake Caggiula, Matt Benning, Tyler Benson and Ethan Bear.
According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, Caggiula, 22, who signed on here as a free agent after four years at the University of North Dakota, might be the dark horse in that group and will get “every opportunity” to make the team.
- I see Benson, 18, an Edmonton boy taken 32nd overall, as being at least a year or two away from contesting a job on the left wing. Benson played just 30 games with the Vancouver Giants of the WHL last season (he scored 9-19-28). There’s way too much depth there to expect he’ll stick, even with a great camp.
- Benning, 22, another Edmonton area free agent who was originally drafted by the Boston Bruins, and Bear, 19, who had a breakout season with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2015-16 (19-46-65), are worth keeping an eye on, but where do they fit? It makes no sense whatsoever to rush either of them.
Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TEAM 1260.
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