Jesse Puljujarvi shows off skills he never had with the Oilers
After recovering from an offseason hip surgery sustained while he was with the Carolina Hurricanes last season, Jesse Puljujarvi recently finally signed a deal to get him back playing pro hockey in North America. A few weeks ago, Puljujarvi signed a professional tryout contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins AHL affiliate, and now 5 games in he's showing off skills he never had with the Oilers.
While scoring his first goal with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, Puljujarvi used his great speed and length strides to create space for himself speeding down the wing, then showed incredible finish by rifling home a hard wrist shot for a goal.
The goal came at a clutch time for his team too, being the tying goal late in a close game in the second period. It proved to be an important goal for the Penguins as they went on to win 3-2.
It's that kind of finishing talent that Puljujarvi was never quite able to capture in his time with the Oilers. As the fourth overall pick by Edmonton in the 2016 draft and getting significant opportunities with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, he never was able to produce or live up to expectations. Still, in five games played with the Penguins this year, this is Puljujarvi's only goal and point so far.
Although it didn't work out for the fan favourite in Edmonton, Oilers fans are still cheering on Puljujarvi in the next chapter of his career, and are hoping he can turn this AHL tryout into an opportunity to get back into the NHL.
| POLL | ||
Will Puljujarvi play in the NHL again this year? | ||
| Yes | 229 | 42.5 % |
| No | 266 | 49.4 % |
| See Results | 44 | 8.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
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