Jesse Puljujarvi officially joining eastern conference team
Late last night, news began surfacing that Jesse Puljujarvi will finally be joining an NHL organization this year. According to several reports, Puljujarvi will be signing an AHL contract with Wilkes-Barre Scranton, the affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
GM Kyle Dubas commented that Puljujarvi will be joining the AHL team for practice in the coming days, warming up and getting back to game speed before he enters the lineup for a game.
Puljuharvi became a free agent after the end of last season where the Carolina Hurricanes decided not to tender his qualifying offer of $3M as a restricted free agent. Coming off of a significant hip surgery, Puljujarvi found himself unable to secure an NHL contract this summer, but had always been eyeing a return after December. It's an extremely similar situation to that of another former Oiler, Ethan Bear.
Jesse Puljujarvi was originally selected by the Oilers fourth overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, and never came close to the offensive expectations of a pick that high. Despite sometimes finding ways to make his speed and size an asset on the ice, Puljujarvi has just never been able to carve out a role for a team at the NHL level.
After scoring just 5 goals and 14 points through 58 games with the Oilers in 2022-23, he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes as a salary cap dump. Hopefully this time, as a reclamation project under the Dubas-led Penguins, Puljujarvi can find a way to finally contribute at the NHL level when he inevitably gets called up to Pittsburgh.
| POLL | ||
Is Puljujarvi an NHL quality player? | ||
| Yes, easily | 107 | 21.4 % |
| He'll play between the AHL and NHL | 259 | 51.9 % |
| He's not close to an NHL player | 133 | 26.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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