BUFFALO N.Y. — Somehow, the Edmonton Oilers never really lose at the draft lottery.
After falling two spots on April 30 when the bingo balls were drawn, then apparently trying furiously to trade away the fourth overall pick here in Buffalo, the Oilers couldn’t believe their luck when six-foot-three Finnish right-winger Jesse Puljujarvi dropped to No. 4 Friday night in Buffalo.
The Oilers had been talking to Columbus about trading up to get him.
“While that was happening we got the sense he might drop. So we backed off,” said GM Pete Chiarelli, whose luck came when Columbus took Pierre-Luc Dubois third. “We were fortunate. He’s a big, strong kid who can shoot the puck. Happy to get him.”
And Puljujarvi, who grew up in a country where former Oiler Jari Kurri is a national hero, was just fine with his lot.
“It is a real hockey town. That is my image, that the Oilers play in a real hockey town,” said Puljujarvi. “I’m ready to play next year for the Edmonton Oilers. It’s a good thing to get on a young team that’s only going to get better, and start winning (soon).”
In a delicious twist, Puljujarvi and Finnish teammate Patrik Laine both end up on the Canadian prairie, as Laine went at No. 2 to the Winnipeg Jets. Puljujarvi spent the majority of the season ranked as the second highest prospect behind Auston Matthews, but fell to third behind Laine in the final rankings. Now the two will team up in two Western Canadian towns famous for their Finnish alums, Teemu Selanne in Winnipeg and Kurri in Edmonton.
“Those two guys are the same size, but Puljujarvi is more of an all-around player,” said former Selke Award winner Jere Lehtinen, now the GM for Team Finland at this fall’s World Cup of Hockey. “He has a good shot too, but he’s more physical than Laine, playing more ways well. Laine may be a more offensive player, Puljujarvi it’s more natural coming back (and playing defensively). He’s a good all-around player.”
Puljujarvi led the world junior tournament in scoring and was the tournament MVP. Laine did the same thing at this spring’s world championships.
“He was the youngest MVP at a world junior ever, had the second most points in the (history of the) World Junior tournament (17),” Chiarelli noted. “He was lights out. We had him in the upper echelon all year.”
One thing is for sure though, Laine’s English is better. Puljujarvi’s gave it his best college try, but he’s still a man of few words in English. Kurri polished his English by watching Happy Days and The Flintstones, but it was Puljujarvi who was saying “Yabba dabba doo!” when he learned he might just be Connor McDavid’s future right-winger.
“I’ve seen him quite a bit,” he said through an interpreter. “Connor knows everything, very good hands, very fast skater.” So is Puljujarvi, whose calling card is his speed, for such a big man.
Does it seem like folly that the Oilers, of all teams, are going to solve their organizational problems by drafting another winger? Sure.
But Chiarelli worked furiously in the days, hours and minutes before this draft trying to move his No. 4 pick in a package for a defenceman the Oilers so badly need. The deal just wasn’t there.
“It’s been difficult to get a defenceman,” he admitted. “We put ‘4’ in a couple of scenarios that, in the end, didn’t happen. Sometimes those things just don’t happen. Today there was really only one deal involving the pick. So it doesn’t change much.”
All this does is centre Chiarelli’s attention on the trade market further, and with Puljujarvi a right-winger it likely means left-winger Taylor Hall is less likely to go, while it’s crowded on the right side where Jordan Eberle and Nail Yakupov sit. They’ll both be shopped for the defenceman Chiarelli seeks, as will Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
“If he’s able to play (this season), he can bump someone out,” the GM said of Puljujarvi. “It gives us a little more flexibility in our search for a defenceman. I think he’ll be ready to play … But you never know.”
Still, at the moment, how does this look for a Top 6: Nugent-Hopkins-McDavid-Eberle, and Hall-Leon Draisaitl-Puljujarvi.
We’ve seen worse. Maybe — finally — the Oilers can gain some traction and get themselves out of the basement.
