Finnish insider blames Oilers for hurting Puljujarvi’s confidence and begs them to trade him!

Edmonton Oilers young forward Jesse Puljujarvi claims he is not thinking about all the trade rumours surrounding him, however, one Finnish insider surely dreams about a trade for the 20-year-old. 

As reported by David Staples of the Edmonton Journal, Finnish sports writer Tommi Seppala of Yle.fi has complained about the treatment of Puljujarvi in Edmonton and blames the Oilers for hurting his development. Seppela hopes that the young forward will be "liberated" by a trade ahead of the Feb. 25 deadline. 

"Yes Puljujärvi deserves criticism, but the same can be said of Edmonton Oilers regarding the development of young players… There are no signs of self-confidence in Puljujärvi, and it’s not only Jesse’s fault, Oilers should look the mirror too.”

The kid has handled the criticism quite well, and seems to refuse to put the blame on the team that selected him fourth overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, or on head coach Ken Hitchcock for that matter. 

Puljujarvi told Seppala he’d made a mistake on a Vancouver goal. “I should been able to take that puck. Icetime must be earned, and now I didn’t.”

He said he could not blame Hitchcock for his ice time situation.

“I haven’t earned that more that that. If I didn’t do anything at the time, then it’s like this.”

Staples reminded readers that several fans are outraged and are siding with the young forward. However, while the Finnish sports reporter was quite blunt and accusatory towards the Oilers' treatment of Puljujarvi, the young player said all the right things. He mentioned that he needs to earn his ice time and owned up to a mistake he made in the game: that might make his trade value go up. 

It remains to be seen what GM Peter Chiarelli will do ahead of the trade deadline. TSN's Darren Dreger recently revealed that the Oilers were torn on whether to continue to develop the young forward, or deal him away for needed help. 

“My Oilers sources tell me that they’d prefer not to trade Jesse Puljujarvi. And in fact, there’s some who believe that Peter Chiarelli may have gone as far as reaching out to the agent a week or 10 days ago to say that, ‘We’re not trading him," explained Dreger yesterday on TSN Edmonton 1260. 

Seppala and some impatient fans might not be please with this... Where do you stand?