Former Oiler calls out the team over treatment of Jesse Puljujarvi.

Former Oiler goes off.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Former Oiler calls out the team over treatment of Jesse Puljujarvi.
Keystone Press

The Edmonton Oilers made a tough decision over the week end when they decided to send both former first round picks Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi back down to the American Hockey League to play with the Bakersfield Condors, the Oilers AHL affiliate team. 

The move was a tough one for both of the young men being sent down but there were some compelling reasons to make the move in both cases. The first and most obvious is the fact that both players will get significantly more playing time at the AHL level and the hope from the Oilers perspective is that this will allow them to continue to develop in a better fashion than they would by riding the pine at the National Hockey League level. Another potential motivation behind this decision from the Oilers is to give rival teams a chance to take a closer look at both of these players at the AHL level. Reports surfaced yesterday that suggesting that the Oilers were revisiting trade discussions that had previously been held with the Boston Bruins and in the past Puljujarvi's name had come up on a few occasions in those rumors.

Although there seem to be some perfectly sound reasons behind the move some have not been happy with the decision at all, including former Edmonton Oiler Iiro Pakarinen. Pakarinen made some comments to Finnish outlet MTV sport. The original comments are in Finnish however they were translated by a fan on social media and they are a rather damnign condemnation of the Oilers organization.

From MTV Sport:

They don't say anything or talk to you about why you're not playing. At least the Oilers never did. That's what annoyed me the most, Pakarinen said to MTV sport

Coach never gives you a reason or reasons. You have to figure it out why you're sitting in the pressbox by yourself. Also in general the coach and GM talked to us very little. It's almost like they have some top secret information. I think it's unfathomable, Pakarinen continued.

Communication should be more open, like it is in Europe. Here it goes like it should. In the NHL it feels like the coach is one great ego. Of course the coach will talk to the players about random things, but never about anything personal or things related to your own game.

Oilers head coach Todd McLellan has received similar criticism from some of his other players in the past, including NHL legend Joe Thornton, so I don't believe that Pakarinen is entirely off base here. That being said if he's commenting on this publicly you have to wonder if he has not had the chance to speak to his fellow countryman about his frustrations with the Oilers. If that is indeed the case the Oilers may have a bigger problem than just trash talk from their former players.

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