Jesse Puljujarvi reportedly played his last game as an Oiler

Another move for the forward

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 1 year ago
Jesse Puljujarvi reportedly played his last game as an Oiler
Zuma Press

Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland revealed on Wednesday that forward Jesse Puljujarvi is facing a 4-6 week recovery period due to a shoulder injury. While Puljujarvi shouldn’t be expected to miss any time next season and figures to be good to go for training camp, the question is: will it be with the Oilers?

According to team insider Ryan Rishaug of TSN, the Oilers, at this point are significantly prioritizing Kailer Yamamoto over Puljujarvi. On the air of TSN 1260, Rishaug reported that there’s a possibility Puljujarvi has played his last game in an Oilers uniform.

On top of that, the Oilers and GM Holland have a lot of free agents to deal with, including Yamamoto, Ryan McLeod AND Evander Kane, who let’s just say did a whole lot better than Puljujarvi in his short tenure in Edmonton. Given the Oilers’ cap space, it will have to make additional moves to get it done.

At first, Puljujarvi started the season playing very well and appeared to be picking up where he left off of his successful return to the NHL in 2020-21. Fans even thought he could be on his way to setting new career-highs in goals and points after starting the campaign with six goals and 13 points in the first 11 games.

Then, things slowed down for Puljujarvi, who then was sidelined for a month due to an injury. Upon his return, he struggled to finish his plays and in 19 games – from his return from injury to the end of the regular season – he tallied just two goals on 43 shots, adding to his record sheet just six assists…

In the postseason, Puljujarvi managed just two goals and three points in 16 playoff games, when the Oilers clearly needed much more from the depth…

Puljujarvi didn’t deliver and now might be out of the Oilers’ future plans this summer. You have to wonder where he’d go next…

Source: TSN