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Jesse Puljujarvi

East Notes: MacEachern, Graves, Raanta

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Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Game Four roster of the Carolina Hurricanes will look a bit different, as forward Mackenzie MacEachern replaces Jesse Puljujarvi in the lineup before tonight’s game against the New Jersey Devils. MacEachern has been out of the Hurricanes lineup since the series-winning Game Six victory against the New York Islanders in late April.

In his first taste of action for the Hurricanes this season, MacEachern scored one goal and one assist in Carolina’s Game Four victory against the Islanders in this year’s playoffs. Throwing 10 hits in three playoff games, the Hurricanes could use some more physicality in the lineup after their blowout loss to the Devils in Game Three of the second round.

Puljujarvi, on the other hand, hasn’t been able to produce to the level Carolina may have been hoping for after acquiring him from the Edmonton Oilers at the trade deadline. In seven games played for the Hurricanes in this year’s playoffs, Puljujarvi has only managed one assist. Needing more production on the defensive side of the puck from their forwards, MacEachern will replace Puljujarvi in the lineup for the time being.

Other notes:

  • In unfortunate injury news for the Devils, a lead reporter for New Jersey, Amanda Stein reports that defenseman Ryan Graves will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury. Coming off an impressive year on the defensive side of the puck, the Devils will once again have to weather Carolina’s offense without one of their top defenders. However, replacing Graves in the lineup is rookie defenseman Luke Hughes, who registered two assists in his first look at playoff action at the NHL level.
  • Once again missing a game due to illness, Dan Rosen of the NHL reports that Hurricanes’ goaltender Antti Raanta will miss Game Four. Replacing him in the lineup is Pyotr Kochetkov, who will be backing up goaltender Frederik Andersen. Raanta has not played since the team’s Game Five loss to the New York Islanders in the first round when he gave up three goals on 22 shots in a losing effort.

Alexander Romanov, Jesse Puljujarvi Back For Game Three

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As the series shifts to New York for game three, both the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes will be receiving reinforcements. Returning for the Islanders will be defenseman Alexander Romanov, and Jesse Puljujarvi returns for the Hurricanes (link). Romanov has been out of New York’s lineup since their April 1st game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Puljujarvi has been out of the lineup since their last game of the regular season.

Although the Islanders have played a relatively sound defensive series up to this point, getting Romanov back will allow New York to make things much more difficult on their opposition. Romanov doesn’t score at a rapid pace, but his ability to block shots and deliver serious hits has made him a staple of the Islanders’ back end. In his first season since being acquired from the Montreal Canadiens at last season’s draft, Romanov has played 76 regular season games for the Islanders this season, blocking 129 shots, and making 198 hits.

On the other side of the puck, it is much harder to predict what kind of impact Puljujarvi will make for the Hurricanes. Before joining his new team in Carolina, Puljujarvi skated in 58 games for the Edmonton Oilers, scoring five goals and nine assists. Thinking that a change of scenery might help him reclaim some of his potential of being a fourth overall pick, Puljujarvi only managed to score two points in 17 games in Carolina, neither of which were goals.

To this point in the series, Carolina has a 2-0 lead, winning both games by one goal, including an overtime win in game two. This season, the Hurricanes were a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of goal scoring, and with the Islanders’ style of play being one of the more frustrating to matchup against, this Metropolitan battle could tighten up in the next couple of days.

Tom Gulitti of the NHL was the first to report that Romanov and Puljujarvi would be back for game three.

Minor News and Notes: Griffith, Bruins, Puljujarvi

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After a three-goal and four-point performance in the Bakersfield Condors 6-2 victory over the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday night, Seth Griffith became the 100th player to record 500 points in the American Hockey League. Over the past ten seasons, Griffith has quietly been one of the most productive and consistent forwards in the AHL, scoring 77 points during the 2015-16 season with the Providence Bruins, and scoring an even 80 points last year.

Aside from his dominance in the AHL, Griffith has only played in 80 total games at the NHL level, scoring eight goals and 11 assists. His last action in the NHL came last year, when he played one game with the Edmonton Oilers, getting just over five minutes of play. After being drafted in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL Draft by the Boston Bruins, Griffith has cultivated a great career in the minors, cementing himself in the history books of the AHL.

Other notes:

  • With a 3-2 victory against the Detroit Red Wings yesterday afternoon, the Boston Bruins have officially clinched a playoff spot, becoming the first team this year to do so. Through 64 games this season, the Bruins are on pace for a 64-12-6 record, which would break the split record of wins (62) shared by the Red Wings and the Tampa Bay Lightning, as well as the points record (132) set by the Montreal Canadiens. Continuing the most dominant season by any team in NHL history, the Bruins will now look to clinch their division, conference, and finally the President’s Trophy.
  • Since being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers on February 28th, Jesse Puljujarvi finally made his Carolina Hurricanes’ debut during their 4-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights last night. Playing on a line with Stefan Noesen and Paul Stastny, Puljujarvi received just under 13 minutes of ice time, recording three shots on goal. As the Hurricanes continue to stave off the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers as the top team in the Metropolitan Division, expect Puljujarvi to continue to be slowly introduced into more important moments for Carolina.

East Notes: Hedman, Duclair, Puljujarvi

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The Tampa Bay Lightning are getting a boost to their lineup tonight with the return of Victor Hedman, according to Dave Randorf, the team’s play-by-play commentator. Hedman missed the team’s past two games after crashing heavily into the boards against the Carolina Hurricanes last weekend. The 6-foot-7 defenseman is having a solid season with six goals and 42 points in 60 games, but it is a bit off his pace after he put up 85 points last season. Still, the team leans heavily on their star defender who is averaging 23:59 per night which leads the team.

The Lightning have not been playing their best hockey lately, so they will be happy to have Hedman back. The team is 1-4-2 in their past seven games and though they appear destined to face the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round once again, they will need to get back on track in a hurry if they want to gain home-ice advantage in that series. The Lightning are currently four points back of the Leafs in the standings.

  • The Florida Panthers announced Anthony Duclair will be in the lineup tonight. Duclair missed last night’s overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks with an illness, but is good to go this evening as the Panthers host the Winnipeg Jets. The Panthers are scratching and clawing for every point as they sit four points back of the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. Duclair has been limited to just five games this season after suffering an achilles tendon injury in the offseason, and has added three points in those games.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes finally get to welcome Jesse Puljujarvi to the lineup this evening. Nearly two weeks after being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers, the Finnish winger will play his first game in Carolina. He dealt with some visa issues that delayed his arrival, and then joined the team in Montreal just before they faced the Canadiens on Tuesday. The coaching staff elected to have him settle in and practice with the team for a few days before finally taking the ice on the fourth line tonight with Paul Stastny and Stefan Noesen.

Snaphots: QMJHL Commissioner, Puljujarvi, Silovs

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The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced its new commissioner earlier today. Mario Cecchini was picked as the new head of the Junior circuit. Cecchini most recently has been serving as the Team President of the Montreal Allouettes of the Canadian Football League. He is not expected to take over his new role as QMJHL Commissioner until May 8. Martin Lavallee will serve as interim commissioner until that date.

This news comes just two days after previous commissioner Gilles Courteau abruptly announced he was stepping away from the role. Courteau sat in the commissioner’s chair for 37 years and was planning on retiring in 2024. He announced earlier this week he would be retiring immediately. This announcement was shrouded in questions surrounding an investigation into hazing in the Junior league.

  • Per Walt Ruff of NHL.com, Jesse Puljujarvi is finally cleared and eligible to make his debut with the Carolina Hurricanes, a week after they acquired him from the Edmonton Oilers. The Finnish winger was stuck in Canada, awaiting a work visa that would allow him to suit up for the Hurricanes. Puljujarvi joined the team shortly before they took on the Montreal Canadiens, but was not in the lineup.
  • Arturs Silovs was sent back down to the AHL by the Vancouver Canucks, per a team release. Silovs was called up yesterday on an emergency loan as Canucks backup goaltender Collin Delia was sick and unavailable to play. Silovs got the start last night, stopping 29 shots and helping the Canucks beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 in a shootout. The 21 year old now returns to the Abbotsford Canucks but has proven himself capable at the NHL in four starts this season.

East Notes: Capitals, Puljujarvi, Bertuzzi

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WonWhile the Capitals moved some of their pending unrestricted free agents and extended others, two players that are eligible to hit the open market didn’t move in winger Conor Sheary and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk.  Speaking with reporters after yesterday’s deadline including NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link), GM Brian MacLellan indicated that they’d rather have the opportunity to try to re-sign the two moving forward compared to what they would have received for them in a trade.  Sheary has 30 points in 63 games this season while van Riemsdyk has a career-high 18 points while logging nearly 19 minutes a night on Washington’s back end.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • Hurricanes winger Jesse Puljujarvi will have to wait a little longer to make his Carolina debut. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the 24-year-old has an appointment for his work visa on Monday which means the earliest he’ll be able to suit up for his new team is Tuesday against Montreal.  Puljujarvi has 14 points in 58 games this season and the Hurricanes are hoping that a change of scenery will make him more of a consistent contributor for the stretch run.
  • Prior to moving him to Boston, the Red Wings touched base with Tyler Bertuzzi’s camp about a contract extension, GM Steve Yzerman told reporters including Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now. However, those discussions didn’t go anywhere and with Detroit not wanting to run the risk of losing him in unrestricted free agency this summer, they turned around and dealt him, picking up a first-round pick in return.

Carolina Hurricanes Acquire Jesse Puljujarvi

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The Jesse Puljujarvi saga in Edmonton is ending. The Carolina Hurricanes have acquired Puljujarvi from the Oilers today, after months (if not years) of trade speculation. The rights to Patrik Puistola are going back to Edmonton in the trade, and the Oilers will not be retaining any of Puljujarvi’s contract.

This ends a long, disappointing tenure for Puljujarvi in Edmonton, starting the moment they selected him fourth overall in 2016. Despite his size, speed, and relative success in the Finnish professional league, he was completely overwhelmed when he entered the NHL in 2016-17. Bouncing up and down between the NHL and AHL hindered his development, and a few years later, Puljujarvi had enough.

In 2019-20, when his entry-level deal expired, he refused to sign a contract with the Oilers and asked for a trade. He would return to Finland to play for the entire season, once again finding great success in a more offensive role back home.

Upon returning to Edmonton the following year, Puljujarvi turned in a relatively good performance, scoring 15 goals and 25 points in 55 games. But his game had inconsistent swings in production, and it was hard to know exactly where his place on the Oilers really was.

Now, with Edmonton looking to make a big splash at the deadline but pushed right up against the salary cap ceiling, Puljujarvi needed to go. His $3MM will come off the books, meaning the team can add something significant in the coming days.

Puistola, 22, may never actually play for the Oilers. The 2019 third-round pick is unsigned and would need a contract by June 1, or his exclusive draft rights will expire. That gives Edmonton a few months to work something out with the young forward, who scored 38 points in 56 games with Jukurit in Finland this season.

In Carolina, Puljujarvi should feel a little more at home. The Hurricanes’ roster is filled with Finnish players, including 2016 World Junior teammate Sebastian Aho. There’s a real chance that he finally shows some of the offensive potential that has been locked up for so long, though that is by no means guaranteed after so many tumultuous development years.

At the very least, Puljujarvi—who has some very good underlying defensive and possession metrics—will add another big-bodied forward to the Hurricanes attack, and lengthen their forward depth chart even further. The injury to Max Pacioretty gave Carolina some wiggle room in terms of cap space, and they’ve used it to take a swing on a move that could still pay huge dividends down the road.

Puljujarvi is still scheduled for restricted free agency at the end of the year, and would be due a $3MM qualifying offer. Given the money coming off the books in Carolina, there’s no reason why they would be afraid of that number, meaning they could get a longer look at Puljujarvi with a long-term commitment if finds a fit down the stretch.

It is a disappointing outcome for another high pick in Edmonton, but fans will quickly forget the sacrifice if they can turn this cap space into a difference-maker at the deadline.

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic broke news of the deal on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Hurricanes, Oilers Have Discussed Jesse Puljujarvi Trade

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Earlier this week, the Oilers opted to drop down to a minimum-sized roster in order to get cap-compliant to activate winger Kailer Yamamoto from LTIR.  As luck would have it, the flu bug hit the team for yesterday’s game against the Rangers and the team wound up playing short a player as Klim Kostin was unable to suit up.  That’s not a viable situation for a playoff contender to have to navigate through for another couple of months before the season comes to an end so there has been an expectation that they will open up some cap space.

Jesse Puljujarvi has been widely speculated as the eventual cap casualty but, for the time being, they haven’t found a trade that works for them.  However, Sportsnet’s Mark Spector reports that there is a belief that the Hurricanes have indicated that they are willing to move winger Ondrej Kase (currently on LTIR with a concussion) to Edmonton for Puljujarvi but only after the Finnish winger has cleared waivers.  That would allow Carolina to shuffle him back and forth between the AHL if needed while seeing if a change of scenery could help get him going.

It has been quite a fall for the 24-year-old who was the fourth-overall pick in 2016 but hasn’t come close to living up to his draft billing.  This season, Puljujarvi has been quite limited offensively, scoring just five goals along with seven assists in 53 games, hardly the type of production they were expecting after he posted 36 points in 65 contests just last season.  It’s also hardly the type of return they were hoping for from someone carrying a $3MM cap hit.

Clearly, GM Ken Holland still believes he can salvage some sort of positive value for Puljujarvi as otherwise, he likely would have hit the waiver wire already.  If he was to be claimed, they’d free up the full $3MM in cap room and if not, the proposed swap with Carolina would open up $1.5MM in regular cap room and $1.5MM (Kase’s cap hit) in their LTIR pool.  While that wouldn’t be a great return by any stretch, it would certainly give them a bit more flexibility to work with as they either look to add a piece by the March 3rd trade deadline or to bring someone back up from AHL Bakersfield to avoid having to play short a player as they did last night.  We’ll find out soon enough if Holland is able to find a better option for Puljujarvi than this one.

Kailer Yamamoto Expected To Play Tomorrow

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The Edmonton Oilers have something up their sleeves. For a week now, the hockey world has been wondering how they would clear enough cap space to activate Kailer Yamamoto. The overwhelming sentiment was that Jesse Puljujarvi would end up on waivers. Either he would be claimed by another team, removing his entire $3MM cap hit, or buried in the minor leagues, giving them the needed $1.125MM.

Today, Puljujarvi was missing from practice but did not appear on waivers. The wire was silent, meaning something else would have to happen if Yamamoto is going to play tomorrow. He looks healthy and even told reporters that he is “feeling really good right now.”

According to head coach Todd Woodcroft, who spoke with reporters, including Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic, a roster move is coming, and Yamamoto will play tomorrow. He also called it a “maintenance day” for Puljujarvi, who played a little over 11 minutes last night.

That means a trade is in the pipe, or someone else is going on long-term injured reserve to make room. Either way, all eyes will be on Edmonton over the next 24 hours given how many big names they have been connected to over recent weeks.

The team has shown (sometimes limited) interest in Erik Karlsson, Jakob Chychrun, Vladislav Gavrikov, and Patrick Kane, among others.

There is one other way that they could fit Yamamoto in, without making a trade or waiving someone. Edmonton could send two of their three waiver-exempt players to the minor leagues, and hold a 20-man roster. Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg, and Vincent Desharnais can all be loaned back to the AHL without clearing and could create enough cap space, according to PuckPedia.

Carrying a 20-man roster is extremely difficult for any length of time, given how one small injury can leave you shorthanded. Perhaps it is the only way to get around this problem at the moment, or maybe the Oilers have something else coming down the pipe.

Snapshots: Tarasenko, Anderson, Puljujarvi

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Hitting the ice today as a member of the New York Rangers, Vladimir Tarasenko was skating beside Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, as many expected. The former St. Louis Blues star spoke with the media, including Mollie Walker of the New York Post after practice, and confirmed what had been reported over the last few months:

There was no chance I was staying in St. Louis. No deal was offered, so I knew I was going to be moved. I talked with Artemi and they want me here. I want to be here, too…it’s a chance to win a Cup again. 

The good vibes were clear when Panarin explained how happy he was to have a long-time friend join the team. Tarasenko, of course, is only signed through the end of this season at the moment. A pending unrestricted free agent, it will be interesting to see if the Rangers will offer him the extension that never came in St. Louis.

  • The Montreal Canadiens are sort of flying under the radar as a potential seller at this year’s deadline, mostly because of their lack of expiring contracts. Arpon Basu of The Athletic argues that if Josh Anderson is drawing interest, though, the team has to investigate what they could get in return. The 28-year-old is signed through the 2026-27 season and carries a cap hit of $5.5MM. It hasn’t worked out exactly as planned, with Anderson’s offensive game never really materializing past his individual power and speed. He has 25 assists in 170 games with the team, but still is so intriguing because of his heavy, made-for-the-playoffs style.
  • With the Edmonton Oilers approaching something of a cap crunch, as Kailer Yamamoto gets healthy enough to return from LTIR, Chris Johnston openly wondered on TSN’s Insider Trading about whether Jesse Puljujarvi would end up on waivers. As Jason Gregor of TSN points out, if Yamamoto is coming back this weekend, today is probably the day Edmonton uses waivers.

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