Jesse Puljujarvi wants outs of Edmonton, and he is a perfect fit for the Rangers
The Edmonton Oilers selected big right winger, Jesse Puljujarvi with the fourth overall selection in the 2016 draft. Loaded with talent up front, the 21 year old is having trouble getting the ice time he needs to shine. Today, he made his demand to be traded.
Parting Ways
Ken Holland, the Oilers GM will look for trading partners but will not move him unless he gets what he wants. Puljajarvi and his agent want a fresh start and every NHL GM now knows that. While it makes sense for Holland not to just give him away, he has to realize that once being a promising prospect and struggling to deliver isn’t really a position of strength.
The Oilers have been looking for quality secondary scoring for awhile. They have almost $9M in cap space and need to sign a few RFA’s including Puljujarvi. On the flip, the Rangers will need to clear some cap room if they are serious about making a run at Artemi Panarin.
NY A Perfect Fit
Would a player like Chris Kreider interest Edmonton? I thinks so, but then Holland would have to throw in a 2nd round pick with Puljujarvi in my opinion. Another option would be Jeff Gorton sending over Vlad Namestnikov and his $4M cap hit along with a 3rd or 4th round pick for the 6’4″ big boy. A move like that could save the Rangers anywhere from $1M to $2M in cap space depending on what bridge deal they could get Puljujarvi to take.
So why bring in Puljujarvi to the Rangers? Aside from taking a chance on a player with a ton of upside, he hails from Finland. If the Rangers draft Kaapo Kakko on Friday, they don’t have a single Finnish player on this roster, and that could help ease the transition to North America for the future franchise player.
Jeff Gorton and the Rangers aren’t done making moves. The opportunity to bring in Puljujarvi just makes too much sense on so many levels. Let’s see if this goes down at the draft.
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