[Ashasx]

PRETENDING PULJUJARVI IS READY HURTS THE CLUB

http://############.com/2016/10/11/p...hurts-the-club

There is no shame in not being ready, but there is one in exposing a kid to the NHL before he’s ready. It can negatively affect the player and certainly will negatively affect the team. Puljujarvi’s English is rudimentary at best. He’s not familiar with the rink size and even he could express as much. He wasn’t effective at all in the defensive, neutral, or offensive zone.

The Oilers ARE going to give him nine games in the NHL, most likely right away. They do that despite the fact that he didn’t pass the test after the six games he saw over the last two and a half weeks. Unlike the CHL players who Edmonton drafted before him, Puljujarvi can play in the AHL right now and be recalled at will. Leon Draisaitl, Taylor Hall, and Nugent-Hopkins’ 9 game audition HAD to happen at the beginning of the season. Puljujarvi’s audition can come now, December, or March if the team wanted (or needed) it. It can come after he’s earned it.

It won't. It will happen now, barring a last second move. Just don’t let anybody tell you it’s because he earned, because it doesn’t matter, or because there’s no harm in playing him. He hasn’t, it does, there certainly can be.