Quote:
Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers
They played 7 games together in an international tournament.... I took your comment as though they used to play hockey together when they were successful pre draft. They didn’t.
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I see your point... on games played together... but... that was pre-draft and was the BIGGEST reason IMO for both of them increasing their draft positions. Puljujärvi went 4th overall, and if not for Columbus picking Pierre-Luc Dubois, was slated to go third, right behind Laine and both above Tkachuk largely due to their performance in that tournament - and since the Flames picked 6th and we got Tkachuk because of this, I'm not complaining.
Give me a value and term on a Laine's contract that you would feel comfortable with signing... it's extremely hard and a very uneasy feeling if you were the Jets... you don't want to lose the guy because he could be great... but at the same time, he could go in the other directions, over paying him is certainly a risk. Same with Puljujärvi, although because of the Oilers, he's is not worth so much... but there is certainly potential there. The biggest issue with Puljujärvi in Edmonton was him not doing and going to spots where his teammates wanted him to go (aka: his play without the puck) - could this be a communication issue - and if he had Laine with him... this would no longer be a factor - think about that and the fact that in those 7 games - the two of them combined for 12 goals and 30 points - I'd take that. Remember Edmonton got him very little to no language or translation support - what the hell is Edmonton doing - if the fix is as simple as that... it's certainly an issue up north.