The fourth overall pick from 2016 still has time to salvage a good NHL career, but rushing Puljujarvi into the best league in the world did him no favors.
Jesse Puljujarvi's NHL career is clearly broken.
That much is evident by the fact that, nine years into it, he's on a PTO with the AHL's Charlotte Checkers, which plays on Saturday. Only time will tell whether or not it's salvageable.
There's always been a lot to like about Puljujarvi, both the player and the person. Is there a chance he's the next Dan Cleary or Andrew Cogliano or Olli Jokinen, guys who took a lot longer to become good NHL players than anyone ever expected? Or were all the scouts who had him rated so high in his draft year wrong about his potential as an NHL player?
There's no doubt that rushing him into the NHL as an 18-year-old was a mistake, but can that be the reason why he has yet to develop into a consistent NHLer?
We can only contemplate these questions as Puljujarvi starts with Charlotte, trying desperately to find his game.
Here's more in today's video column:
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