Adam Proteau writes his thoughts on Jesse Puljujarvi, Buffalo's great offense and poor defense, and the sustainability in mind for Coachella Valley's new arena.
Welcome to Screen Shots – THN.com’s regular feature in which yours truly breaks down a handful of hockey topics in smaller portions. You know the drill by now. We’re going to get right to it.
Once again, the future in Edmonton of forward Jesse Puljujarvi is coming into question – and this time, it’s Puljujarvi himself who’s sounding the alarm that he may be playing for another team, and perhaps, another league.
“Twenty games in and I have one goal,” Puljujarvi told Finnish journalist Tommi Peppala of YLE news agency in an interview in Finnish on Tuesday. He added he's thinking a lot about what to do differently.
Indeed, despite playing up and down the Oilers’ forward lines, the 24-year-old Puljularvi has just six points in 27 games this season. He’s averaging just 13:47 per game, and Edmonton’s pedestrian record means they’re looking for more from all of their players not named Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.
But Puljujarvi, now in his sixth NHL season, does not appear capable of becoming the elite player the Oilers envisioned when they drafted him fourth overall in 2016. And, like most players, Puljujarvi is his own biggest critic.
Edmonton GM Ken Holland has given Puljujarvi opportunities to live up to his current $3-million salary cap hit, but he’s never generated more than 15 goals and 36 points in a single season. It’s going to be difficult for the Oilers to find a trade partner willing to assume all of Puljujarvi’s salary, although his contract does expire after this season.
“I’m trying to find out who I am as a player, since it looks like I don’t fit anywhere (in Edmonton),” Puljujarvi said Tuesday.
When you’ve been in the world’s best hockey league for a half-dozen years and you’re still trying to figure out your identity as a player, there clearly are struggles that a change in linemates isn’t going to fix.
The Buffalo Sabres are giving their beleaguered fan base reason for optimism with their recent explosion in offense that’s made them the NHL’s top team in goals-for average (4.00 goals-for in 26 games this season).
In their past five wins, they’ve generated 33 goals, which is outstanding. However, if you take a step back and examine the entire picture for Buffalo, it’s quite clear why they’re the second-worst team in the Atlantic Division (with a 12-13-1 record) at the moment.
To wit: their goals-against average of 3.69 is the fifth-worst in the league. When they lose, it’s usually a blowout: in 11 of their losses this year, they’ve surrendered at least four goals, and in eight of their losses, they’ve allowed five goals or more.
It doesn’t matter how dynamic your offense is when you’re a turnstile on defense, and that’s been the chief ailment for the Sabres this season. Coach Don Granato’s biggest job the rest of this season is to figure out how to cut down on the number of goals-against Buffalo averages, and until he does, the Sabres are likely going to continue to languish at or near the bottom of the Atlantic.
Finally, here’s a stick-tap to the Seattle Kraken and their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, for taking steps to make a positive environmental change in their daily operations.
The Firebirds and Kraken announced this week that recycled ice from Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena was shipped to Coachella to help make new ice at their new home, Acrisure Arena in Greater Palm Springs.
Acrisure Arena’s goal is to reduce water consumption by 40 percent as compared to other buildings of its size, and they intend to achieve carbon neutrality for all operations as of 2025.
There are many reasons to like this move by the two organizations, but the main one is that, at a time when water consumption around the world has become a serious problem, hockey is trying to do its part to ease the depth of the footprint they leave in their everyday existence.
Water recycling is a terrific idea, and even casual fans can see the benefits. It’s important for all teams to be good corporate citizens, and this announcement makes it clear Seattle and Coachella Valley are trying to be leaders in that regard.