Edmonton Oilers forward has played his last game with the team will be traded or waived in the next 24 hours
Despite some early season struggles, the Edmonton Oilers have managed to right their ship recently. The Oilers are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and finally find themselves in the top 3 playoff positions in the Pacific Division. With that recent surge comes the Oilers are now seeking to make potential moves to improve their playoff chances.
Depth scoring has been a significant issue this season for the Oilers. With most of the teams scoring from Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman, the team is in desperate need of depth. When the Edmonton Oilers selected Jesse Puljujarvi with the 4th overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft they had high hopes for the young Finnish forward. Unfortunately after a promising season last year, Puljujarvi hasn't been able to build upon it.
That has left Puljujarvi sitting outside of the Oilers top 12, and at times even sitting in the press box. Due to the salary cap, the Oilers are unable to allow Puljujarvi's $3,000,000 salary remain on their books.
According to Jeff Marek, the game Puljujarvi played for the Oilers yesterday will be his last.
Yamamoto is expected to return on Wednesday, and Puljujarvi will be placed on waivers if he is not traded by then.
If the Oilers are unable to trade Puljujarvi it would be an absolutely terrible management of their own assets. Over the summer the Oilers reportedly had multiple offers for JP, but turned them down trying to extract more value for the former 4th overall pick.
The Oilers will need to make the necessary cap room to fit Yamamoto, and to do so they will have to place JP on waivers or make a trade by the 2 pm waiver deadline tomorrow.
| POLL | ||
What will happen to Jesse Puljujarvi? | ||
| He'll be traded | 91 | 48.7 % |
| He'll be waived | 96 | 51.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
