The Edmonton Oilers and forward Jesse Puljujarvi have avoided their arbitration hearing set for July 29th and the team has signed him to a one-year extension worth $3 million. There is some debate about what exactly Puljujarvi is to this Oilers team, but recent trade talk has surrounded this deal and the one year contract will only add to the speculation.
Analytics supporters will argue that Puljuajrvi is a top-six two-way forward who is a very strong forechecker but lacks finish. His inability to make strong passes or finish off scoring chances has hurt him in terms of a spot on the Oilers’ roster and, frankly, their belief in him as a prospect. At the same time, GM Ken Holland has been willing to give the player away in an underwhelming deal. As such, he’s still a part of this roster, at least for the next little while. Now that he’s signed, it will be intriguing to see if any teams come calling at this $3 million price tag.
The Oilers are now $3.7M over cap with 20 Players (11F/7D/2G) on Projected Roster. They still need to get deals done for Kailer Yamamoto and Ryan McLeod. This overage does not reflect the fact Edmonton will put Oscar Klefbom ($4.167M) and Mike Smith ($2.2M) on LTIR, effectively giving them $2.67M in additional cap space.
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