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Jesse Puljujärvi finds himself in the Pittsburgh Penguins dog-house

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Patrick Frost
November 30, 2024  (11:31 PM)
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Ex-Edmonton Oilers forward Jesse Puljujärvi has had a respectable start for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but things have taken an awkward turn.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were gearing up to play the Calgary Flames, but head coach Mike Sullivan made the executive decision to healthy scratch the Finnish forward.

According to Ryan Hall of Oilers Daily, During the pregame media scrum, Taylor Haase of PGH asked the question too why he was scratched and Sullivan explained that Pujujarvi needed to grasp and understand the team concept and focus on the details.

»A lot of it is just details. Understanding the team concept, doing his job, whether it be forechecks or rush coverages or D zone coverage. There's a number of different things.»
- Mike Sullivan

So far, the Bison Kind has notched 3 goals and 5 assists for the Pens, but Mike Sullivan admits that he's struggling to understand the "team concept", in addition to poor D-zone coverage.

The scratching was a little confusing as some of the statistics showed that Pujujarvi is one of the most efficient players on the Penguins roster as he currently sits third behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for points for 60 minutes at two per game.

The Edmonton Oilers selected Jesse Puljujarvi fourth overall in the 2016 Draft, but struggled heavily with confidence and consistency.

Now, it appears that his old tendencies are creeping back in, but Mike Sullivans's reasons for healthy scratching Puljujarvi are somewhat strange...

He was a fan favourite in Edmonton and an incredible person, but wasn't able to bring consistency to his level of play and scoring. He never lived up the expectations of such a high draft pick, and the Oilers traded him to Carolina in 2023.

Although NHL enthusiasts are relatively perplexed by Mike Sullivan's explanation of the situation, hopefully Pool Party manages to get back into the starting lineup soon enough.

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Jesse Puljujärvi finds himself in the Pittsburgh Penguins dog-house

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