The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Trade For Jesse Puljujärvi

The Toronto Maple Leafs will have to make changes this off-season, through both free agency and trades.

One player of interest who is reportedly on their way out from their current team, is Jesse Puljujärvi. He’s a 24-year-old winger and former fourth overall pick in 2016 by the Edmonton Oilers.

Over his career, he’s faced ups and downs with the organization. Even leaving for Karpat of the Liiga in 2019-20 due to issues with the team and his handling. It seemed like a bright spot for a while when Oilers GM Ken Holland was able to massage the relationship and sway Puljujärvi back to the organization that drafted him, for the COVID-shortened 2021 season. However, now due to other issues with the team and their cap crunch, his time there seems to be coming to an end as a result.

In his five seasons as an Oiler, Puljujärvi has played in 259 games, racking up 46 goals and 52 assists for 96 points. These aren’t gaudy point totals… So, why should the Leafs get him?

Puljujärvi and the Toronto Maple Leafs

Since his return from Finland in 2021 Puljujärvi has proven that he’s a valuable offensive piece just waiting to break through.

Many people look at the raw point totals and cast him aside, over the past two seasons in 120 games he has scored only 29 goals and 32 assists for 61 points. This comes while playing primarily with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. However, his point totals don’t really paint the full picture.

Even with the lack of production, if you dig deeper, you see that Puljujärvi consistently drives good results. So much so that when he’s on the ice, just about every player he plays with generates far more high quality chances for and less high quality chances against. Beyond this, the same goes for goals for and against and shot attempts for and against. Even Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl benefit greatly when they share the ice with him.

We’ve seen time and time again, that when a player has these sorts of metrics, in the right situation, they can thrive and break out. Some recent examples are players like: Anthony Duclair, Carter Verhaege, Valeri Nichushkin, among many others. Puljujärvi clearly has the talent, he’s shown it in flashes and as long as the Leafs acquire him and use him correctly, he should thrive.

The positive thing with Puljujärvi as well is that even if he’s not producing points, again players tend to play better when he shares the ice with them. On top of that, he has great defensive results and can provide value that way. On the Leafs, he’d likely get the chance to play the penalty kill as well and his speed would make him an ideal candidate to replace a player like Ilya Mikheyev. Also given his lack of production so far in his short career, he likely won’t command a high salary like Mikheyev is reportedly asking for.

In closing, Puljujärvi has very good potential to be a breakout offensive player this upcoming season. He also comes already equipped with great play driving results and an elite defensive game. (All Stats via Hockey-reference.com, Hockeyviz.com and evolving-hockey.com)

As long as his price tag is a reasonable cap hit, which by all rumours both his trade cost and likely his contract cost should be, he’d be a great gamble for a cap strapped team like the Toronto Maple Leafs to take. At worst, you’re getting a reliable two-way player to provide secondary offence. At best, you could have a helpful complimentary piece to play in the top-six on top of his already valuable skillset.