Free Money
Signing Jesse Puljujarvi will be like finding a wallet on the street with no ID in it that is stuffed full of money, then taking that money to a casino and tripling it.
The Toronto Maple Leafs need to be making bets like this if they are ever going to properly make use of the salary cap and operate effectively within its rules.
This is the exact opposite of signing Domi or Klingberg – i.e its a small bet with a big upside, instead of a big bet with little upside.
Puljujarvi is only 25 and he wasn’t qualified by the Carolina Hurricanes after it was revealed he needed double hip surgery.
Available to anyone willing to take a small risk, this is a huge-upside move that teams should be falling over themselves to make.
In the last four seasons, Puljujarvi has been over 54% expected goals the entire time.
Sure, he doesn’t score like a 4th overall pick should or is expected to, but he’s extremely effective because at 5v5 (where 80% of the game is played) he dominates.
You put him on the ice, you win those minutes.
It’s as simple as that. The fact that he’s seen as a bust, and is coming off surgery on not one, but two hips makes him available and cheap.
This is the kind of thing Kyle Dubas was good at, and I suspect that Treliving is not, but let’s give him a chance – the Toronto Maple Leafs can significantly upgrade their team