The spotlight here in Sweden is primarily on the two Swedish players on the Oilers roster but there's also some attention on Finnish winger Jesse Puljujarvi.
Puljujarvi, who was actually born in Alvkarleby, Sweden but moved to Finland when he was four years old, has had plenty of media sessions with the Finnish press since the team arrived.
"Jesse played his first few exhibition games with a tremendous amount of confidence," said Oilers head coach Todd McLellan when asked to describe the progress of Puljujarvi. "He's a big skating forward that has to bully his way into areas of the ice. When he stays in the play he's effective. When he roams in and out of the play he becomes ineffective."
Puljujarvi had four goals in five pre-season games and dominated games at times, particiularly early on in pre-season as McLellan noted. He added that the Finn needs to be ready as play tightens up when the season gets going.
"The game is going to get faster, more intense. There's going to be situations where he'll have to play better this year," McLellan noted.
"He's a young player, this is his third year. His experience now and the pressure we're going to put on him is to take teh next step. It's time for him to push and take the next step."
BLOG: Puljujarvi ready for next step
Oilers head coach Todd McLellan spoke about what the team expects this season from Jesse Puljujarvi
