EDMONTON, AB - It's time.
Jesse Puljujarvi skated with the Oilers second unit power play at practice on Sunday and Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan said he thinks the Finnish forward is ready for the occasion.
"He has steadily improved since he's got here," said McLellan. "He's been able to take increments of his game up on a steady basis. We think he's ready to go there and that he's earned the opportunity."
McLellan said the reason for not trying Puljujarvi on the power play before was to ensure he would be able to handle the responsibilities before taking them on.
"What we've watched with him is making sure that he hasn't given up anything in his game as he takes more on," he said. "He's done a very good job of that and we want it to continue. The next step and progression is some power play time."
One of the barriers that limited Puljujarvi from appearing on the man-advantage was communication when breaking in and establishing the power play in the offensive zone. McLellan said Puljujarvi's improved in those aspects as well.
"A lot of the penalty kills right now do such a good job up ice or through the neutral zone that you have to understand your role in that area and the variables that go into it sometimes on different breakouts," said McLellan. "I think his English is improving and he has the ability to adjust on the fly. Verbally with quick changes, we find him in the right spot a lot more now than he was last year when he struggled with the language.
"A large part of it is that and once he's in the zone, he's got to understand where he's got to go to alleviate pressure and to do things to be successful there but he's improving immensely over time."
Puljujarvi has six goals and two assists in 16 games this season.
BLOG: Puljujarvi to see power play time
"We think he's ready to go there and that he's earned that opportunity," said Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan
