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Jesse Puljujarvi is developing into a solid NHL player

Written by SFDI on October 21, 2021. Posted in Blog. Leave a Comment

By Neil Becker

Edmonton Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi has suddenly emerged into an impactful highly skilled NHL forward.

Drafted fourth overall by Edmonton in the 2016 draft, there was lots of excitement about the vast potential of this 6 -foot -4 201 pound Finnish right winger who was looked upon by scouts as a top European prospect.

Prior to being drafted Puljujarvi dominated at the 2016 World Junior Championships where playing for Finland he scored 5 goals and 17 points in seven tournament games in capturing gold. In what was a year to remember, Puljujarvi was eventually selected as the Best Forward and MVP of the tournament. Later on that same year, he also represented Finland at the 2016 World U18 Championship where he came away with another gold medal.

During his first three years, Puljujarvi went back and forth in playing with the Oilers and their AHL affiliate the Bakersfield Condors.

As an 18 year-old rookie, Puljujarvi scored 1 goal and 8 points in 28 games with the Oilers before speding the remainder of the 2016/2017 season with Bakersfield. Playing on the farm Puljujarvi showed promise that season as he he produced 12 goals and 28 points in 39 games.

In his sophomore season, this hulking forward’s production slighly improved as he talied 12 goals and 20 points in 65 games with the Oilers along with 1 goal and 5 points in 10 games with the Condors. In January 2018, he had his biggest NHL moment when he was named first star after scoring a goal and totaling 3 points in a win against the Vancouver Canucks.

The following year, Puljujarvi finished the 2018-2019 campaign with only 4 goals and 9 points in 46 games with the Oilers. He also played 4 games in Bakersfield where he produced 2 goals and 4 points. These numbers had Edmonton hockey fans frustrated as talk quickly began turning to the idea that Puljujarvi might end up being a first round bust.

Puljujarvi would hold out from the Oilers during the 2019-2020 season, as he returned to playing for Oulun Karpat. On October 7, 2020, he returned to Edmonton and signed a two-year $2.35 million- dollar contract in deciding to give the NHL another go.

Perhaps due to being a little older, Puljujarvi returned as a 22 year-old and received lots of praise from teammates and coach Dave Tippett after the COVID shortened season which saw him score 15 goals and 25 points in 55 games.

“Ever since the start of camp last year he’s started building himself to be a good NHL player and his confidence continues to grow and his game continues to grow,” Tippett said to NBC Sports. “He’s playing in a lot of situations, playing with those big guys and puts a lot of work in the game. He can shoot the puck well, as you’ve seen. His skill set is really strong.”

Another big asset to Puljujarvi’s game is his size and strength. Playing on a line with captain Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Puljujarvi’s job is to park himself in front of the goalie and provide a screen. This along with tipping pucks is something he has done extremely well.

In making a statement, this big Finn scored four pre-season goals and has started this season with four points in the first two games.

No question that at 23 years of age, Puljujarvi is just going to get better and better which is great news for Oilers fans.

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Toronto Maple Leafs beat Montreal Canadiens in home opener

Written by SFDI on October 15, 2021. Posted in Blog. Leave a Comment

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By Neil Becker

Toronto Maple Leafs Jack Campbell continues to establish himself as a solid number one goaltender.

For the first time in 19 months, fans at Scotiabank Arena were in attendance and they saw some solid goaltending from Campbell who made 31 saves to lead the Leafs to a 2021-2022 season-opening 2-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Leafs, who were playing without star forward Austin Matthews, came out sloppy as they surrendered countless scoring opportunities only to be bailed out by several quality saves from Campbell.

Campbell, who last year put together a solid 17-3-2 record with a 2.15 G.A.A., received some heavy praise from teammate William Nylander following the opening night win. Nylander, whose third-period goal turned out to be the game winner couldn’t say enough about the always positive goaltender.

“He was on fire,” Nylander told The Hockey News. “Thank god he was a factor. It could have been 2 or 3-0 Montreal right from the start. We came out pretty slow.”

Naturally, the 48th Highlanders continued the tradition of performing on the ice before warmups. Last year, due to COVID-19, they performed virtually but this year they were back at Scotia Bank arena along with not only a near-capacity enthusiastic crowd but also anthem singer Martina Ortiz Luis.

“Right from the time I walked out onto the bench or the introductions it was just different,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe told CBC. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the place full like that. I thought the crowd was engaged right from the start.”

Fittingly it was Montreal forward Jonathan Drouin who scored the first goal as he took a first-period pass from linemate Josh Anderson before scoring the Canadiens only goal. What made this goal so special was that this was Drouin’s first game since last April 28th, when he had to step away and deal with some personal matters.

“It wasn’t an easy thing to do and I’m proud of what I’d done and happy I did it,” Drouin told TSN. “It wasn’t an easy thing to do and I’m proud of what I’d done and happy I did it. I’m 26 years old, so I wanted to do that at that point in my career and feel good for the next years.”

Approximately three minutes following Drouin’s goal, Leafs forward Pierre Engvall got the 18,493 masked and vaccinated fans cheering as he scored the first Leafs goal of the season.

Nylander grabbed the spotlight 1:06 into the third when after receiving a pass from defenceman Morgan Riely, Nylander rushed to the net before faking Montreal goalie Jake Allen before scoring the eventual opening night game-winner.

Obviously, it’s crucial getting off to a strong start, but the real test for Toronto will come in the playoffs. Another first-round loss will not be tolerated by Leafs Nation.

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Colorado Avalanche Team Report

Written by SFDI on October 11, 2021. Posted in Blog. Leave a Comment

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By Neil Becker

The Colorado Avalanche are without a doubt among the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.

In late July, they made a deal with the Arizona Coyotes for 31- year-old starting goalie Darcy Kuemper who is coming off a 10-11 season with a 2.56 GAA.

Another move was demoting goalies Hunter Miska and Trent Miner down to Colorado’s AHL team.

Meanwhile departing this off-season was former Avalanche goalie and unrestricted free agent Adam Werner who signed a one-year two-way contract with the Calgary Flames. Also signing somewhere else was Avs unrestricted free agent goalie Philipp Grubauer who inked a six-year $ 35.4 million dollar contract with the expansion Seattle Kraken. Late into training camp, goalie Devan Dubnyk remains an unrestricted free agent while another unrestricted goalie Peyton Jones wasn’t offered a deal from Colorado.

In early September the Avalanche added a veteran presence up as they invited veteran centerman Artem Anisimov to training camp. This 33- year-old scored 2 goals and 9 points in 19 games last year with the Ottawa Senators.

In July, the Avalanche re-signed 23- year-old centerman Tyson Jost to a two-year contract extension. Last year he scored 7 goals and 17 points in 54 games.

Another move came in September when Colorado gave 25- year-old right winger Logan O’Connor a three-year contract extension.

Colorado also made an off-season deal with the New Jersey Devils where they acquired 23-year-old Mikhail Maltsev and a second -round draft pick in the 2021 NHL Draft for forward Ryan Graves.

Another move saw right winger Kiefer Sherwood receive a one-year two-way contract extension while veteran captain Gabriel Landeskov who is coming off a 52- point season, signed an eight-year $56 million dollar extension.

Leaving the team is center Mike Vecchione who as an unrestricted free agent agreed to a one-year, two-way contract with the Washington Capitals. Also moving on is veteran unrestricted free agent forward Brandon Saad who signed a five- year $22.5 million dollar contract with the St. Louis Blues.

Other unrestricted free agents leaving include center Sheldon Dries who signed a one-year two-way deal with the Vancouver Canucks, left winger Matt Calvert who retired and center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare who signed a two-year two -million- dollar deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Avalanche also released left winger Dalton Smith while inviting to camp center Gabriel Fontaine. Some free agent signings up front include Dylan Sikura, Stefqan Matteau and Darren Helm who signed one-year contracts.

Also departing were unrestricted free agent forwards Miikka Salomaki, T.J. Nynan and Carl Soderberg.

On defence they successfully signed star Cale Makar to a six-year extension and traded for Kurtis MacDermid.

The Avs also lost unrestricted free agent defenceman Kyle Burrows who inked a two-year, two- way contract with the Vancouver Canucks. Also leaving was another unrestricted defenceman in Dan Renouf who signed a one-year two-way contract with the Detroit Red Wings.

In another move unrestricted free agent defenceman Patrik Nemeth signed a three- year $7.5 million dollar contract with the New York Rangers.

Defenceman Jordan Gross, Denis Gilbert and Ryan Murray agreed to one-year two -way contracts.

Colorado management invited a handful of players to camp including former 2005 Carolina Hurricanes first round pick Jack Johnson.

The Avalanche are favored by many to win this year the Stanley Cup. It will definitely be an entertaining season for them.

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Vancouver Canucks Team Report

Written by SFDI on October 11, 2021. Posted in Blog. Leave a Comment

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By Neil Becker

The Vancouver Canucks management made a statement this off-season when they made a blockbuster trade with the Arizona Coyotes.

In July, Vancouver traded their first round pick (9th overall) in the 2021 NHL Entry draft along with forwards Loui Ericksson, Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel and their 2022 second round draft pick along with their 2023 seventh round pick in exchange for all-star defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larson and young forward Conor Garland.

Ekman-Larson, who is 30 years-old and an elite puck moving defenceman has played in 769 career games with Arizona and has scored 128 goals along with 388 points.

Meanwhile Garland, who is only 25 years-old, scored 39 points in 39 games last year for Arizona.

This off-season Vancouver waived veteran goalie Braden Holtby who ended up signing a one year deal with the Dallas Stars. To replace him, they signed backup Jaroslav Halak to a one-year $1.5 million dollar deal.

On defence, along with acquiring Ekman-Larson, they also re-signed 31 year-old veteran Travis Hamonic to a two-year deal worth $ 6 million dollars.

Another key edition was 28 year-old defenceman and former Winnipeg Jets player Tucker Poolman who signed a four-year $10 million dollar deal.

In other transactions, the Canucks signed 25 year-old unrestricted free agent defenceman Brady Keeper to a two-year $1.525 million dollar contract. Unfortunately this former Florida Panthers player went on to fracture his leg.

Looking to add depth and toughness, Vancouver signed former Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman and back-to-back Stanley Cup Champion Luke Schenn to a two-year deal worth $1.7 million.

Vancouver also signed former Colorado Avalanche unrestricted free agent defenceman Kyle Burrows to a two-year two-way contract. Also signing was 24 year-old defenceman Devante Stephens to a one-year, two-way contract. Other blueline moves included re-signing Olli Juolevi to a one-year contract and Guillaume Brisebois to a one-year two-way deal.

The biggest news came on October 1st when star defenceman Quinn Hughes inked a six-year extension.

Defenceman leaving the organization include unrestricted free agent Brogan Raffery(signed a one-year deal $750,000 Anaheim Ducks), unrestricted free agent Alexander Edler(signed a one-year deal worth $3.5 million Los Angeles Kings), unrestricted free agent defenceman Josh Teves( signed a one-year dreal AHL’s Rochester Americans) and Mitch Elliot who was not given a qualified offer. Unrestricted free agent defenceman Ashton Sautner signed a one-year deal with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks.

The Canucks made changes at forward such as signing restricted free agent and former Dallas Stars player Jason Dickenson to a three year $7.95 million dollar contract. They also gave Scott Garland a four- year contract extension and signed free agent and another former Dallas Star in Justin Downing who agreed to a two-year $1.5 million- dollar deal.

Also signed by Vancouver was 26 year-old left winger Nic Petan who as a free agent signed a one-year two- way contract.

Meanwhile agreeing to a one-year two-way contract was former Colorado Avalanche centerman Sheldon Dries.

Re-signing with Vancouver was free agent forward Justin Bailey who agreed to a one-year two-way contract along with John Stevens who also signed a one-year two-way deal.

The organization got a recent boost when star forward Ellias Petterson signed a three-year $22.5 million dollar contract. Another signing this summer was veteran center Brandon Sutter who agreed to a one-year deal. Also center Tyler Motte was in late September placed on IR and veteran forward Jake Virtanen’s contract was waved.

The future looks bright for Vancouver, however they aren’t ready to contend for the Stanley Cup.