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Morning, folks!
If Zack Kassian were in the Finnish league right now, do you think he’d be the best player in it? What about the best forward? Or even just the best right winger?
The answer is almost certainly no, right? Well, what about Alex Chiasson?
Probably no, too.
Josh Archibald?
OK, fine. I know, I’ll stop.
How about Kailer Yamamoto then?
Honestly, again, probably not, right? Though I’m sure that one’s at least debatable. The one thing I will offer in Jesse Puljujarvi’s defense in that particular case is that the only like-for-like comparison we can make between the two of them is their NHL time, and that in their NHL time, Yamamoto’s clearly had the better landing spot. In 138 GP together, McDavid saw just over 400 minutes of ice with Connor McDavid. In 27 GP, Yamamoto got about 390 minutes with Leon Draisaitl. In those minutes, their NHL results are extremely comparable.
But still, all that said, someone please explain this to me:
Anybody who thinks Puljujarvi might be good fit with McDavid at this time is dreaming in technicolour and I don't care what analytics say. Jesse is a 3rd line NHL winger if he returns and he'll have to show he's better than that
— Jim Matheson (@jimmathesonnhl) September 4, 2020
First of all, it is demonstrably true that Puljujarvi and McDavid have been successful together. So successful, in fact, that they scored 61% of the goals at 5v5 in those 400 minutes, and were expected to score 57% of them. That’s dominance. That’s so good it’s well past encouraging. A slightly lower GF% than Yamamoto and Draisaitl, but a better xGF% rate.
Secondly, what is it about the MSM in Edmonton that they are so hell-bent on running the actual skill out of town?
Thirdly, why is that less offensive to the average Oilers fan than me saying that the club shouldn’t extend Zack Kassian?!
Fourthly? Why on Earth are the Oilers more interested in giving guys who truly have no business being top line players (Kassian, Chiasson, Josh Archibald) those opportunities instead?
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