It's official, the Oilers have finally traded Jesse Puljujarvi

It's official! The Edmonton Oilers have traded former 4th overall pick Jesse Puljujarvi to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for 22 year old Finnish-league winger Patrik Puistola.

Check it out:

This move ends years of trade speculation that has surrounded the former 4th overall pick. The 24 year old has struggled this season with just five goals and 14 points in 58 games, following a stellar 36 point campaign just last season. Try and try as they might, the Oilers just haven't been able to make it work with Puljujarvi and there has been plenty of speculation that the team was considering cutting bait with him entirely and placing him on waivers. It seems though that the Hurricanes were at least willing to chip in something in order to give him a shot.

And, to be honest... I really think Puljujarvi will have a chance to succeed in Carolina. He'll be reunited with his former World Juniors linemates Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen and he'll be joining a team with plenty of Finnish fire power. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out for Puljujarvi and what kind of contract he sets himself up for this upcoming offseason.

As for Puistola, the Oilers are acquiring a 22 year old former 3rd round pick (77th overall in 2019), who has yet to play a single game outside of Finland. There's a chance that he signs with the team this offseason and comes over to get some AHL and NHL action next season, but this has all the makings of trade where Ken Holland is simply trying to clear the deck and, in doing so, he clears $3 million off of the Oilers' books and won't have to deal with Puljujarvi negotiations this upcoming offseason.

That $3 million, by the way, happens to work perfectly considering Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov has a salary of just $2.8 million. Maybe I'm connecting the dots too early here, but would you really be surprised if Holland went out and used that cap space to acquire some defensive help between now and Friday's deadline?