Oilers scratch Jesse Puljujarvi for critical game against Seattle

Hands up if you were one of the fans out there predicting a break out campaign for Edmonton Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi this season. There's no shame in it, but... well... you could NOT have been more wrong.

The 24 year old former 4th overall pick had 14 goals and 36 points in 65 games last season, hinting at a possible breakout this season. And then... nothing. Puljujarvi has looked mediocre at best this season, putting up just four goals and 10 points in 45 games. He has struggled defensively, as well. He's on track to have the least productive season in his NHL career in 2022-23 and looks like a shell of the player who showed so much promise last season.

And tonight he'll watch from the press box as his team takes on the Seattle Kraken.

So... what next?

Puljujarvi has been mentioned in trade rumors for years now and has pretty much been given up on by the organization at least a couple times in his short career. But, is his time finally coming to an end in Edmonton? Hall of Famer and fellow Finnish compatriot Teemy Selanne seems to think so.

The Finnish Flash took to social media last night to share his opinion on Puljujarvi and the Oilers and called for the team to move the struggling forward so that he can get a fresh start elsewhere.

Check it out:

Hard to argue with that. 

The thing is, I don't think that Oilers GM Ken Holland can expect to get much back for Puljujarvi. I mean, the guy is a fringe NHLer at this point of his career, so it doesn't matter so much how/when he was drafted. The 2016 NHL Entry Draft was a long time ago and I think at this point that Puljujarvi has developed about as much as you can expect. He can certainly improve and round out his game, but I don't see him hitting his potential in Edmonton.

At this point, I think it would do everyone some good if the Oilers and Puljujarvi parted ways ahead of the NHL's trade deadline in March. The question now is... where will he end up?