Puljujarvi officially arrives in Carolina, meets his new teammates

While the NHL's trade deadline provided plenty of surprise moves, it also afforded NHL GM's to finally take care of some long overdue business. Such was the case with Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland and his deal involving former 4th overall pick Jesse Puljujarvi. 

By trading Puljujarvi to the Carolina Hurricanes ahead of the deadline, Holland ended years of trade speculation. The 24 year old Puljujarvi 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 had 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.

Today, Puljujarvi officially arrived in Carolina to join his new team nearly a week after sorting out his work visa issues. And to say that he looked excited would be an understatement.

Check it out:

Look... I wanted Jesse to work out in Edmonton as much as anyone else... but it was NEVER going to work out for the kid on the Oilers. If he couldn't produce offensively with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl as his linemates, then it was never going to work out for him. It's been clear to everyone for years now that Puljujarvi needed a fresh start and now he finally gets it. Now it's up to him to stand and deliver because I don't imagine he'll get many more shots to establish himself as a regular everyday NHLer.