Former fourth overall pick Jesse Puljujarvi with the Canadiens? Here's the price to pay to get him

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Elias Edmonson
August 10, 2023 (6:27 PM)

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The month of August is now well underway, and several players are still without contracts. If they don't agree to a discount with an NHL team soon, they will have no other options but to hope for an invitation to a camp from one of the league's teams.

This is indeed the option that several NHL GMs will favor before the start of the campaign.

Unless they come across an extraordinary discount, the executives will want to prioritize the invitation to their camp at the expense of an agreement that could bind them if the player didn't fit.

The price to pay? It is therefore nil! A big ZERO!

A simple invitation to the camp could suffice, and we would really love to see that for Puljujarvi.

One of the players still without a deal who could be a good bet is forward Jesse Puljujärvi. He failed to reach his potential with the Oilers and was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes. However, his stint in Carolina was not as successful as that in Alberta.

Puljujärvi has nevertheless accumulated 114 points (including 51 goals) in 334 NHL games. The potential is definitely there; all that remains is to find a spark. Something he could find with the CH.

It would not be surprising to see the former fourth overall pick blossom under the orders of Martin St-Louis, who has himself helped quite a few youngsters since taking office with the CH. The offensive style of play imposed by the coach, along with the confidence he gives his players, could greatly assist the young man.

In recent years, the forward has, on numerous occasions, been linked to the CH. Is this the time? I have no problem seeing him arrive with the CH following an invitation. He will have to prove himself and earn his spot, just like the other young players in the organization.

What is the risk of offering him a professional tryout contract?

We are talking here about a player drafted 4th overall in 2016, just after Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, and Pierre-Luc Dubois. He has 114 career points in the NHL.