When Pittsburgh Penguins’ training camp opened this season, forward Jesse Puljujarvi found himself wearing one of the “green jerseys.”
For reference – and, as many know – the Penguins’ primary colors are black and gold. In the early days of training camp, assumed NHL players mostly wore black jerseys, and top prospects and “fringe” guys largely found themselves in gold jerseys.
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In his green jersey, Puljujarvi was grouped with others who were primarily AHL players. Guys like Corey Andonovski, Dan Renouf, and Boko Imama were taking reps with him and flanking him in practice.
Things weren’t looking up for him in the beginning. But after recording a hat trick against Buffalo Sabres in the first pre-season game and finishing as the team’s leading pre-season scorer, Puljujarvi worked his way up the depth chart and into a starting role on the final NHL roster.
And – after parts of seven seasons – the former first round pick of the Edmonton Oilers is ready to finally break out at the NHL level.
“It’s time to find my game,” Puljujarvi said. “I just need to build again at the regular season and be a good player there too, not only preseason.”
Puljujarvi’s journey to the Penguins was definitely an unusual one filled with adversity and roadblocks. Drafted fourth overall by the Oilers in 2016, he began to show some promise from 2020-22, registering 29 goals and 61 points across 120 games.
But then, the injuries really started to take a toll. After being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes at the 2023 trade deadline, Puljujarvi needed double-hip surgery the following summer. That surgery – as Penguins’ head coach Mike Sullivan has reiterated a number of times – is not an easy one to come back from.
More than six months after the surgery and once he had worked himself into shape again, Puljujarvi was offered a PTO from the Penguins, which he signed on Dec. 10, 2023. And after playing 13 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL, he officially signed a two-year, $1.6 million deal with Pittsburgh on February 4, 2024.
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But, even then, it was evident that Puljujarvi still wasn’t himself. He appeared in 22 games for the Penguins last season and registered just three goals and four points, and he clearly had some trouble with his skating and edgework.
It was a completely different story in training camp these last few weeks: His skating looks stronger than it ever has, his explosiveness is off the charts, and his shot is zipping past goaltenders. It seemed like he was scoring on half the shots he was taking.
And his skating and his skill were on full display during the Penguins’ final preseason game against Columbus when he registered three points, including this gorgeous, nasty breakaway goal:
Sullivan knows how hard Puljujarvi worked in his rehab process and throughout camp, which ultimately led to the production that earned him his roster spot. And he didn’t shy away from giving the 6-foot-4, 216-pound forward a glowing endorsement.
“He’s an exciting player for us because I don’t think we have a lot of some of the things that he brings,” Sullivan said. “In particular, the size, the length, and the physical stature that just makes us harder to play against. And he’s shown an ability to finish. That breakaway goal [against Columbus on Friday] was a really nice goal. That’s a high-end play. If he can produce some offense for us, make us hard to play against, get in on the forecheck, and be reliable defensively, I think there will be a huge opportunity for him.”
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And although Puljujarvi is happy to have made the most of that opportunity to this point, he knows there is still a lot of work to be done in the days and months ahead.
“I guess I have to be a little bit proud,” Puljujarvi said. “It’s been a really tough year. It was almost like I couldn’t play. So this feels like a second chance. I’ve been doing a lot of work to get back to being a good player. Now, I need to show it.”
He certainly showed it in the pre-season, and now, it’s time to show it in the regular season, too.
“Now the real stuff starts,” he said. “So I’ll be ready.”
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