EDMONTON — It was a hell of a distraction, as the hockey story in Edmonton became the signing of Jesse Puljujarvi instead of folks dwelling on a pair of wasted second-round draft picks. The ol’ bait and switch, hockey style.
In the end, however, Ken Holland simply never blinked on the Puljujarvi file, when the player took his talents to Finland in hopes of forcing a trade. Instead, Puljujarvi returns on a value two-year deal worth $2.35 million, with a team-friendly average annual value of $1.175 million.
So, on the day Oilers GM Ken Holland cut Andreas Athanasiou loose — after spending two second-rounders at the deadline to acquire him — he balanced the sheet by bringing a fan favourite back into the fold. Now, if he can actually land Jacob Markstrom as a free agent…
One year and a draft into his tenure at the Oilers helm, the only real blemish on Holland’s scorecard is the Athanasiou deal, and it does come with an asterisk. He acquired the player, and Athanasiou isn’t a great one, but COVID-19 limited the winger’s runway in Edmonton to just nine games before the pause and four more in the post-season.
Where no one in hockey would have questioned issuing Athanasiou a qualifying offer of $3 million when he was acquired, with the cap suddenly flat for who knows how long, clearly he isn’t a $3 million player in the new economy.
None of that is Holland’s fault. It is, however, his problem.
“I would like to have the picks,” he admits, “but my question is, have you done things in your life you would do differently? Probably.”
A wise old GM used to say, when you make a mistake, correct it quickly and move on. Don’t chase good money after bad, which would have been the case if Holland QO’ed Athanasiou.
“You grab all the information at the time, you make a decision, and I’m not looking back,” he said of the deadline acquisition. “I did it because we were trying to win, he had scored 30 goals (in 2018-19), I knew him and he had talent. I was hoping he would come in and give us a boost down the stretch and into the playoffs.
“He only played nine games for us then the pandemic hit. I was hoping he would play 20 games, play our way into the playoffs so he would have an impact on our team.”
So out goes the Greek alphabet and in comes the Finnish one, with the ceiling on Puljujarvi likely as high or higher than Athanasiou. He joins a roster of right-wingers that includes Kailer Yamamoto, Zack Kassian, Alex Chiasson, Josh Archibald and James Neal.
Yamamoto was a fixture on Draisaitl’s wing, which leaves a platoon for McDavid — which is precisely where fans in Edmonton will want to see the returning hero, Puljujarvi.
The reality is, that is the last place you’ll see Puljujarvi. At the start of the season, anyhow.
Holland’s pitch to the 22-year-old a year ago was, come to training camp, we’ll put you next to a responsible, professional centreman on the third line, and we’ll play you there every night while you learn the NHL game. Very few players turn into stars before they get their sea legs in the National Hockey League, and that is exactly where Puljujarvi stands today.
Puljujarvi went over to Finland where he was a quasi-scoring machine, with 25 goals in 58 games for Oulu Karpat. It was a year of Twitter highlights, with Puljujarvi blasting pucks past helpless looking goalies from all over the rink.
A wicked wrist shot wasn’t the reason Puljujarvi failed in his first attempt in Edmonton, however. He couldn’t succeed in Edmonton the first time because he did not have a clue how to play without the puck. His linemates had no idea where he was going to be, and because he hadn’t worked hard enough at his English skills, half the time he had no idea what they were saying.
Puljurvavi looks great when he’s rushing the puck, or rifling that wrist shot of his. It’s the other 30 seconds of his shift that he has to learn what to do and where to go.
That he signed a two-year deal for less than $2.4 million is a win for both sides. We’d bet there is a handshake deal that if Puljujarvi does not find a way to mesh with this organization in Year 1, he’ll be dealt away in Year 2. And with that low price tag it will be easy for Holland to find someone willing to take on the project.
If he clicks and produces the way a No. 4 overall draft pick is supposed to, then it’s a true value contract for Edmonton.
What do we think will happen?
I would say that the year abroad and the opportunity waiting here in Edmonton makes it likely that Puljujarvi can re-write his life story as an Oiler. He has so many tools, and the Oilers have two elite centres, it seems unfathomable that a swift skating, six-foot-four winger with an excellent shot can’t find a way as an Oiler.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
