Elliotte Friedman writes at Sportsnet that the Oilers reportedly “re-engaged” teams that had shown interest in Jesse Puljujarvi prior to Puljujarvi’s December 1st deadline.

As an RFA, Puljujarvi had until December 1st to sign an NHL contract or sit out for the season.

Friedman writes that his belief is that Puljujarvi wanted to come to the Rangers and that Lias Andersson was discussed but “things couldn’t close.” (Sportsnet)

Jim Matheson tweets that while the Rangers may have “pitched” Lias Andersson for Puljujarvi, the Oilers don’t feel that he plays with enough pace.

It was reported in early November that the Rangers were showing a lot of interest in Puljujarvi.

Puljujarvi has 24 points in 26 games while playing in Finland this season.

Mark Spector of Sportsnet wrote last month that the things stopping Puljujarvi from being a regular NHLer are his “hockey smarts, his ability to play within an NHL system, and his ability to communicate in English.”

Spector spoke with people who saw Puljujarvi play for Finland’s team at the Karjala Cup and the reports on him indicated that wasn’t playing within the team concept and that he “does not exhibit even an average level of hockey sense.” (Sportsnet)

Adam Rotter: There are two things at play here, the Rangers interest in Puljujarvi and then Lias Andersson. With Puljujarvi it comes down to adding another highly skilled player to the Rangers pipeline. The Rangers have surely scouted him a team and feel he’d be worth taking a chance on if the price is right. The price, though, is where the issue is. This isn’t an Adam Fox-type of deal where the Rangers can get Puljujarvi for a couple of picks. The Oilers want players that can help them now or a similar type of prospect.

That is where Lias Andersson comes in. On paper it makes sense, highly picked players that were drafted one-year apart and have not been able to establish themselves as NHLers. The Rangers though, at least as of now, are not keen on moving Andersson unless it’s part of a bigger trade or they are getting multiple assets in return. That could very well change by the draft and very much depends on how Andersson performs these next few months in Hartford and when he, likely, gets recalled.