Edmonton Oilers winger Jesse Puljujarvi will undergo hip surgery and will miss the rest of the season, the team announced Thursday.
Puljujarvi, who has nine points in 46 games this season, was placed on injured reserve last week and hasn’t played since Feb. 15.
“This injury has been bothering Jesse for some time now and after careful consideration with Jesse, his agent and our medical staff, the best decision was to have the surgery and miss the remainder of the season,” Oilers assistant general manager Keith Gretzky said in a statement. “We expect Jesse to rehabilitate and train throughout the summer and be 100 percent ready to go for training camp in September.”
The Oilers have tried putting Puljujarvi on the top line with Connor McDavid to provide a jump-start. It didn’t really work out.
Puljujarvi was the fourth overall pick in the 2016 draft, and though he is only 20, he hasn’t broken out like the three players taken ahead of him: Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine and Pierre-Luc Dubois.
His entry-level deal expires at the end of this season.