How big of a mistake was the Paajarvi pick?

[TheNumber4]

Picked #10 overall. I remember at the time people thinking it was a mini steal on behalf of the Oilers. I also remember there were concerns about his offense which is why he dropped to the Oilers in the first place. Hindsight being 20-20 it looks like the scouts which called his limited offensive ceiling were right, and like always the Oilers scouts got it wrong.

Here are some 1st rounders the Oilers could have picked instead:

#11 - Ryan Ellis - Would look amazing on our team right now. And probably would have made sense to a rebuilding team at the time. Had 89 Points in 57 games in his draft year.
#12 - Calvin De Haan - Bonafide NHL defenceman now. 3rd pairing I think.
#13 - Zack Kassian - We got him anyways. But probably good we skipped out on his dark days.
#14 - Dmitri Kulikov - Bonafide NHL defenceman now. I think hes a top 4 defenceman.
#15 - Peter Holland - NHL #3 or #4 Centerman I think.
#16 - Nick Leddy - Strong top 4 defenceman.
#17 - David Rundblad - Out of the NHL. In Swiss league now.
#19 - Louis Leblanc - Out of the NHL. In Swiss League now.
#19 - Chris Kreider - Bonafide NHL LWer. Looks like he's breaking out in a huge way this year.

Looks like a lot of value was missed. Definitely could have got a real NHL player had we listened to better scouts.

Click to read more...

 

[oilinblood]

Picked #10 overall. I remember at the time people thinking it was a mini steal on behalf of the Oilers. I also remember there were concerns about his offense which is why he dropped to the Oilers in the first place. Hindsight being 20-20 it looks like the scouts which called his limited offensive ceiling were right, and like always the Oilers scouts got it wrong.

Here are some 1st rounders the Oilers could have picked instead:

#11 - Ryan Ellis - Would look amazing on our team right now. And probably would have made sense to a rebuilding team at the time. Had 89 Points in 57 games in his draft year.
#12 - Calvin De Haan - Bonafide NHL defenceman now. 3rd pairing I think.
#13 - Zack Kassian - We got him anyways. But probably good we skipped out on his dark days.
#14 - Dmitri Kulikov - Bonafide NHL defenceman now. I think hes a top 4 defenceman.
#15 - Peter Holland - NHL #3 or #4 Centerman I think.
#16 - Nick Leddy - Strong top 4 defenceman.
#17 - David Rundblad - Out of the NHL. In Swiss league now.
#19 - Louis Leblanc - Out of the NHL. In Swiss League now.
#19 - Chris Kreider - Bonafide NHL LWer. Looks like he's breaking out in a huge way this year.

Looks like a lot of value was missed. Definitely could have got a real NHL player had we listened to better scouts.

he was a great 2 way f and had size. he was just learning to use it at the end of the season when he got traded. i still remember him laying out burrows in the last game of the season. he had some grit to his game

because of his skating size and defensive IQ i was angry they didnt train him at centre when he wwas in the A

i still think there is a player there. when i heard we were trading with STL i thought we were taking MPS back. id have been ok with that. Keep in mind i thought we would need to retain some salary so MPS would be that salary plus i thought wed get a pick too.

 

[TheNumber4]

he was a great 2 way f and had size. he was just learning to use it at the end of the season when he got traded. i still remember him laying out burrows in the last game of the season. he had some grit to his game

because of his skating size and defensive IQ i was angry they didnt train him at centre when he wwas in the A

i still think there is a player there. when i heard we were trading with STL i thought we were taking MPS back. id have been ok with that. Keep in mind i thought we would need to retain some salary so MPS would be that salary plus i thought wed get a pick too.

Oh I remember the player all right. Great skater, and was defensively responsible. But to be considered a 2 way forward you have to be able to put up the points. He doesn't have the creativity or shot to make that happen. He is now in the AHL again! St. Louis have given him opportunities like the Oilers have, he's not skilled enough to a top 6 winger and not gritty enough to be a bottom 6 winger. The book on Paajarvi is pretty much already closed. If you look at the St Louis boards they have a running joke about Paajarvi that all he tries are wrap arounds and they never work.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

We were a smurf team.

Ryan Ellis would've be a smurf Dman on a smurf team with other smurfs.

He would fit in with the current edition of the Oilers, but would've been physically dominated back then.

 

[Gret99zky]

 

[nabob]

Oh I remember the player all right. Great skater, and was defensively responsible. But to be considered a 2 way forward you have to be able to put up the points. He doesn't have the creativity or shot to make that happen. He is now in the AHL again! St. Louis have given him opportunities like the Oilers have, he's not skilled enough to a top 6 winger and not gritty enough to be a bottom 6 winger. The book on Paajarvi is pretty much already closed. If you look at the St Louis boards they have a running joke about Paajarvi that all he tries are wrap arounds and they never work.

Well I guess if you're basing everything off of HF fans then Darnell Nurse will never be anything more than possibly a #6 who has th lowest hockey IQ ever and he should be in the AHL for at least another full season.

MPS is an incredibly fast skater, but his balance and edge work is weak. He showed that he has skill and raw talent but was never able to adjust and fight through tight NHL checking.
Picking him where they did was a no brainer. Maybe the Oilers take Ellis and he ends up struggling like Ryan Murphy while it clicks for Paajarvi somewhere else under better circumstances?

 

[BarDownBobo]

Paajarvi got scared on the ice after getting rocked a few times. If you go back and watch his pre draft highlights, he drove the net hard quite often to score goals. But his first couple seasons in NA I remember him getting absolutely crushed a few times, and he seemed to change his style after that.

Guy was rated top 5 pretty well all season, so I think fans were justified in their belief that it was a bit of a steal. Unfortunately it didn't work out, but it was the right pick at the time no question.

 

[TheNumber4]

Well I guess if you're basing everything off of HF fans then Darnell Nurse will never be anything more than possibly a #6 who has th lowest hockey IQ ever and he should be in the AHL for at least another full season.

MPS is an incredibly fast skater, but his balance and edge work is weak. He showed that he has skill and raw talent but was never able to adjust and fight through tight NHL checking.
Picking him where they did was a no brainer. Maybe the Oilers take Ellis and he ends up struggling like Ryan Murphy while it clicks for Paajarvi somewhere else under better circumstances?

How did you read my post and think that I was basing this all off the St Louis Blues hfboards posters. Jesus. No, what I am basing it on is the fact that he couldn't crack our line up or the Blues lineup as a regular for 7 years now! And I'm basing it on the fact that scouts said he had limited offensive potential and in viewing every single one of his Oilers games they look to be correct. And now St Louis fans have that same assessment of him now that they've watched him.

 

[TheNumber4]

This isn't a hindsight is 20/20 situation if there were scouts calling out exactly why they wouldn't pick him. That is, his limited offence. Some scounts got it right at the time, our Oiler scouts got it wrong.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

This isn't a hindsight is 20/20 situation if there were scouts calling out exactly why they wouldn't pick him. That is, his limited offence. Some scounts got it right at the time, our Oiler scouts got it wrong.

Because it accomplishes nothing and it complete hindsight.

It's like the people who whine and moan about Yak at #1 and point to Lindholm at #6. At the draft, Lindholm wasn't an option at number #1.

This serves no purpose, adds no value and doesn't address anything that can actually effect the team. Time to get over these things and move on.

 

[frag2]

Nobody knew Paajarvi was that averse to contact considering he was 6'2 or whatever.

 

[UnicornONtheCOBB]

u take someone other than MPS and we don't get McDavid. it all ended up with McDavid, simple as that.

 

[CupofOil]

There were no concerns whatsoever getting that guy at 10. At the time, it was a gift from the hockey heavens that Paajarvi dropped to the Oilers and anybody who says that they thought differently at the time is being dishonest. Same thing with the Yak pick and the Oilers lottery winning luck. Them making those picks wasn't the problem, how they developed them was the real problem.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

What about Nail?

 

[CornKicker]

hindsight is great but anyone who watched that draft fully expected Dallas to take MSP and that would have left Scott Glennie for the oilers who they surely would have taken given that he came from the WHL had good size and speed.

all in all MSP > Glennie

 

[CornKicker]

There were no concerns whatsoever getting that guy at 10. At the time, it was a gift from the hockey heavens that Paajarvi dropped to the Oilers and anybody who says that they thought differently at the time is being dishonest. Same thing with the Yak pick and the Oilers lottery winning luck. Them making those picks wasn't the problem, how they developed them was the real problem.

100% everyone who was watching the draft with any knowledge was shocked he fell to 10

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

If it's not hindsight, why don't we just start going way back, take a long look

1992: 13 - Joe Hulbig

14-Sergei Gonchar
18-Jason Smith
19-Martin Straka
23-Grant Marshall
27-Boris Mironov
33-Valerie Bure
40-Mike Peca
48-Mattias Nordstrom

1996: 6 - Boyd Devereaux & 19 - Matthieu Descoteaux
9-Ruslan Salei
13-Derek Morris
14-Marty Reasoner
15-Dainius Zubrus
20-Marcus Nilsson
21-Marco Sturm
24-Daniel Briere
27-Cory Sarich
35-Matt Cullen
49-Colin White

1997: 14 - Michel Risen
23-Scott Hannan
25-Brendan Morrow
47-Kristian Huselius
48-Henrik Tallinder


See, so many misses....that really mean nothing at this point. Hindsight, it's always 20/20, because you get to see what happened with the benefit of what followed after those individual moments.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2009e.html

There's not anyone head and shoulders above MPS after him aside from Ellis (who would have gotten wrecked here).

I mean its not like we passed up Jagr for Scisson. Or Parise for MAP.

MPS also got us Perron who was good.

 

[Shathar]

At the time, the Paajarvi pick was great. I remember being really excited about him, esp after watching him in the worlds and knowing he was ours. I don't think it was a 'mistake' at all.

However it IS a drag that he sucked the big one. I rooted for him 'til the moment he was traded. I still do kinda.

Edit:

A 'mistake' was Steve Kelly. That what a drafting 'mistake' is to me.

 

[smokersarejokers]

At the time, the Paajarvi pick was great. I remember being really excited about him, esp after watching him in the worlds and knowing he was ours. I don't think it was a 'mistake' at all.

However it IS a drag that he sucked the big one. I rooted for him 'til the moment he was traded. I still do kinda.

Edit:

A 'mistake' was Steve Kelly. That what a drafting 'mistake' is to me.

Exactly. It's all hindsight.

Paajarvi was not a reach at that time. He looked great in the Swedish Elite League and had guys like Peter Forsberg calling him the future of Swedish hockey.

Steve Kelly was a reach. I still wish I knew what went into the Oilers decision making in 95 or what Shane Doan did to piss them off.

 

[Aceboogie]

MPS pick was absolutely 100% correct

The problem was we developed him horribly. We left him on horrible 4th lines for a year and ruined all confidence and creativity.

Oh and picks after top 5 dont turn out as hyped more often then not. MPS is the rule, not the exception

 

[Aceboogie]

This isn't a hindsight is 20/20 situation if there were scouts calling out exactly why they wouldn't pick him. That is, his limited offence. Some scounts got it right at the time, our Oiler scouts got it wrong.

And plenty of scouts were saying this guy was a top 5 material

 

[Kerricthebig]

Picked #10 overall. I remember at the time people thinking it was a mini steal on behalf of the Oilers. I also remember there were concerns about his offense which is why he dropped to the Oilers in the first place. Hindsight being 20-20 it looks like the scouts which called his limited offensive ceiling were right, and like always the Oilers scouts got it wrong.

*snip

This isn't a hindsight is 20/20 situation if there were scouts calling out exactly why they wouldn't pick him. That is, his limited offence. Some scounts got it right at the time, our Oiler scouts got it wrong.

So which is it?

Hindsight is nice and all, but MPS was picked for his size speed and vision. The general expectation for his ceiling in his draft year was a 15/50 top line 2 way playmaker. His floor was expected to be a 30pt third line guy.

In his first preseason he looked very good, right up until he got absolutely rocked by a hit in open ice. Then he became a perimeter wall player, and lost his willingness to drive the net.

 

[nightfighter]

Wouldn't have mattered who else we picked. Any of those other players would have been whipping boys during our long suffering seasons and shipped out regardless of how well they were personally playing See Exhibit A: Petry, Jeff.

 

[Aerchon]

Strange topic.

MPS was a solid pick in a weaker draft. Ellis in hindsight would obviously been great but honestly don't feel like the pick warrants any real controversy.