Prospect Info: Discussion on previous prospects where things went wrong

[MinimaMoralia]

I was always disappointed we didn't get more out of Nilsson and Paajarvi.
Both were two of my favorites during their time here. Robert Nilsson could have been a wizard if he had about three more inches to his height and an extra twenty pounds.
Paajarvi, oh Paajarvi.. All the skill in the world. He could just never put up the points.

To be honest, I never thought Gagner flat-lining was the fault of the Oilers.
I never thought he had the potential to be a first line player. He didn't have the speed, size, heart or mind to elevate himself to that level. Sure they could have left him down with the Knights for another year or two, but I really doubt it would have helped in the long run. He never had any compete, and once he found out his skills that made him excel would't work in the NHL, he just seems to have lost all heart, and almost seems to have just become depressed or something.
Look at his comparable from the draft, Turris. Kyle Turris's junior offensive abilities didn't transfer to the big league either, but he worked on the other aspects of the game, challenged himself to get better, stuck around in the league, and is now a core part of the Senators line up and a legit first liner player. That's the mentality Gagner is lacking.

 

[belair]

Today against Finland...

Thats Patrick Kane type of skill...

It's always with the shootouts for Omark though.

If there was a hockey version of the Harlem Globetrotters, that guy would be their captain. Seriously. Someone needs to make an Omark highlight video with 'Sweet Georgia Brown' as the soundtrack. The guy is an absolute monster when there isn't someone in front of him trying to prevent him from doing what he wants to.

 

[LaGu]

It's always with the shootouts for Omark though.

If there was a hockey version of the Harlem Globetrotters, that guy would be their captain. Seriously. Someone needs to make an Omark highlight video with 'Sweet Georgia Brown' as the soundtrack. The guy is an absolute monster when there isn't someone in front of him trying to prevent him from doing what he wants to.

To be fair to Omark, he is doing pretty good right now. 3rd in KHL in scoring behind Radulov and Mozyakin, and 1st in SWE national team. And shootouts don't count.

 

[thadd]

Marincin, Gernat and Musil.

That bothers me a lot.

Gernat and Musil are going nowhere. They look great against really young players with no experience but the fact is that one of them is slow and the other two were never taught how to use their frame.

 

[LTIR]

We should have tried turning Gernat into a forward. Too much of a roamer to be playing D and it looks like trying to play good D has sucked out his offensive mojo ala Schultz.

Now both are neither here nor there.

 

[Jumptheshark]

To be fair to Omark, he is doing pretty good right now. 3rd in KHL in scoring behind Radulov and Mozyakin, and 1st in SWE national team. And shootouts don't count.

It will be interesting to see if Omark plays for Sweden at the world championships. He was left off the team last year for a reason. Because it is in Russia, Swedes may feel pressure to put him on. Omark was left off the Swedish team that played on Prague for several reasons, the big reason being he was asked to come to a camp to make the team and he felt he did not have to try out. The Swedes have a unique way of deciding who makes their teams sometimes

 

[LaGu]

It will be interesting to see if Omark plays for Sweden at the world championships. He was left off the team last year for a reason. Because it is in Russia, Swedes may feel pressure to put him on. Omark was left off the Swedish team that played on Prague for several reasons, the big reason being he was asked to come to a camp to make the team and he felt he did not have to try out. The Swedes have a unique way of deciding who makes their teams sometimes

I don't think he will be on the team... Apparently he is a new man, humble and wise (in the news the other day), but I'll believe it when I see it.

I actually thought, and still think, that he has the grit, confidence and skill to play in the NHL. It is an uphill battle for any small player, but in his case I think it is worse due to his attitude. Perfect example is last year's world championships as you mentioned. You can have all the talent in the world, but if your head is not in it you'll not be able to perform.

 

[scb23]

People may laugh at my suggestion, but one guy I think was screwed up a bit was Stortini.

The guy never was going to be much, but he looked like he had potential to be a Shawn Thorton. I think the problem with him was not knowing what the team actually wanted out of him. I meet him so many times every off-season and the guy was completely different from year to year. One year he was slim, trying to get faster. The next Mac was around so it seemed like he bulked up as he thought this is what the team wanted. Then the next he was slim again.

Just seems if the guy would've just focused on skating and positioning he would've gotten a lot further. Communication just didn't seem to be there.

I loved Stortini. I certainly remember rooting for him!

Interesting comments about him though, and makes a lot of sense. I've heard similar stuff about Gagner's development - telling him to bulk up in the off-season, he lost a step so he tried to slim down again - back and forth... Sounds like an org that had no idea what it wanted from it's players. They were always chasing the mold of whichever team recently won the cup. Boston/LA wins - need our players bigger, go bulk up. Chicago wins - no wait let's be a fast skill team. LA wins again - whoops, big strong = puck possession... go bulk up again guys.

Lack of identity from the top down.

 

[Beerfish]

The Oilers have a real knack for either picking players that go down hill or ruining players.

This goes back to Cogliano and Gagner who both looked their best very early in their careers here. MPS looked so damn good his 1st year here. Now it seems it is RNH's turn lately. He looked so creative and so good year one.

I have a theory about this and it does not pertain alone to the oilers. Creativity gets beaten out of players in their 1st few years in favor of 'defensive responsibility'

 

[Aerchon]

Your description of Harti hits some points on Marincin. He was told to bulk up. Told to change his stick size. Told to be more Defensive.

Kept from the world championship.

Given top pairing competition and a bushel of defensive zone starts.

Mishandled in every way.

 

[LaGu]

I am not too sure about this bulking up issue. Seems to me that most, if not all, organizations tell their young players to focus on it the first years. The problem in EDM was that the players were not able to adapt to the game in their "new bodies". It is not unusual that this happens, but generally players are able to adapt to it over the course of a season, it seems that EDM prospects never managed though.

Maybe they are doing it the wrong way.

 

[booyakasha]

We can probably add Yakupov to this thread?...

 

[BarDownBobo]

I wonder if Omark would get interest from expansion teams when that happens. Those teams are likely going to be lacking offensive players, and for all his faults that's the one thing he could always bring. Now with 3 on 3 OT he'd likely rack up quite the highlight reel in short order.

 

[Game 8]

The Oilers have a real knack for either picking players that go down hill or ruining players.

This goes back to Cogliano and Gagner who both looked their best very early in their careers here. MPS looked so damn good his 1st year here. Now it seems it is RNH's turn lately. He looked so creative and so good year one.

I have a theory about this and it does not pertain alone to the oilers. Creativity gets beaten out of players in their 1st few years in favor of 'defensive responsibility'

I dont know if this guy was the best choice the year of his draft. We were looking for centers with skill and he was ranked high. I remember seeing him in junior and thinking "thats all we get with the first overall?" I liked Dumba better.

 

[nabob]

Yup, he did have those numbers, he also had many moments of weak goals and general inconsistency, which was clearly felt by his teammates.

Again, the Oilers did "nothing" to **** up Dubnyk, he was part of the organization for a Decade, and never bother to "figure it out" until after he left. And even that's up for debate at this point, given it sure just looks like a hot streak last year (see the hamburgler)

A 920 save % is the definition of general consistency.

He was never given a coach to help him figure it out. He was constantly left out to dry by the worst defense in the league, which in his only poor seasons here was coached by the worst coach in NHL history.

 

[booyakasha]

dubnyk sucked, glad he's gone.
Oilers didn't ruin him...the guy let muffins in from centre, that's not on D, but on him..routinely let in weak goals.

 

[Beerfish]

dubnyk sucked, glad he's gone.
Oilers didn't ruin him...the guy let muffins in from centre, that's not on D, but on him..routinely let in weak goals.

He was about the same as our goalies last year and talbot this year. He sure didn't suck last year though for Minny.

 

[lakai17]

I liked Robert Nilsson. Decent play maker, decent hockey i.q, just a pathetic Oilers team at the time with no system. He was soft of course but his i.q was good enough to perform and improve on other NHL teams at the time. It was definitely hard to gain confidence and excel on that team.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Apparently he is a new man, .

Impressive beard.

 

[Eye of Ra]

I liked Robert Nilsson. Decent play maker, decent hockey i.q, just a pathetic Oilers team at the time with no system. He was soft of course but his i.q was good enough to perform and improve on other NHL teams at the time. It was definitely hard to gain confidence and excel on that team.

He is playing in the Swiss league right now, same line as Auston Matthews.

Read this: https://translate.google.se/transla...ade-hojder-roligaste-spelaren-jag-spelat-med/

 

[LaGu]

Impressive beard.

It is. I never thought I'd see Omark with a beard, but it suits him.

 

[LaGu]

Paajarvi apparently "put himself back in the conversation" by his play in the AHL in the beginning of this season. Now with Schwartz out he has been playing 1st/2nd line for a couple of weeks, and doing it good, using his body and speed in ways he has not done before. Scored a nice goal last game and had a good assist last night but more importantly, looking really good out there in general.

It's Paajarvi though, and I think a poster on the Blues board said it best:

We've seen him be completely invisible so often that it's hard to be excited about him, but he's really playing great hockey lately.

I'm really rooting for Paajarvi, he seems to be such a good kid, and I think he has shown great resilience. I thought he'd be in Europe by now, and there was speculation in the news this summer, but he has come out again and again saying he wants to stay.

 

[rboomercat90]

I loved Stortini. I certainly remember rooting for him!

Interesting comments about him though, and makes a lot of sense. I've heard similar stuff about Gagner's development - telling him to bulk up in the off-season, he lost a step so he tried to slim down again - back and forth... Sounds like an org that had no idea what it wanted from it's players. They were always chasing the mold of whichever team recently won the cup. Boston/LA wins - need our players bigger, go bulk up. Chicago wins - no wait let's be a fast skill team. LA wins again - whoops, big strong = puck possession... go bulk up again guys.

Lack of identity from the top down.

Wasn't this very thing Marincin's issue last season too? I thought I remembered reading that he bulked up for last season and it threw his conditioning off. Supposedly was the reason he didn't make the team out of training camp when he was thought to be a lock. Lots of speculation this year that's what Nuge's problem is too.

 

[Tw0Shoes]

To be fair to Omark when they say he had an attitude issue it was because of the first press conference after he was cut in camp, and said it was because of politics. And it was because of politics. He should have made that team over Paajarvi.

 

[Jumptheshark]

To be fair to Omark when they say he had an attitude issue it was because of the first press conference after he was cut in camp, and said it was because of politics. And it was because of politics. He should have made that team over Paajarvi.

Explain his attitude problem he had when played in Sweden, before stepping foot in Edmonton and his comments when Sweden tried to make him jump through the same hopes as everyone else to make theur team? Omarks problem was he thought he was better then he was. When he went to buffalo for that brief time they did not put up with it long