Pouliot's problem is taking dumb penalties and retaliation penalties if I'm not mistaken. If he gets his act together and start living up to his potential, he could be a very dangerous threat on a young Minnesota team. Will he ever be a franchise player? No, but to say immediately that he won't be a 1st line player is assine. We don't know where players will end up. He has the POTENTIAL to be a first line player and from what I've read and seen he can be, especially if he gets his act together and bulks up.
I still would take Jordan Staal over Pouliot but you're discounting him, especially since he almost made the Wild team this year, which might have been good or bad, who knows?
Pouliot's game looks tailored to the NHL simply because of his size and potential. I think partly he became lazy and he didn't have a lot of talent around him. Pairing him up to Bouchard, Gaborik, O'Sullivan, Voloshenko, Rolston, could be a deadly combination.