Paajarvi (1 year @ $700k)

[2 Minute Minor]

Well, I'll be rooting hard for Paajarvi to put something together that allows him to carve out a niche on the regular roster, and be an effective role-player.

 

[Borderbluesfan]

Paajarvi is such an enigma. He shows flashes of being a really good player at times. He has the size, speed, and scoring ability at times. Then he just disappears and you don't even notice him for long periods of time when he is on the ice. When I saw him play, he showed flashes of being good in some games, then other games you never noticed him. He seemed pretty solid defensively as a forward.

 

[Pandaman11]

Does he get exposed to waivers if he makes the roster out of training camp? I don't think so.

Does he get exposed if he doesn't make the team? I don't know because I never know the rules by heart (or the total games played by a player), but by now I think he might.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Does he get exposed if he doesn't make the team? I don't know because I never know the rules by heart (or the total games played by a player), but by now I think he might.

Yes, Paajarvi is waiver eligible.

He was waiver eligible last year too so had to go through waivers first before the Blues could send him to the Wolves. Obviously, he went unclaimed.

In the event the Blues ever want to send him to the minors this season, he may be a little more likely to get claimed this year though since he's quite a bit cheaper - $700k vs $1.4M salary/$1.2M cap hit.

 

[Pandaman11]

Yes, Paajarvi is waiver eligible.

He was waiver eligible last year too so had to go through waivers first before the Blues could send him to the Wolves. Obviously, he went unclaimed.

In the event the Blues ever want to send him to the minors this season, he may be a little more likely to get claimed this year though since he's quite a bit cheaper - $700k vs $1.4M salary/$1.2M cap hit.

 

[Puckluckhock]

What am I missing? Can't see the value in this signing from both management and player perspective? Ok, Blues gets him cheap, but they clearly has no future plans for him and he's no 3-4th line player. Paajarvi would be better of in a "non playoff team" getting more icetime. Did Blues sign him to keep his rights? He was placed on waivers last season with no takers. What's the gameplan???

 

[STL fan in MN]

The plan is for him to be the 14th forward. Injury fill-in.

 

[Puckluckhock]

The plan is for him to be the 14th forward. Injury fill-in.

Is it not better to use Rattie, Fabbri, Barbashev for that? And why would Paarjarvi believe this would help his career/development?

 

[STL fan in MN]

Is it not better to use Rattie, Fabbri, Barbashev for that? And why would Paarjarvi believe this would help his career/development?

No, the prospects need to be playing, not sitting in the pressbox. My guess is that Fabbri makes the team out of camp as one of the 14 forwards to get his 9-game trial but if he's not able to force himself into the lineup on a fairly consistent basis, the Blues will probably decide that returning him to Jrs would be better than him sitting in the pressbox a lot.

As for Paarjarvi's motivation, who knows. I would think that in his mind his plan is to prove that he's an everyday player. I personally don't see him reaching that goal, at least not with the Blues. Maybe he gets traded at some point if he plays well enough for a team to want to trade for him.

 

[2 Minute Minor]

Is it not better to use Rattie, Fabbri, Barbashev for that? And why would Paarjarvi believe this would help his career/development?

Seeing as he cleared waivers a few months ago, Paajarvi may just be happy to get an NHL job with any team. And maybe he has confidence in himself to win ice time.

 

[Brian39]

Any contract from arbitration would have been 1-way. Pääjärvi left a guaranteed $500k more on the table from the Blues to sign this contract.

Where did you get this info? I did a quick search and couldn't find anything stating that an arbitration award would have to be a 1-way deal. I would look through the CBA, but I just don't have time.

I can't imagine that all arbitration awards are 1-way deals, or else every NHL/AHL tweener would file for arbitration every time a team wanted a 2 way deal.If this assumptions is correct, what is it about MPS that would force an arbitrator to grant a 1-way deal?

 

[STL fan in MN]

I remember seeing this is JR's chat last week. Apparently the qualifying offer to Paajarvi was in fact a two-way offer.

JR, help me understand qualifying offers. My understanding is that the Blues qualified Paajarvi last week and I also thought that the offer had to be at least what the player was making the previous season - $1.4M in Paajarvi’s case. Then there was talk of him heading to Sweden if he didn’t get a one-way deal and now the two sides agreed to a 1 year one-way deal for $700k. So…either Paajarvi’s camp isn’t very smart or qualifying offers don’t work like I thought they did. Why would Paajarvi accept a contract half of (what I thought) would have to be his qualifying offer of $1.4M?? What am I missing here?

Here's what you're missing: Paajarvi's qualifying offer had a "two-way" component in it with an NHL salary and an AHL salary. Paajarvi, like all players, wanted a one-way deal. So in order to get that, he had to take a paycut.

Makes sense as that would explain why Paajarvi would be willing to take a one-way $700k deal. It is a little odd that the qualifying offer can be two-way even though Paajarvi's previous contract was one-way. I didn't realize that was possible.

 

[Borderbluesfan]

Sounds to me like Paajarvi really wants to stay in the NHL system. He could have gone to Sweden (I don't know how the pay scale there compares to him taking $700k here) but it looks like he took a discount to try to stay and prove that he can play in the NHL. I applaud him showing that he wants to be part of the team here. He has the physical size and ability, now we just to see if he can put it all together.

 

[STL fan in MN]

I'm not too keenly aware of how much guys in Sweden get paid but I get the impression it's not much compared to the NHL. I recall years ago when Junland left the Blues/Rivermen that he signed a deal to play in the SEL for approx. $400K and I'm pretty sure that was considered pretty big money for that league (and I then recall Junland just playing ok and fans grumbling about how much he was paid). So based on that, I would assume that Paajarvi was unlikely to make more there than the $700k here. I would think that he probably could've made a bit more in the KHL but perhaps he just didn't really want to play there.

 

[rumrokh]

I'm not too keenly aware of how much guys in Sweden get paid but I get the impression it's not much compared to the NHL. I recall years ago when Junland left the Blues/Rivermen that he signed a deal to play in the SEL for approx. $400K and I'm pretty sure that was considered pretty big money for that league (and I then recall Junland just playing ok and fans grumbling about how much he was paid). So based on that, I would assume that Paajarvi was unlikely to make more there than the $700k here. I would think that he probably could've made a bit more in the KHL but perhaps he just didn't really want to play there.

I think most fans don't realize how young Paajarvi still is and how recently he was still a productive player in the NHL. He'll always be able to play in Europe, so it's a good time for him to grit his teeth and try to force his way back into the NHL regardless of money.

 

[Pandaman11]

I'm curious to see if any of the other 29 teams will claim him off waivers.

Nope, which doesn't surprise me whatsoever.

 

[JustOneB4IDie]

Nope, which doesn't surprise me whatsoever.

Paajarvi for once and for all is not a NHL player, enough already. Dunno why he doesn't cross the pond to Europe where he belongs.

 

[actionhank1786]

Paajarvi for once and for all is not a NHL player, enough already. Dunno why he doesn't cross the pond to Europe where he belongs.

He's got the skills. He just has to figure out whatever it is that's holding him back. Could be mental, could be the way he plays his game compared to what he used to do.

I don't know what happened with him, but i imagine mentally it's got to be pretty exhausting finding yourself going from a first round pick to a hopeful call-up.
But, just look at his stats with the Wolves, he posted 29 points in 36 games in Chicago last season. He's got skills. Something just isn't working when he gets to the NHL. I'm hoping to watch more AHL games this season, so maybe it will be something that can be picked up on. I imagine smarter people than me are watching him for the Blues to see if they can figure him out.

 

[Thallis]

He's got the skills. He just has to figure out whatever it is that's holding him back. Could be mental, could be the way he plays his game compared to what he used to do.

I don't know what happened with him, but i imagine mentally it's got to be pretty exhausting finding yourself going from a first round pick to a hopeful call-up.
But, just look at his stats with the Wolves, he posted 29 points in 36 games in Chicago last season. He's got skills. Something just isn't working when he gets to the NHL. I'm hoping to watch more AHL games this season, so maybe it will be something that can be picked up on. I imagine smarter people than me are watching him for the Blues to see if they can figure him out.

He has speed. Skills, not so much. He's got stone hands and a shot to match them.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Paajarvi has good AHL caliber skills IMO. NHL, not so much. The following guys scored at a higher pts/game pace in the AHL than Paajarvi last season.

Jordan Caron
Alex Bolduc
Chris Connor
Andrew Agozzino
Nick Cousins
And about 50 other guys.

Points aren't everything but if he's not going to engage much physically then he needs to contribute to the offense. To me, he's a tweener. Just can't find a place in the NHL. At least a guy like Jordan Caron can play a grinding, physical game.

 

[Renard]

It doesn't bode well for Magnus that he wasn't able to win a spot after competing that the Blues brought in a 31 year old journeyman, who couldn't stick with the Florida Panthers, to contend for an open spot, and then lose out to the guy (Upshall).

 

[SirPaste]

It doesn't bode well for Magnus that he wasn't able to win a spot after competing that the Blues brought in a 31 year old journeyman, who couldn't stick with the Florida Panthers, to contend for an open spot, and then lose out to the guy (Upshall).

Meh they are two totally different type of players. Upshall is good at playing a grinding game where as Pajaarvi is good at skating fast and that's about it. I mean don't get me wrong I think Pajaarvi is a busy but it has nothing to do with Upshall

 

[David Dennison]

Paajarvi has good AHL caliber skills IMO. NHL, not so much. The following guys scored at a higher pts/game pace in the AHL than Paajarvi last season.

Jordan Caron
Alex Bolduc
Chris Connor
Andrew Agozzino
Nick Cousins
And about 50 other guys.

Points aren't everything but if he's not going to engage much physically then he needs to contribute to the offense. To me, he's a tweener. Just can't find a place in the NHL. At least a guy like Jordan Caron can play a grinding, physical game.

Yeah his game might be best on the bigger ice surfaces in Europe where he can create more space with his speed.

How many players would have to get injured for him to get called up at this point?