Rumor: Pakarinen heading to KHL

[gordonhught]

"It's not a rumor"

Arnold S.

 

[nturn06]

We were 31st in PK last year. The PK was so bad that it could easily have kept us out of the playoffs even if most other things had improved. No-one should cheer the departure of a PK specialist on a team like that.

I don't get the point you are trying to make. You explain how terrible the PK was, and then complain about loosing a player which was part of that abysmal PK.

 

[nexttothemoon]

There's 2 PK units and a goalie that are all involved in the PK each game... so at least 9 players that share the blame on the PK every game.

Pakarinen actually had the 12th most minutes on the PK this season so he obviously wasn't the biggest factor in how poor it was... and in fact his GA/60 on the PK was actually one of the better results on the team.


In terms of GA/60 on the PK:

Ranks:

Khaira best but played the 7th most PK minutes
Sekera 2nd best but played the 15th most PK minutes
Strome 3rd best but played the 11th most PK minutes
Gryba 4th best but played the 17th most PK minutes
Pakarinen 5th best but played the 12th most PK minutes
Davidson 6th best but played the 14th most PK minutes
McDavid 7th best but played the 9th most PK minutes
Larsson 8th best but played the 3rd most PK minutes
Nurse 9th best but played the most PK minutes
Draisaitl 10th best but played the 10th most PK minutes
Letestu 11th best but played the 5th most PK minutes
Kassian 12th best but played the 6th most PK minutes
Klefbom 13th best but played the 4th most PK minutes
Russell 14th best but played the 2nd most PK minutes
RNH 15th best but played the 8th most PK minutes
Caggiula 16th best but played the 13th most PK minutes
Benning 17th best but played the 16th most PK minutes

What I see is that a lot of their best PK players didn't get as many PK minutes as they could/should have and while some of that comes down to injuries which is unavoidable... a lot of it also comes down to piss poor roster choices and deployment decisions by the coaches.

 

[oljimmy]

I don't get the point you are trying to make. You explain how terrible the PK was, and then complain about loosing a player which was part of that abysmal PK.

The PK improved in the last 2-3 months as his ice time went up noticeably. I believe the stats will back me up on that one, but don't have time to look. Also there was the good old eye test: he broke up several dangerous PP chances in the last few weeks with intelligent positioning and sticks. He was good. We had better replace him.

 

[Drivesaitl]

The PK improved in the last 2-3 months as his ice time went up noticeably. I believe the stats will back me up on that one, but don't have time to look. Also there was the good old eye test: he broke up several dangerous PP chances in the last few weeks with intelligent positioning and sticks. He was good. We had better replace him.

He was always good on the pk and had good numbers every year he was on the unit. Underrated contribution. Actually he was a sound 200ft player on pk or EV. Its odd that this org does not value contributions like that and keeps letting those kinds of players walk. Pac was also very physical, hard to play against, and brought honest efforts. One always got the sense though is if the coach believed in him more he would do even better. Him and Slepy were the first guys to get scratched. While team played favorites with other players.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

He was always good on the pk and had good numbers every year he was on the unit. Underrated contribution. Actually he was a sound 200ft player on pk or EV. Its odd that this org does not value contributions like that and keeps letting those kinds of players walk. Pac was also very physical, hard to play against, and brought honest efforts. One always got the sense though is if the coach believed in him more he would do even better. Him and Slepy were the first guys to get scratched. While team played favorites with other players.

Pak is not a NHL quality player, that's why he was scratched often.

 

[Tyrolean]

The PK improved in the last 2-3 months as his ice time went up noticeably. I believe the stats will back me up on that one, but don't have time to look. Also there was the good old eye test: he broke up several dangerous PP chances in the last few weeks with intelligent positioning and sticks. He was good. We had better replace him.

I agree he was a useful utility player. Going to be a loss if they can;t replace him. Players like Pitlick and Pak are hard to lose.

 

[Cypress]

There were some things I liked about his game, but if I have to evaluate where he would fit in an NHL roster though, I would say 14th forward. Not a big loss.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Pac was a better player this season than Zach Kassian, easily. With Zac even getting benched and scratched as well and costing more. Additionally Zach has developed a habit of playing high in ownzone as if he's some kind of special goal scorer. When a player like Zach Kassian stops even offering good puck support what is he doing on the team? Pac was never cheating out there.

 

[Cypress]

Well i agree with you about Kassian for the most part, wish he would stop trying to McDavid out there. Pak has a nice shot and defensive play, but always seems a step too slow.

 

[nexttothemoon]

I agree that Pakarinen was MUCH better than Kassian this year.

Kassian was a complete disappointment.

After having a pretty decent playoffs, Kassian disappeared this season and was invisible most games. It was the perfect example of a player cashing in on a decent contract and then floating until he needs to finally show up for the chance at another big paycheck again.

If it were me, just based on this past season I'd have kept Pak over Kassian... but ideally the Oilers upgrade on both of them.

 

[Crabapple]

So long Pak. Didn't hate him, but I don't think he'll be missed. He's a dime-a-dozen fringe NHLer. Never complained about the effort he brought, he should do well in the KHL.