Switching positions is easy. It's just like learning a new system. There are still core skills like stick handling and passing. As long as he can skate backwardsIf the kid was 19 or 20, there would be a decent chance to convert from forward to defense. I think the ship has sailed on that one now, especially considering how fast the league is these days. Defensemen have to make decisions instantly on the ice, or get burned badly. I don't think a guy who is 26 has the time to learn a new position like that.
other than the oilers being a bad team, I have no idea how you are arriving at the conclusion that the Oilers "scared him into never playin in the O zone".
Wanted him instead of Cowen mostly because his full/former? name was so fun to say, would like to see him bring the double name back...that's about it for my thoughts on the player at this time.
Well, there was the time that MacTavish left a horse's head in his bed.
That usually gets the message across.
That draft year really had a steep drop off after pick 7. Glennie, Cowen, Paajarvi were the next three picks. There were still some good picks after that, but the top 7 all became quite good players, I'd say all lived up to their draft position and then some. Bad luck; Hartsburg sunk the season, and Clouston coming in helped spark the team, along with Elliott riding an 8 game winning streak in March when the season was already done.
As much as this season has stunk, a pointless late winning streak that turned our projected top 5 pick (our choice of B.Schenn, OEL or Kadri if all else stayed the same) into 9th OA (our choice of Cowen, Paajarvi, Ellis, De Haan, or Kassian) back in 09, and that just the kind of difference that can really change how good things look down the road.
If we had drafted OEL instead of Cowen, how different does this team look today... No Phaneuf contract for starters.
This is ironic on a board that goes crazy when a player is rushed. And what the oilers did back then really was rushing players. A players who was dynamic in junior got killed every night in a dreadful oilers team. Now he’s a guy scared to take offensive chances? Maybe causation. Maybe just correlation.Ok, but what exactly did they do to discourage offensive play? Because so far, all I've got from you is "played for the Oilers". Help me out here, I'm trying to understand where your coming from...
You've made a criticism of the org I've never really heard before; that they discourage players from playing offensively, and that it has a lasting effect of Paajarvi. I don't see how his time there could have had that effect on him. He was given a pretty normal role over there, and got offensively inclined teammates, and in a system that wasn't known for being overly defensive. So what about being an Oiler for 3 seasons scared him into being a player that cheats defensively?
Same thing happened when Andy came to town think we went from dead last to 6th?, wouldn't be surprised to see a late youth driven push this season dropping us out of the really good prospect range.
This is ironic on a board that goes crazy when a player is rushed. And what the oilers did back then really was rushing players. A players who was dynamic in junior got killed every night in a dreadful oilers team. Now he’s a guy scared to take offensive chances? Maybe causation. Maybe just correlation.
I am. Would he ever have been a super star? Prolly not. But guy says he cheats for defense? I mean. Cmon now. it’s speculation. I have no proof to say “look mhmm here is the exact moment in time where if you look closely, all scientists can agree this is where his offensive game took a step back”. My rationale is getting drafted into Edmonton. Intense scrutiny. Expected to have offense and getting buried every night has probably had some sort of effect on his current reluctance to take any offensive risks.I've never been one to go crazy about rushing players, so it's not really ironic at all. Further, my point is your making a claim with no real rationale behind it that I can see. What other Oilers prospects became scared to take offensive chances as a result of playing there? It really doesn't seem to exist. Why isn't Hall, Eberle, RNH or any other prospect from that era similarly afraid to take any offensive risks? Could it not be that his conversion into a defensive minded player has little to do with his time in Edmonton, and instead more to do with being a prospect that was never viewed as being a finisher, getting flipped to a defense first org early on in his career? Idk, but I'm not the one claiming that the Oilers ruined his offensive game.
When we acquired Anderson, we were on pace for around 64 pts, so that would have landed us 2nd OA. We instead finished with the 5th worst record, but NJ won the lottery and bumped us to 6th. So, we went from having guys like Landeskog, Strome, Larsson, and Huberdeau available, to Zibanejad, Sheifele, Couturier, and Hamilton. In hindsight, it's not a big set back that particular year tbh, but your point stands.
unreal "assesment" lolMPS was betterat age 16 than he is today.
Unreal "development".
MPS was betterat age 16 than he is today.
Sure, but what about 17?The number of 16 year olds in the world at any given time who can play NHL level hockey are basically zero, outside of maybe the one-in-a-million generational players, along the lines of a Gretzky-esque talent. 16 year olds are simply not developed enough to play against legit NHL competition, are too small, too weak, no skill refinement, etc...
The chance that Paajarvi was a better player at 16 than he is now is so astronomically low that it's basically 0% for all intents and purposes. The chance that ANY pro hockey player was better as a 16 year old than they would be as a healthy 26 year old NHLer is, honestly, ludicrous.
The number of 16 year olds in the world at any given time who can play NHL level hockey are basically zero, outside of maybe the one-in-a-million generational players, along the lines of a Gretzky-esque talent. 16 year olds are simply not developed enough to play against legit NHL competition, are too small, too weak, no skill refinement, etc...
The chance that Paajarvi was a better player at 16 than he is now is so astronomically low that it's basically 0% for all intents and purposes. The chance that ANY pro hockey player was better as a 16 year old than they would be as a healthy 26 year old NHLer is, honestly, ludicrous.
Didn't know you would take me 100% literally, but okay, I'll bite.
His creativity, "flow", stickhandling, offensive IQ and confidence were higher/better at age 16-17 than it is today.
In his rookie season in 2010 he scored 15 goals on a complete disaster of an Oiler team and hasn't even come close since. Edmonton totally ruined this kid. From an "artist" into a robot with no creativity or will of his own.