Remember that line about waiting 5 years after a draft before assessing? Magnus Paajarvi looks to be proving the point. His path has been winding, but his aim is true.
- Redline Report: Swedish winger Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson possesses blazing speed and is the best pure skater in the entire draft. He’s also got good size and strength, and has been competing against men in the Swedish Elite League all year, so he may be ready to step in and play in the NHL right away.”
MPS has had his struggles, and spent some time in OKC (and welcomed it) on the way to becoming an overnight sensation. Last night’s quote from coach Krueger (hat tip WG) says it all:
- “He gets to the blue paint as much as any forward right now.His feet are around the blue paint, around the goaltender. So not only is he using his outside speed and playing extremely responsible without the puck and defensively, his tracking to the net and tracking to that blue paint is as strong as anybody.He is truly going there and as a result getting goals.Its nice to watch a young player take the steps he has at an important time for us.”
Still a long way to go, but he’s turning some kind of corner. Paajarvi would be an effective player if he could play a 2-way game and score 15–if he can score at a greater clip then we’re looking at something else again.
Could Paajarvi emerge as a legit top 6 LW? If that happens, maybe three scoring lines will actually happen in my lifetime.
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Paajarvi is slightly ahead of his RE:
- RE: 39, 3-9-12
- Actual: 28, 7-3-10
- Projected 43, 11-5-16
but the real story is his recent offense (in 13 March games, he is 5-3-8) and the things Krueger says above.
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Today’s the day for Dan DeKeyser to choose his NHL future. Updates when we get them.
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Trading Ryan Whitney looks like it would be difficult, but there’s apparently great interest. His performance last night was quite good to my eye (and Schultz the elder was horrible), but if DeKeyser says “Edmonton” today I think there’s a good chance Whitney is dealt by Monday.