Despite having his finest AHL season, the clock is ticking on Alex Plante. He's a few months away from being waiver eligible, and his chances of being exposed are high; what's more, interest is unlikely to be close to Taylor Chorney level. Alex Plante's mobility is a major item.
- #21: D Alex Plante A solid year in OKC so far (his numbers suggest Plante has been their best fulltime defender) but the players ahead of him with similar skills (Smid, Peckham, Teubert) either have a wider range of skills or are ahead of him in the pecking order. It's very difficult to create a scenario next fall that sees Plante protected from waivers.
- #22: C Tanner House College grad appears to be finding the range (3 goals in his last 5 games) and may supply enough offense to be a callup option. The Oilers early adoption of Lander makes it tough for all of the OKC centermen.
- #23: C Chris VandeVelde Falls behind House just a little based on season performance so far. I thinkVV needs to find a new NHL address, center is well covered rolling out for miles.
- #24: G Samu Perhonen He is the one goalie who hasn't performed well anywhere so far this season. I can't find much to sing about, but it's early. We know he's a tools goaltender so the road will be long with many a winding turn.
- #25: D Taylor Fedun Wonderful training camp and pre-season had him in the mix for NHL employment right off the top. I don't know about the recovery but am willing to bet on him doing the work required.
- #26: W Toni Rajala Has enjoyed a nice resurgence this season but the chances of his getting lost in the flood is massive. Have a look at the Oilers incumbent wingers for next year and then look at those outside looking in. Even if Omark flies the coop it'll be tough and we all know all 30 organizations have plenty of undersized skill wingers.
- #27: W Kristians Pelss If I was a "saw him good" type Pelss would be in the top 20. He has a dynamite release, really good. However, he's undersized and not killing it on a very good team so I think this is the right spot.
- #28: L Drew Czerwonka Big winger gained fame with a deep run last spring and has some offensive ability. We've seen flashes from big men before--JFJ anyone?--but he is certainly a player of interest.
- #29: L Hunter Tremblay Probably not where they wanted him to be at this point, but there are still games to play. Tremblay would need to provide way more offense to pass people.
- #30: C Milan Kytnar I don't know what to say. He's been good by any slide rule measurement since turning pro but we all knew he was the guy heading to Stockton based on the organization handling him in previous years. Nothing wrong that I can see. Maybe it's the sideburns.
I have not included defensemen Kirill Tulupov and Ryan Lowery, but I would have had them on the top 30 list had they been Oiler prospects. Should the team sign them and add these players to their 50 man list, I'd certainly consider them legit prospects.
@LT: Outstanding series, as usual.
ReplyDeletePelss is just too much of a feel-good story (i.e. nobody, not even the guys doing the draft board in 2010 as they had no name card for him, had heard of him) for me not to cheer for him. Sounds like he has some good skills aswell (skating, shot) that might take him far, and I find it quite surprising that he can't quite put it all together in the Dub. Still hope the Oilers sign him and put him in Stockton.
ReplyDeleteOn a totally unrelated note, did anyone PVR the first Oil Change episode (and will they be doing the same for the rest of the season)? As a follow-on from my rant last week about the NHL's poor Euro-broadcasting, I've had e-mail exchanges with Sportsnet, as I can't view Oil Change on either their website or CityTV's. They said their licence doesn't allow for broadcast outside of Canada. I also emailed the Oilers website (as they have the first season of Oil Change, produced by TSN, on their video player) but they said Sportsnet wouldn't allow them to post the new season on their video player. Sucks to be an Oilers fan in the UK :( so yeah if any has it recorded, could they stick it on YouTube just for lil' ol' me?!
Yeah, what EasyOil said. I can't find it anywhere. Almost enough to make me move back to Saskatchewan...
ReplyDeleteOk, not just me then - kanadienkyle too :) where are you based just out of interest, KK?
ReplyDeleteTravis Ewanyk has a better chance of playing in the NHL than Pelss or Rajala.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you say that Ducey? Not that I disagree, just interested in your take? Is it because he's a tough, face-off taking, hard-minutes centre and not a skilled, smallish winger? Whilst I'd totally agree in that sense, the needs of the big club by the time those 3 are ready and waiting could be vastly different to what they are now. Might not be, but could be.
ReplyDelete@EasyOil
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ducey. Although he may not play for the Oilers, being tough, fast, having some skills could make him a possible bottom sixer especially on a less than stellar team.
Small skill forwards have a tough time making the bigs and sticking or so it seems.
All of these guys have the odds stacked against them if taken after the first and second round however, or so draft history says.
Why do you say that Ducey? Not that I disagree, just interested in your take? Is it because he's a tough, face-off taking, hard-minutes centre and not a skilled, smallish winger?
ReplyDeleteYeah, coaches love guys like Ewanyk. He can play in shutdown role in the bottom 6. And I expect we would have seen a jump in his production this year had he not been hurt.
I have seen Pelss play lots for the Oil Kings. He is a bit of a tease. He flashes lots of skills but never seems to put it all together. Smallish Euro wingers like he and Rajala who don't put up enough points to play top 6 simply have no where to play.
It sucks to see Rajala fizzle out. It was a longshot, but I thought it was worth the pick.
ReplyDeleteI like Kytnar but everything points to tweener at this point. Same goes for Vandevelde.
I'm looking forward to Fedun climbing your list over the next couple of years!
subactan - Tough Actin'
can anyone here explain to me why the team gets outshot so badly?
ReplyDeleteI know our d is brutal and they have a hard time breaking the cycle and clearing the puck. However, in addition to that it appears to my uneducated eye that the system Renney has installed often does not seem to encourage forechecking. He talks about "getting rid of the puck so you can get the puck back" but they don't do that. They dump it in, and only one player chases it, the other two staying high, playing a 1-2-2 from the dump in. Well how do you win possession doing that? They want to create turnovers in the neutral zone but they don't sustain much if any pressure 5x5 in the other team's zone. I almost think they purposely do that with the intention of winning the game on the power play, hoping to keep EV at 0-0, or scoring EV from odd man rushes created by turnovers.
Am I crazy or is this what happens?
Paajarvi sent to OKC, per the twitters.
ReplyDeleteMike Milbury charged with assault, a propos nothing.
ReplyDeletePaajarvi sent to OKC, per the twitters.
ReplyDeleteExcellent. Hopefully he will get his mojo back.
They should send Lander down with him and bring up O'Marra.
During an exhibition game, his son got into a scrape with an opponent. According to the Boston Herald, Milbury charged onto the ice and berated and shook the the opposing player.
ReplyDeleteHopefully thats the last we see of him in the MSM. Full of bluster with little insight.
Now if we could scrape up enough to put a hit on Mark Lee. I already dread listening to the game tomorrow night.
Easy, I am in Minneapolis now, by way of North Dakota and Saskatchewan.
ReplyDeleteIf we tire of watching hockey over the holidays, maybe we can find some outdoor ice like these guys did and play a little pond hockey: http://youtu.be/iwvfYmpYdaM & http://youtu.be/zDOenPClf24
ReplyDeletePlaying hockey on a frozen pond in December was one of my best childhood memories.
I wonder if Milbury hit that young fellow with his shoe?
ReplyDeleteAlso, thanks for the great blog LT. First thing I read every morning.
ReplyDelete"It's funny because our game looks at numbers just like other games, but as much value as we assign to puck possession and how essential it is to winning, we really don't have a numerical value for it that everyone can agree on. Remember when [A's general manager] Billy Beane started emphasizing on-base percentage in baseball? It wasn't just a curious number; it changed the game. It redefined the type of player you wanted on your team. It's coming in hockey; we just have to figure out how."
ReplyDeleteKen Holland - that is from a SI article where any number of GMs say puck possession matters more than anything else in hockey but they all say some version of we don't measure it.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1186567/1/index.htm
Probably they are lying.
Not important to my argument. I think most of us would acknowledge that puck possession really matters.
My problem with Pajaarvi going down to the AHL is that it utterly ignores overwhelming evidence that whatever metric you use he is one of the better Oilers in terms of puck possession and management skills.
His Corsi numbers, zone starts,GA/60, shots for and against on and off the ice all tell a story of a superb defensive player. One who can move the puck in the right direction consistently while outchancing his opponents slightly and his teammates immensely. His PDO is bad, meaning some of his poor performance is bad luck. Yes his opponents aren't the elite of the league but his teammates are even poorer according to quality of competition and teammate analysis.
All of which gets him sent to the minors. Apparently in an attempt to turn him into some sort of forechecking/body checking power forward who attacks the net like Taylor Hall.
In summary the ice tilts in our favour when he is playing. He outplays his opponents and that has been increasingly the case as the year has been moving on. He has also improved in all of the above categories both throughout this year and since last year.
Exactly why is he in the minors?
@vor
ReplyDeleteHe is in the minors because he has zero goals and won't go to the areas he needs to score.
Some stats may seem to tell you he is great defensively and moves the puck forward. But how does he do it? By chipping the puck out to no one or advancing it to the other teams zone to no one.
He is exactly where he belongs based on performance.
He should do well down there and hopefully get some confidence.
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ReplyDeleteVor - "Billy Beane started emphasizing on-base percentage in baseball? It wasn't just a curious number; it changed the game."
ReplyDeleteSay whatever you want about Beane, moneyball, and whatever else. Claiming that other teams and people weren't looking and OBP is ludicrous.
The rest of your argument in some ways makes points against the statistical approach you're advocating. It is abundantly clear that Magnus is not having a good year...yet this supposedly important group of statistics says otherwise...you can go two very different directions with that bit of info.
MPS is 3rd in absolute corsi, 4th in relative corsi, 3rd in zone differential amongst players with significant total minutes, etc. He gets those numbers by limiting the ice he gives an opponent and moving the puck with efficiency up the ice. That he is not getting the outcomes you cherish is because of bad luck, opportunity and quality of team mates. None of which MPS controls.
ReplyDeleteI get all of you who think only two things count - goals and hitting people, really I do. You want to be able to see something with the naked eye. Not rely on having to use your PVR and watch each play ten times.
What these stats tell you is when your eye doesn't agree with the stats your eye is wrong, but as humans we have trouble believing that. Billy Beane believed. Everybody was aware of the stat, Billy Beane just committed to using it as a management tool to the exclusion of all else. He got results and quickly all other GMs increased how much attention they were paying. Beane lost his first mover advantage.
The thing is hockey is a team game and it really helps if you want to win games if you have people who out play the opposition. If everybody on your team outplays their opponent on the other team you will win most games. Sadly, the Oilers only have about six outplayers.
Demoting one of them sends the message that as long as the fans like how you look your actual impact on the game matters not a crap.
I want his haters to tell me, what stat is telling you MPS isn't getting the job done. Not what you think you can see but the #s. Yes, he hasn't been scoring but neither has Lander. He has been on for 6 goals against which per 60 minutes played makes him one of the best defenders in all of the NHL. Yes, they have only scored 4 times while he has been on the ice but when he is on the ice the Oilers seriously outshoot and slightly outchance their opponents. He starts his shifts in the offensive zone 50.9% of the time and finishes it there 55% of the time, which means he isn't just dumping the puck into empty space and going for a line change.
He doesn't take dumb penalties. He doesn't lose his man. He has shown he can kill penalties and why they won't let him is beyond me.
Yes, he isn't scoring, but so what? Guys like MPS and Lander are useful because they are ultra low event and can kill penalties. Thus they help keep you at or near zero in terms of even strength, improve your special teams and let your offensive talent have a chance to win the game on the power play.
Paajarvi became a victim of the team's good start and Smyth's in particular as well as some injury issues.
ReplyDeleteIf Smyth had not been such a force those first twenty games Paajarvi may have gotten some of those nice minutes on the wing in the top six instead of slotting in with Belanger. Further to that if Gagner and Hemsky were both healthy then Renney may have run Belanger on the fourth line and put Paajarvi and Omark in more offensive roles.
The lineup sussed out as it did though and Paajarvi did not produce, partially due to his role. His confidence flagged and when Hall went down he got all of one game in the top six. If the team had started poorly he probably gets more time there but Renney is coaching for an extension so he dropped him right away.
This is a guy who scored 15 goals last year, 12 of those at ES, and did so with a pretty reasonable shooting %. He'll be fine and he needs to play.
If the team keeps sliding then I would bet on Hemsky getting moved and maybe even Smyth for more futures. And it remains to see if Gagner fits. Then we'll see Paajarvi back and probably Omark too.
And LT - as always thanks for this series. Has been hectic with the season and all but I have been reading. Great stuff as usual.
LMHF: It's been my point all along. Sparky Anderson is often given credit for the modern bullpen (and he did in fact increase its use) but the progression toward starters not completing games has been going on forever.
ReplyDeleteMoneyball is real, just over 100 years and credit should be given to 1000 men from the past.
And the guy from the A's too, right alongside them. But not ahead. How anyone can credit OBP without mentioning Earl Weaver is beyond me.
I'd suggest he was sent to the minors b/c the org. Has decided there is no room for him on the current roster. Simple as that as evidenced by his TOI from game one onwards.
ReplyDeleteOmark part two IMO.
(maybe I'm just swede sensitive)
Vor - I see you're a 'true believer' so I don't see much point in discussing the issue further with you. I'm a big fan of Magnus and what he can bring, but he has backed away from the strengths of his game this year and it has cost him big time. If you want to believe that hockey is entirely dependent on luck, and that #91 is simply downtrodden, be my guest as your argument is nearly circular and thus makes any kind of debate rather goofy. Your simplification of the ability to watch the game and dissect what is going on and why is silly. Your faith in the championship-less Beane is even stranger.
ReplyDeleteLT - The period in which I truly grew passionate about MLB was watching the late 90s Yankees. They were built on a superb combo of high OBP, reasonable power and solid pitching. They were all about taking pitches and they knew the impact it would have. That approach has been around forever. I come by my Yankee fandom honestly in that my dad's been a massive fan since about 1957. Something to do with some guy wearing #7 who probably should've been the greatest ever.
"I want his haters to tell me, what stat is telling you MPS isn't getting the job done. Not what you think you can see but the #s."
ReplyDeleteYou reaaaaally need to close the stats book and watch the games. He shy's away from hits. Find me a stat that shows how many times he goes into the corner with his stick first, not his body. Find me a stat on puck possession in high percentage scoring areas.
The stats guys hate on Jonesy too. He's doing alright regardless of what his underlying numbers say. Sure he's not the brightest player out there, but he's been one of the most consistent players on the team so far.
MPS deserves to go down. The only good game he's played was when his daddy was watching him and he played possessed. Besides that, he's been pretty useless on the 3rd/4th lines.
Tubes - I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you but besides Jonesy, who HAS played well on the 3rd and 4th lines. The frustration is that MPS is not the only one that has struggled in a big way. He just doesn't get the chance to play out of it.
ReplyDeleteIf Corsi says MPS was playing well this year then it shows just how useful Corsi is.
ReplyDeleteI get all of you who think only two things count - goals and hitting people, really I do. You want to be able to see something with the naked eye. Not rely on having to use your PVR and watch each play ten times.
ReplyDeleteLast year Alex Plante, Alex Giroux and Jim Vandermeer all posted good REL Corsi's. I don't see anyone screaming for them to come back.
Rel Corsi tells us that the puck is going the right way when he is on the ice against middling competition. Great. If you want him to be a checker thats nifty.
What would be really swell considering he went 10th overall is if he could check AND score.
At this stage of the game for him and the team, its about development. He is clearly behind RNH, Hall and Eberle in terms of scoring. The advanced stats may not tell you that, but the basic ones do.
Send him to the farm and let him work on his scoring skills.
I do get that part of the reason that Pajaarvi was sent down was his waiver eligibility.
ReplyDeleteIt is clearly far more important to protect Darcy Hordichuk from waivers than to actually win hockey games.
As for Billy Beane he didn't claim to ivent or even be the only one using OBP. He simply figured out how to maximize the bang for your buck when signing players. That is he improved the use of an existing management tool not a statistic. He went all in and got a good result relative to dollars spent. Think David Poile.
Perhaps MPS is playing soft or not going to the hard areas. We need to wait for David Staples to tell us since he is the only person I have seen who compiles that information. It is certainly testable but it also doesn't matter.
My argument is simply this, however he does it he outplays his opponents. The only metric we have for measuring luck tells us he does that while having relatively bad luck. In order to win consistently you must outplay. MPS is part of the solution not part of the problem. Sending him to the minors is stupid and delivers the wrong message, that style counts over impact.
That isn't vaguely circular. I also never said hockey is just all luck. I merely support the contention that if you have two players one of who outplays the opposition while having bad luck and one gets out played while having stunning good luck then over time the first player's results will improve and over time the other player's results will get worse.
I stand by my point that if all the stats tell you one thing and your eyes another then your eyes are wrong. That is also testable and thus not vaguely circular either.
Again, what evidence do any of you have that MPS has been uesless on the third and fourth lines. He has a stunning relative corsi as compared to the guys he actually plays with. He has made his linemates better not worse.
I get that some of the people posting here truly believe that what matters in hockey is how you look not whether you help your team be better. The thing is when I watch MPS I see him cut off the head man pass that prevents us being stuck for hours in our own end. When I watch MPS in his own end I watch him beat the opposition to the puck and prevents the need for a puck battle. I watch him go on the transition to offence as quickly as his more famous team mates. I can't say it is his fault that his line mates mostly can't hit in the man in transition with the puck so he could really use all that speed.
In other words I have seen him good. The numbers tell the same story.
The stats also tell you that RNH and Eberle in particular struggle defensively. And on the road they get slaughtered. Taylor Hall is the far superior player and it shows in the stats. It would be excellent for RNH and Ebs development to be sent to OKC to learn to play some defense. Given where they were drafted I expect them to be able both to score and play defence.
ReplyDeleteGreat scorers please the fans. Great checkers win Stanley Cups. Ask the Sedins.
"I stand by my point that if all the stats tell you one thing and your eyes another then your eyes are wrong."
ReplyDeleteIncorrect. A stat itself cannot make conclusions and be right or wrong. It can only show what its metric is designed to show in numeric terms. Philosophical interpretation and the metric design of that stat means it is not nearly that simple. You also have not referenced "all the stats" in your argument.
"I also never said hockey is just all luck."
You quite clearly used the luck defence when it came to explaining the "why" of his results. Thus it underpins most of the argument. It is one thing to forward stats as evidence, but to say they are the end all be all while relying on luck is rather absurd. I don't mean to be curt and hope I'm not coming across as such.
"I get that some of the people posting here truly believe that what matters in hockey is how you look not whether you help your team be better."
Nope. They disagree over how to measure and observe whether or not you are indeed helping your team.
"Great scorers please the fans. Great checkers win Stanley Cups. Ask the Sedins."
ReplyDeleteThis is funny. The first part of this post was a chuckle, but this is downright hilarious.
The Blackhawks, Penguins, Red Wings, Ducks, Hurricanes, Lightning, Avalanche, Devils (2nd in GF despite reputation btw) of the last decade say HELLO!
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ReplyDeleteHmmm, apparently there were no great checkers on the Devils, or Chicago, or the cup winning Avalanche teams or say Anaheim. Show me a single Stanely Cup winning team without some version of Doug Jarvis and Bob Gainey etc. Even the Oilers had some forwards who were shutdown specialists.
ReplyDeleteI think the burden is on those who claim I am using luck somehow in my argument, beyond what I state, to show how it applies. I am simply saying MPS outplays his opponents and he does that with team mates who are even worse than his opposition. I am not cherry picking the stats.
Statistics are a mathematical representation of a measurement. If I think something looks like it weighs thirty pounds and three different experiments say that it weights 100 lbs + or - 20 lbs 99 times out of 100 then my eyes are wrong. There are legitimate arguments that can be made about corsi because of inconsistencies in measurement - it still comes down to human observation after all - but all the stats available say MPS is outplaying except absolute plus minus which has long been identified as the most unreliable of hockey stats in terms of predictive power.
By the way LMHF#1, how is that you observe and measure. How is it so superior to all the observations and data collected by people like Gabe and Dennis?
ReplyDeleteVor - the combination of statistics (including an understanding of the methods themselves) and observation of the on-ice game through minds that have a fundamental and study-honed understanding of the game is a fairly thorough way to analyze hockey. A balanced approach.
ReplyDeleteI am not putting down either Dennis or Gabe's metrics/stats. I also highly doubt Dennis would march in here and tell you that Magnus has been any good this year; especially compared to the standards he's set with his play at other times.
Keep in mind with regard to #91 I have a positive frame of his game and don't believe his fundamental issue to be "going into hard areas" or hitting people.
Then what do you think the issue is?
ReplyDeleteHow do you come by your position that he is playing badly.
You make it sound like your argument isn't as simplistic as he isn't scoring. You also say you don't think it is not hitting or going to hard areas. So what is you think he is doing wrong? Where is the smoking gun?
And the guy from the A's too, right alongside them. But not ahead. How anyone can credit OBP without mentioning Earl Weaver is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteYep, Billy Beane just identified an anomaly at that time. As stated.
Baseball is a complicated game that looks simple.
On another note - The Oilers have 12 mil in two old timers that they rode hard for twenty games. The underlying problems remain. No second line center with size, D upgrade, coaching. Watching Buch drawing up plays, hmmm?
As to poor MP, I remember Canada had all these All Stars, the Russians identified the best player as Gainey. There's more to the game than goals and hits.
The problem seems to be identifiying players' roles.
Vor - Magnus' positioning is currently off in all zones. He is cheating for defence as the team transitions to offensive play. He is also not using his speed to get into passing lanes and create offensive chances for his line. This has always been his strength rather than the popular opinion that he's a wing-rusher. The points would come naturally if he corrected this. In terms of defensive positioning, he is reacting late and having to chase. He is a good chaser so he doesn't suffer as much as others, but he's still suffering. The thing this impacts most is the breakout.
ReplyDeleteHe has backed off some on his boardplay, but I believe this is because he's already second-guessing his positioning rather than any sort of fear. This is a confidence issue though. Magnus last year did not second-guess his positional instincts.
He's also using too long of a stick, which affords him less opportunity to protect the puck. This has been an issue for some time, but when his positioning and skating is on, it only costs him in the offensive zone. When he's struggling, this occurs in all zones. He also doesn't need the extra stick length as he's already lanky and has enough reach without using a tree branch.
His shooting choices are not particularly strong at present, as he is more likely to take a shot from far away and is not attempting to hit corners. His passing game in all zones is off from where it should be as he is an underrated passer currently performing poorly and without precision.
With this suite of things to work on (and from the positioning, everything else will flow) OKC is the perfect fit at present.
EasyOil:
ReplyDeleteI live in Australia and have the same issue with Oil Change (went back and forth with the Oilers, who told me the same thing they told you, and CityTv who responded to my inquiry by thanking me for my "feedback" on the show; doubt they even bothered to read my email). Surprisingly enough, I was able to watch the second episode on sportsnet's website, as it was posted in their video section for a few days after they first aired it. I'm hoping they'll do the same for the next episodes. Would also love it if someone could post it on youtube, though.
"Sending him to the minors is stupid and delivers the wrong message, that style counts over impact."
ReplyDeleteVor-If MPS changed his style,he might have more of an impact.
"Watching Buch drawing up plays"
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the things that scares me most. I can't remember what loss it was a part of, but Buchberger was on the bench that night and every time he meddled (drawing things up or clearly choosing the line/vocalizing) something bad happened. It looked like some sort of weird in-game training exercise.
I don't disagree with some of your argument LMHF#1.
ReplyDeleteWhen I watch MPS he is actually the first guy back nearly always. He is very clearly cheating for defence. Nobod should be first man back that often. MPS is Petr Klima in reverse.
He gives up in the offensive end at the first sign they are going to lose the battle for possession. In that situation he starts back regardless of whether he needs to or not. He isn't doing it because his man is slipping away but because it is how he has been coached. As somebody here pointed out last year in Swedish hockey the guy playing left wing has the primary defensice responsibility.
I think we can all agree Pajaarvi cheated on D last year. I'm not at all convinced it is any worse this year. So what I am saying is I don't think the cheating on D explains the poor results he is getting on offence this year.
As for his positioning on offence I'd counter by asking you, who gets to the other teams blueline first, Pajaarvi or his linemates? Not his fault none of the guys he is stuck on the ice with can hit the open man. He does, I would argue, as somebody said earlier dump it in way to frequently when he does get it. That may not be his inclination but rather the coaches'orders. A large amount of the time MPS' dump-in is so his linemates (and he) can get a line change. Given how few minutes they are playing that is almost certainly not their idea.
I would agree that he is at his best breaking through the middle of the ice and that he isn't doing it this year. However, that play either requires a teammate who can get you the puck in motion or you to carry it yourself and MPS has never been a puck lugger. He doesn't look very comfortable with it and never has. Give it to him in stride and remarkable things happen. Not his fault his linemates can't pass.
I think the person who said Ryan Smyth ate the ice time (and was fabulous in the early going) that Pajaarvi needed to thrive and develop had it right. He needed better linemates and more ice time. Given what he had to work with MPS did what he could, outplayed his opponent and played rock solid defence. He moved the puck in the right direction, shot whenever he had a chance, and made sure somebody was back.
All of which got him a ticket to OKC. Not to mention a bunch of people saying what a horrible year he is having.
MP will be fine.
ReplyDeleteThese darn eyes keep telling me he is lost right now. Some big minutes in all situations in the AHL can't hurt.
My guess is he lights it up pretty quick and is back in no time.
PS Great series LT. :)