Friday, March 12, 2010

Bring Paajarvi over to end the season?

There has been a lot of talk of bringing Eberle up for 9 games or less this season, but I think it would be good idea, if Paajarvi is interested, to sign Paajarvi and bring him over to the NHL/AHL for the remainder of this season. Paajarvi's season could potentially be over this weekend; Timra needs to win its last game to qualify for the playoffs. Provided you can play him in the NHL or AHL without exposing him to waivers, it seems like a no lose proposition to bring him over for the rest of the season if Timra's season is over shortly.

Article 13 of the CBA is the section discussing Waivers. 13.1 says that there are three kinds of waivers: Regular Waivers, Re-Entry Waivers, and Unconditional Waivers. 13.4 of the CBA has a chart explaining which young players are exempt from Regular and Re-Entry waivers. If Paajarvi (and Lander, for that matter) were to sign NHL contracts tomorrow, then according to this article they should be ineligible for waivers. However, perhaps contradicting this is Article 13.23, which says, more or less, that players who have played in Europe during the NHL season must clear Waivers before they are eligible to play in the NHL, where "NHL" is specifically written (not NHL or AHL). This section does not distinguish between the three waiver types, it merely refers to "Waivers". I think it's reasonable to guess that they mean "Regular" and/or "Re-Entry" waivers in this context, since "Unconditional" waivers seems to be a formal step taken only before completing a buyout of a player's Standard Players Contract, but it is just a guess.

My understanding of all this information suggests that Paajarvi would indeed be eligible to play in the NHL this season. And if not the NHL because of 13.23, then perhaps he's still eligible for AHL play?. Obviously you need to know with certainty before bringing him over, since losing him to waivers accidentally would be disastrous.

There would seem to be many positives in bringing him over this season.

  • Get him under contract to remove any draft re-entry concerns.

  • Assess his AHL and/or NHL "readiness" in that league.

  • See how his game adapts to NA ice size.

  • Test Paajarvi's fitness, see which areas you can maybe improve with an off-ice workout plan taliored specifically to Paajarvi.

  • A chance to sit down with Paajarvi and go over the areas of his game you'd like to improve.

  • Get to know him personally, introduce him to the city and people and players within the organization.


I'm sure there would be potential negatives. For one, burnout after a long season might be a concern. That said, there's no reason he'd have to play every game in the AHL or NHL; obviously you wouldn't play him more than 9 games in the NHL anyways, to avoid starting his NHL ELC. I'm not seeing a ton of downside compared to the potential upside, provided Paajarvi is interested and provided there's no risk of losing Paajarvi to waivers.

7 comments:

Smytty777 said...

Wouldn't the same reasoning apply to Lander? Presumably you would bring them both for some AHL time?

After this weekend I think the Falcons play 11 more games. It would be great to get both of those guys into some AHL games with Eberle.

speeds said...

The same reasoning could apply to Lander, certainly, if they think he'd benefit from a brief look at the AHL.

PDO said...

Am I the only person worried that signing MPS might be a bit of a pain in the ass?

He's done nothing but improved since the draft with guys ahead of him faltering and it's not like he would be joining some amazing team in a city with a great night life...

I'd love this, especially if he's okay with the idea that he might start next year in the AHL based on how TC goes.

speeds said...

PDO:

I don't know if I would be terribly worried about getting him signed if I were the Oilers management, but it's fair to say they'd probably breathe easier if he's signed.

If Paajarvi doesn't sign he would re-enter the draft. Would he go higher than 10th? Maybe, but EDM can pay him like a 6th OV pick if that's what it takes to sign him so there's not much benefit.

No matter which team he'd join, they probably aren't going to be all that great, and EDM would seem like as a good a situation as one could expect for a prospect to get ice time, minutes, maybe PP time, etc.

Eetu Huisman said...

I think the "Reijo Ruotsalaine rule" applies to Pääjärvi (and Lander), so he can't play in the NHL this year without clearing the waivers.

He could of course play in the AHL after his season is over in Sweden, either after signing an entry-level contract or on a tryout.

From the players' point of view, playing some games after mid-March would probably prepare them better for the U18 World Championships than just resting. Unless, of course, they feel they need it after a rather long season without too many breaks.

speeds said...

According to Guy Flaming, Paajarvi may or may not be eligible, depending on how his contract is worded.

Travesty said...

I thought that if a player is exposed to waivers, the lowest team in the league has first crack at him. So how would that work if he was exposed?