St. Louis Blues 2016-17 Final Grades: Magnus Paajarvi

The St. Louis Blues were hoping they had a top tier speedster when they traded David Perron for Magnus Paajarvi. It has not worked out that way and Paajarvi’s surge might be too late.

The St. Louis Blues have made some good trades during Doug Armstrong’s tenure. They’ve also made some bad ones.

I’m not sure whether you would call the trade of David Perron for Magnus Paajarvi a bad trade, but it was not a good one. In a bit of irony, Perron ended up returning to the Blues and supplanting Paajarvi as a regular in the lineup.

You cannot view the trade in those simplest terms though. Perron needed a change of scenery to understand that changes needed to be made in his game.

Though he continued to be an offensive force in Edmonton, continuing to focus only on offense left him and the team empty at the end of the season. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way.

Unfortunately for the Blues, their return investment has not paid dividends. Paajarvi is just north of a bust for much of his time in the blue note.

Like many of Edmonton’s early picks (looking at you Nail Yakupov), Paajarvi never panned out. He was the 10th overall pick in 2009. He only has 43 career goals and 93 points.

Paajarvi played in 80 games as a rookie with the Oilers. He’s never come close to that again. His highest total was 55 games with the Blues in 2013-14, immediately after the trade.

Prior to 2016-17, his highest point total with St. Louis was 12 in that first year. Like so many, he had a fantastic rookie season with 37 points and never again figured things out.

That has been the story of his time in St. Louis. He plays well for a game or two, scores some nice goals, makes you think he has things figured out and then turns into a black hole.

Talent cannot escape the Paajarvi wormhole. It is a shame too, because you can tell it is in there. He has just not been able to keep things consistent in the NHL.

Paajarvi did his best to change that in 2016-17. After using up his last bit of good will with Ken Hitchcock, he was relegated to the AHL to recover from some injuries and serve out the season.

Due to injuries up on the NHL team and a new coach, Paajarvi had a chance to shine and did just that. In only 32 games played, he had a career high in points with the Blues.

The enigmatic Swede scored eight goals and had 13 points for St. Louis. He also scored a goal and had three points in eight playoff games in 2017.

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Paajarvi actually played like he had figured things out. Plenty of credit has to go to Craig Berube and the staff of the Chicago Wolves.

As a veteran at 26, Paajarvi had things click under Berube before his return to the Blues. With 26 games in Chicago, Paajarvi scored seven goals and had 11 points.

13 and 11 don’t sound like great numbers, but given the small amount of games he played, it was a big turnaround. You finally did not have to sigh in exasperation when you saw Paajarvi’s name on the lineup card.

His biggest problem now is that his turnaround might be too little, too late. Paajarvi is a restricted free agent and while $700,000 is not much, the Blues are in a situation where every dollar counts.

With players in need of raises and promising prospects coming up through the ranks, does Paajarvi still have any chances left? Can the Blues bank on him taking the next step or was it just one good little run?

As far as the one season encapsulated, plenty of credit has to go to Paajarvi for sticking with it. Entering the league at 19, you could easily see many players give up and just accept their minor league fate after seven years.

He kept sticking with it and plugging away. When the game finally slowed down a bit and he found his role, he was a contributing force.

It just did not come soon enough. Paajarvi scored the game winner in the playoffs against Minnesota and then barely played against Nashville.

One stretch to end a season, does not a good season make. On those games alone, Paajarvi would get a B- or B at best. The rest of his time, even if you only take into account 2017 cannot be ignored though.

Like so many before, and hopefully not too many after, he has shown to be a bust. If his time in St. Louis is done, at least he ended on a decent note. If his time is not done, hopefully he can finally build on a rare positive end to the season.