Is this the end of the road for Magnus Paajarvi in St. Louis? Paajarvi, 25, was placed on waivers as the Blues needed to free up a roster spot for the returning Jori Lehtera who has been activated off the IR. Placing Paajarvi on waivers is an act the Blues are familiar with – they placed him on the wire back in 2015 – but now it may mean a permanent end to his career with the Blues.
Paajarvi has a goal on the year, but the bulk of his playing time through three games in 2016-17 has been lacking. That shouldn’t come as a surprise considering he has failed to make a real impact or earn a regular spot on the roster ever since coming over from the Edmonton Oilers in a trade which sent David Perron to Edmonton. He’s a classic example of a prospect who never really lived up to his draft pick. To be fair, he has been bounced around a lot and he has struggled to find any sort of consistent or regular role, but that’s mostly due to the fact his play hasn’t made it easy for either the Blues or Oilers to regularly pencil him in on the same line night after night.
Surprisingly, Paajarvi is already in his fourth season with the Blues. Over the course of his 116 games in a Blues jersey, he’s done extremely little to give the team any confidence in his ability to be a role player or a depth option. The team’s depth has been questioned and while placing him on waivers may mean weakening some of that depth, it’s probably time to move on.
What’s next for Paajarvi? It all depends on whether a team claims him. It’s difficult to imagine too many teams would be interested considering his run of play, but stranger things have happened. Ultimately, Paajarvi heading overseas to skate might make the most sense at this stage of his career. He’s set to become a free agent following the 2016-17 season and, like the odds of him being picked up on waivers, it’s difficult to envision an NHL team giving him a contract unless it’s of the two-way variety.
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