For sure but to be fair, I've seen NHL teams play that level of defense too
That shot will play in any league though. I have some hope that he can be an Olofsson esque player for us.
Yeah, I'm not the "that won't fly in the NHL!" guy like a few people are on here. I mean honestly, that kind of nonexistent defense
does happen in the NHL, just far less than in other leagues. When I look at a guy and how he's scoring his goals, I try to determine if a
majority are NHL-caliber goals. Take Kravtsov--I was annoyed when he pulled that dangle and roofed the shot over goalie and half the board pissed themselves. It's a low-percentage play in any league, lowest in the NHL. But what pissed me off is that he was scoring a lot of other goals, on deflections, goals where he found space around the net, etc. Those goals translate. Those are the ones that should excite people (coming from someone who isn't even super high on him).
For Pajuniemi I'd say it's like 50/50 in terms of the goals he scores being solid NHL goals and goals that you see at lower levels but not
consistently in the NHL. If you just look at his highlight real and ignore how it all translates it's like he's Pavel f***ing Bure. But I see more of a 15-15 guy, on maybe even a 20+ goal guy if he gets regular PP time. The shot is legitimate and can play at any level, it's just a matter of can he consistently find the time and space to use it (like the highlight he obviously found the space, but that's very low-percentage in the NHL). How does it all translate? I more confident about him now than I was last season, though.
