When you send a famous, flashy first-round forward to the farm, it's going to be big news. So naturally the Edmonton Oilers made a splash when Magnus Paajarvi was demoted to the Oklahoma City Barons.
Well, what do you expect when an offense-first forward has gone twenty-five games without generating a scintilla of offense? You can say all you like that Paajarvi is more effective than Ben Eager in every statistic except "shows run/60 minutes", or that even setting aside the goons there are plenty of Oilers who have done less to earn NHL ice time than Paajarvi. These things are all true.
However, Paajarvi's ineffectiveness is doing more than denying the Oilers goals. It's denying Paajarvi ice time as Tom Renney, continuing to believe somehow that he's coaching a playoff-quality team, shuffles Paajarvi deeper and deeper into the deck with every passing game. He's a sophomore but young Magnus is just that; what he needs to learn the game is ice time and a chance to bury pucks, not bench time and a chance to be buried by Lennart Petrell.
So best of luck in Oklahoma City, Magnus. Hopefully we'll see you with a potato sack full of points, a big smile, and an eye for cheap goals that makes Ryan Jones look sloppy.