Let's Meet: Patrick O'Sullivan

by BReynolds on Nov 23, 2010 2:41 PM CST in Features

Sometimes fate has a cruel sense of humor. Drafted by the Wild, and thought to be one of the better prospects, Patrick O`Sullivan tore up the AHL. In an effort to appease the Glass Slovak, the Wild traded a first round pick and O`Sullivan to the Kings for Pavel Demitra at the draft. The move was not met well:

The look at HWSRN's face is priceless. As for how the trade worked out, Demitra played well with Gaborik, when the two of them were actually on the ice together. The first year, Demo missed 11 games, while Gaby missed his customary 34. The last year Demitra was here, he and Gaborik furthered their chemistry, but Demitra missed 14 games due to injury.

That trade sent O'Sullivan on a tour of the NHL, and now, he returns to the nest. Make the jump and let's find out who he has become while he was gone.

Patrick O`Sullivan

#8 / Center / Minnesota Wild

Height: 5-11

Weight: 190

Born: Feb 01, 1985

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2010 - Patrick O`Sullivan	10	1	0	1	-1	2	0	0	0		13

One goal in ten games, a -1 rating, and just 13 SOG. I wonder why the waived him? Now, to be fair, he was in the doghouse out east, and getting limited minutes on the fourth line. Averaging just 7:41 TOI /G, and likely with less than offensive minded line mates, O`Sullivan was being used in a shutdown role he was not cut out for.

Drafted with the talent and promise to be a top six forward, a center nonetheless, O'Sullivan scored 47 goals and added 46 assists with the Aeros in his first year. Imagine again trading him, in what looked to be the beginning of a very promising career, AND a first round pick that year (2006), for Pavol Demitra. Telling the whole story, the 17th pick was a second first rounder the Wild had. Remember, this was the year the Wild landed future ATV riding star James Sheppard. The 17th pick become Trevor Lewis, who has struggled to find his way to the NHL.

What has O'Sullivan done since he has been gone? Courtesy of HockeyDB.com:

The biggest missing stat in that table is the -35 rating he landed with the Oilers last year that led to him being acquired by the Phoenix Coyotes for the sole purpose of buying out his contract, before being signed by the Hurricanes.

O'Sullivan has some issues with his attitude, including a lack of work ethic, and some fairly powerful delusions of grandeur. He lit up the AHL, and became a mediocre forward in the NHL. If he can renew his resolve and add a season of 20+ goals and 30+ assists as he did in 2007-08, then this pick up is a success. If he can't, then the Wild put him back on waivers and let someone else take him, or let him go to Houston.

Low risk is the way Russo described it, and it is the best way to describe it. if he pans out, great. If not, he can be shipped off to his next stop on his tour.

Where will he play?

A natural center, Russo reported that O'Sullivan is going to see top six minutes and time on the power play. If that is the case, he will clearly be move to wing, likely on the second line with Matt Cullen and Cal Clutterbuck. With his set-up abilities, Clutterbuck's quick shot, and Cullen's ability to be where the puck is, this could turn out to be a very good line.

Final Result

Not overly excited by the move, but also not upset about it at all. If Sully can bring a spark to an offense that is just flat out bad, then he is more than welcome. If he is going to bring attitude, he can keep his bags packed.

Other Reports on O'Sullivan:

ProHockeyTalk
Russo
Kent Youngblood
Wild.com

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Comments

If we're lucky, maybe he kind have the kind of rebirth Lats had last year...

The Wild never should’ve traded him away. I was happy when the Wild got Demitra because:

A) I knew a lot less about hockey back then
B) I did not know who O’Sullivan was, much less that he had a hell of a productive AHL debut
C) I thought Demitra was going to be good

Looking back on it now, what a dumbass trade. Bettman’s reaction was priceless.

Also, about his -45987657896 from last season, let’s not forget he played with the horrid Oilers, who had the worst goaltending in the league. He won’t be posting quite as big a minus in Minny, playing with Cullen and Clutter (assuming he does play with them). Bottom line, the guy’s a former 50 point getter, he’s got offensive skills. He just needs to be put in the right situation, much like Lats. I think there’s potential here.

JS, Champion of the first ever Hockey Wilderness Playoff Bracket Challenge! WHOOOOOOOO!

Not the loser of the first official Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

Owner of the Bertrand Acadians of the Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

twitter: BubbleWild48

by JSLandry on Nov 23, 2010 2:59 PM CST reply actions

Why is it a dumbass trade? Minnesota did more with two years of Demitra than they would have done with O’Sullivan and #17. They made the playoffs twice and won a division title. Of course, things would be better if the #9 pick that year wasn’t the only bust in the top-twelve or turned into Olli Jokinen, but it’s hard to complain about the Demitra trade since the former GM actually used good asset management.

On another note I can never get tired of Bettman’s reaction in the Youtube video.

First Round Bust: A Cast of Thousands celebrating a rather dodgy track record of Minnesota Wild Drafting.

by GopherState on Nov 23, 2010 4:10 PM CST up reply actions

The reason it's a dumbass trade...

It was nothing but a quick fix.

Keep that #17 and O’Sullivan, much better for the organization long term. We have no way of knowing if those 2 years of Demitra were better than #17 and Sully would’ve been. Besides, in those two years, Sully scored 72 points in 126 games, pretty good for a new guy. If the Wild had kept him and developped him, it would’ve been much better than having Demo for two dissappointing years.

Plus, just because the Kings drafted Lewis doesn’t mean that’s who the Wild would’ve picked at 17. Here are some of the players still available at that time: Chris Stewart, Claude Giroux (!!!!!), Nick Foligno, Simeon Varlamov… You just never know…

JS, Champion of the first ever Hockey Wilderness Playoff Bracket Challenge! WHOOOOOOOO!

Not the loser of the first official Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

Owner of the Bertrand Acadians of the Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

twitter: BubbleWild48

by JSLandry on Nov 23, 2010 4:19 PM CST up reply actions

64 and 54 points are two very disappointing years...

especially when they are both higher than O’Sullivan’s career high. You also have to look at the Wild’s perspective of 2006 without knowing the end result to get a good idea as to why the trade was a good idea. At the time, Minnesota was in a position where they needed to sign free agents after doing nothing post-lockout and convince Gaborik (a RFA) to re-sign with the team after his holdout the first time. Trading for Demitra accomplished both (this was the Johnsson, Parrish, etc. summer) as it told the NHL that the Wild were serious about competing.

However, the team also felt that it had a solid young core developing in Houston and elsewhere which made O’Sullivan expendable. In the Wild’s (or Risebrough’s) eyes, they had Koivu, Burns, Bouchard, O’Sullivan, Volochenko, Harding, 2005 top-five pick Benoit Pouliot and 2006 top-ten pick James Sheppard (you can also count Thelen if you want, but at this point he was already burning out) to replace any talent which left in two-three years. Now of course we’ve seen how some of these picks have panned out (along with O’Sullivan playing well in LA before flaming out), but at the time there was an abundance of young talent which made POS + #17 expendable. So it’s less of a “quick fix” – that term should be used for other trades which cover up what we know now – than DR completely missing on the prospects he thought would be the future in 2006.

Also Demitra played in 71 games in 2007-2008, which is seven less than Gaborik finally playing a full season.

First Round Bust: A Cast of Thousands celebrating a rather dodgy track record of Minnesota Wild Drafting.

by GopherState on Nov 23, 2010 4:53 PM CST up reply actions

And now I feel dirty after defending DR that much.

First Round Bust: A Cast of Thousands celebrating a rather dodgy track record of Minnesota Wild Drafting.

by GopherState on Nov 23, 2010 4:56 PM CST up reply actions

It'll never wash off :)

JS, Champion of the first ever Hockey Wilderness Playoff Bracket Challenge! WHOOOOOOOO!

Not the loser of the first official Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

Owner of the Bertrand Acadians of the Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

twitter: BubbleWild48

by JSLandry on Nov 23, 2010 5:00 PM CST up reply actions

One thing you're forgetting about Demo...

He scored 64 and 54 points playing alongside Gaby. Give Sully that privilege, he’d probably have posted similar numbers… plus Demo was an absolute non-factor whenever Gaby wasn’t there.

I agree that they needed someone to play alongside Gaby, and Demo did the job, but it seems to me like The Unnamed gave a hell of a lot for Demitra.

I just can’t help but wonder what kind of player Sully would’ve become had he never left…Again, you just never know, but I do see your point.

JS, Champion of the first ever Hockey Wilderness Playoff Bracket Challenge! WHOOOOOOOO!

Not the loser of the first official Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

Owner of the Bertrand Acadians of the Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

twitter: BubbleWild48

by JSLandry on Nov 23, 2010 5:07 PM CST up reply actions

And that division title...

If you ask me, it was almost a direct result of Gaby finally playing a full season. That year Demo had missed almost 30 games I think

JS, Champion of the first ever Hockey Wilderness Playoff Bracket Challenge! WHOOOOOOOO!

Not the loser of the first official Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

Owner of the Bertrand Acadians of the Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

twitter: BubbleWild48

by JSLandry on Nov 23, 2010 4:20 PM CST up reply actions

It was a bad trade for two reasons.

1. The trade was made to appease Gaborik, and for no other reason.
2. The team was in no position to compete for a Cup, and that is the only reason you mortgage the future in a trade.
3. The Wild may have ended up taking this Tyler nobody guy, but you never know. They may have stumbled into Chris Stewart or Claude Giroux at 17 as well.

Editor:Hockey Wilderness Assistant Editor:SBN Minnesota Owner: Komissaari erämaa

Rule #17: You may not impersonate representatives of Hockey Wilderness and handout NHL themed wrist bands.

by BReynolds on Nov 23, 2010 6:57 PM CST up reply actions

I threw in the third reason as a bonus. ;-)

Editor:Hockey Wilderness Assistant Editor:SBN Minnesota Owner: Komissaari erämaa

Rule #17: You may not impersonate representatives of Hockey Wilderness and handout NHL themed wrist bands.

by BReynolds on Nov 23, 2010 6:58 PM CST up reply actions

But with HWSNBN's History

I’m pretty sure either Stewart, Giroux or whoever they picked would have immediately been signed, then proceed to be a healthy scratch a quarter of the time during his rookie season, play 9-12 minutes a game when he was dressed and have his growth totally stunted and not turn into the players they are today.

After being fired as head coach, now a "Special Adviser" to Lighthouse Hockey -

by David Hanssen on Nov 23, 2010 7:23 PM CST up reply actions

It's sad that you're most likely right hahaha :-)

JS, Champion of the first ever Hockey Wilderness Playoff Bracket Challenge! WHOOOOOOOO!

Not the loser of the first official Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

Owner of the Bertrand Acadians of the Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

twitter: BubbleWild48

by JSLandry on Nov 23, 2010 7:32 PM CST up reply actions

True that.

Editor:Hockey Wilderness Assistant Editor:SBN Minnesota Owner: Komissaari erämaa

Rule #17: You may not impersonate representatives of Hockey Wilderness and handout NHL themed wrist bands.

by BReynolds on Nov 24, 2010 8:16 AM CST up reply actions

And they could have also picked Frolik, Little, Bernier or any other player you mentioned at 9 too. It’s fun to deal with hypotheticals sometimes and unfortunately DR’s drafting has left us with plenty of them.

First Round Bust: A Cast of Thousands celebrating a rather dodgy track record of Minnesota Wild Drafting.

by GopherState on Nov 23, 2010 7:52 PM CST up reply actions

Also, it's good that CF is actually DOING something to try and remedy the lack of scoring.

JS, Champion of the first ever Hockey Wilderness Playoff Bracket Challenge! WHOOOOOOOO!

Not the loser of the first official Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

Owner of the Bertrand Acadians of the Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League

twitter: BubbleWild48

by JSLandry on Nov 23, 2010 3:00 PM CST reply actions

I'm not opposed to this at all.

Whats the worst that can come of it? As has been mentioned before, there is a decent amount of upside and no downside. It’s a no loss situation for the Wild. Imagine that!

Owner of The Haves & Havlats in the Hockey Wilderness League

by ADN on Nov 23, 2010 4:02 PM CST reply actions

It's just sad to look at DR's draft history

This team should be in much better standing after ten years in this league, but when you have a blind idiot at the helm i guess you can’t expect too much.

by nemo1107 on Nov 23, 2010 11:37 PM CST reply actions