To my eyes, Laine's shot hasn't been what it once was. When he gets open looks, he misses the net half the time. Not sure how you blame PM for that. Good thing he is playing a more physical game.as he would be totally useless otherwise.
His shot hasn't been the same in about 2 years.
I think it was just a matter of him devoting nearly all of his time on the ice, to perfect his shot, which he is no longer doing. So he's bound to be less accurate with it. This used to be a guy who just shot, shot and shot, all day long during training. For some reason, people just seemed to act as if he's magically going to continue having a great shot while no longer working on it as much as other aspects of the game. Sad to say, but playing a more "physical game" has taken away from his pure goal-scoring abilities.
Laine shoots in a "high risk/high reward" manner, trying to pick the far corners, which often results in missing the net for players with an average-to-good shot. Only a great shot can score with such attempts on a regular basis.
Laine still has a very hard shot, though, so he might be better off targeting the center and just trying to get rebounds for other players. Especially in scenarios where you have a bunch of your players around the net. The days of him regularly scoring top shelf at long distances, are probably over though. Better off just trying to hit the net and hoping that something goes through by sheer volume (as Ovechkin tends to do).
