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LW Patrik Laine - Tappara, FEL (2016 Draft)

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I'm going to withold any judgement on Tappara after hearing about Laine's issues. I'm sure there is a lot more going on than we know. Just to contribute to the CHL discussion, he himself doesn't seem to consider it a possibility.

At the end of June Laine signed a three year Liiga contract with his youth club Tappara. He never even considered leaving to North American junior leagues, even though they have recently caught more and more attention in Finland.

- Didn't consider that at all. Finland is now my thing and I'll play here for a few years.
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http://www.jatkoaika.com/Haastattel...ect-patrik-laine-on-his-way-to-the-nhl/159393

Of course things can always change. It's not easy for all guys to make that jump, though, leave home as a 16-yo to move across the globe.
 
JJTT said:
I can't think of any.

And yes he should go to CHL, the way Tappara is threating him is just :shakehead
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Several Jatkoaika posters noted that Tappara had huge issues with trying to keep up with IFK's speed, so it's natural that a player with skating issues would see less ice time.
 
I think he is one Finn, who would really benefit from joining CHL. Usually the top Finn prospects are extremely hard working, but maybe not as talented compared to other nations. Laine is the complete opposite, with tremendous talent, but alleged less than average work ethic. Maybe a Canadian style of coaching would get the SISU out of him. Put him in London with the Hunters and that would be a match made in heaven. He has all the tools to become an NHL superstar, but needs to find a way to put those all together. He needs a good coach and a good mentor. Luckily he is only 16, so there's a lot of time still.
 
They should just keep him in LeKi for the full season. Based on his stats, that's the right place for him right now and being called up to play a few minutes every now and then for Tappara makes no sense at all. I'm sure they have other guys to fill that role when needed. Kids this age, especially in the case of Laine, need stability.
 
This year: Mestis
Next 2-3 years: CHL

SM-Liiga doesn't prepare players for the NHL anymore... That's why I would also like to see Mikko Rantanen heading to NA as soon as possible. Puljujärvi and Hintz seem to be on the right track ATM. Not sure how to feel about Saarela though...
 
I disagree with the idea of Laine going to CHL. He is still a young kid and players at that age are often very raw and incomplete. If a guy, who is incomplete, but has certain strengths is going to CHL to complete him as player, he neglects the developing of his strengths and Laine is at the age where he should still be developing his strengths more than complete him self as player, or trying to adapt his style to North American hockey. You see he is very young and has all the time in the world to adapt to pro hockey and after that to NA hockey. I would have liked to see him splitting this season with A-junior league, where he would have had nice scoring practice and Mestis, where he would have had environment, where to adjust to mens hockey. I think he has been a bit rushed to mens hockey right now.

For those guys, who are throwing Laine to CHL, I would like to present Jonatan Tanus, for whom the CHL did miracles. As a 17 year old Tanus was close to Sm-liiga and after two seasons in the OHL as a 19 year old he is a fourth liner in a team, where a 16 year old Laine has been a third liner.
You see, if try to adapt a certain type of player, a skill player in the NA style at that early, it could also mess up the players play. It is much more effective to develop the game in more familiar enviroment at that point and adapt to NA game later.

Laine is surely going to be a regular in Liiga in the next season or in the 16-17 and that's why I think his path would just be disturped if going to CHL.
 
I have typed my first opinion/ report about Patrick few months ago when I was the Mestis-game Hokki-LeKi.

I was at the game today also in Kajaani. The game again was Hokki-LeKi again and I was paying close attention to Patrik with my coworkers.

I have to say that Patrik's effort on todays game was more worse than on the autumn game. I have no intention to bully the guy or bring him down on purpose, but he is doing it himself. At this moment he is average or mork likely below average mestis-player. Skating, timing, everything was very bad. Many turnovers and when he tried to check or some force, he was floored quite a few times. I know he is young but the frame and weight that he has, it was not showing.

Lack of effort is the biggest problem for sure. The LeKi coach should have benched him in my opinion. He barely skated on many occations when he did not have the puck.

Jesse Puljujärvi has played for my hometown team Hokki this season and the difference between these players is astonishing. Puljujärvi is flying on his skates compared to Laine.
 
^ Not surprising.

I still think Tappara/LeKi isn't right place for him. I feel like they hate him. I don't know how can I blame them though because he is doing it himself, but he is still 16 years old.

I don't mean other leagues, but maybe some other team in Finland.
 
Why aren't they sending him to A-Juniors? Things aren't clearly working out with Leki..
 
Pyy83 said:
I have typed my first opinion/ report about Patrick few months ago when I was the Mestis-game Hokki-LeKi.

I was at the game today also in Kajaani. The game again was Hokki-LeKi again and I was paying close attention to Patrik with my coworkers.

I have to say that Patrik's effort on todays game was more worse than on the autumn game. I have no intention to bully the guy or bring him down on purpose, but he is doing it himself. At this moment he is average or mork likely below average mestis-player. Skating, timing, everything was very bad. Many turnovers and when he tried to check or some force, he was floored quite a few times. I know he is young but the frame and weight that he has, it was not showing.

Lack of effort is the biggest problem for sure. The LeKi coach should have benched him in my opinion. He barely skated on many occations when he did not have the puck.

Jesse Puljujärvi has played for my hometown team Hokki this season and the difference between these players is astonishing. Puljujärvi is flying on his skates compared to Laine.
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Mork.jpg
 
Jussi said:
IIRC his teammates had gotten fed up with him as well.
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Some people seem to have an agenda to trash Laine every chance they get. Might not be a bad idea to filter some of the stuff written about him, especially when you find it on a message board.
 
I didn't watch tonight's match, but I have one of the earlier Hokki-LeKi games from this season on tape. Here are Laine's shifts from that game (#23 blue jersey):



When judging his effort level you have to remember what his starting point was, a few years ago there were games where he didn't backcheck at all and mostly just floated around in the neutral zone. Another thing worth noting is that he's out of shape, partly because of the knee injury, partly because he hasn't trained like a pro yet. Personally I'd wait for next season before making a bigger judgement. The road is long and he's clearly underachieving at the moment, he can do much better than that. A good program for the summer and we should see a huge improvement.

Personally I see Mestis as the right environment for him this season. More demanding coaching plus playing against grown-ups is better than juniors me thinks.
 
Seems the hype is dying, he has not shown anything noteworthy so far this season.
 
Tormentor said:
Some people seem to have an agenda to trash Laine every chance they get. Might not be a bad idea to filter some of the stuff written about him, especially when you find it on a message board.
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It's one thing if it's a single poster saying it but when you have multiple posters saying it at Jatkoaika, it tends to be true.
 
Jussi said:
It's one thing if it's a single poster saying it but when you have multiple posters saying it at Jatkoaika, it tends to be true.
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There are plenty of examples of a single person starting an untrue rumour and the rest repeating it like a lemming. Some of the alleged misconduct is true, some of it isn't: Link
 
It wasn't a surprise to me that trying to teach him a lesson and trying to make him a typical finnish 3rd line grinder causes him to struggle. It is obvious that finnish hockey can't handle this type of talent.
 
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agent082 said:
It wasn't a surprise to me that trying to teach him a lesson and trying to make him a typical finnish 3rd line grinder causes him to stuggle. It is oblivious that finnish hockey can't handle this type of talent.
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I don't think they are trying to make him a grinder. More of a player who isn't a liability defensively when he is on the ice.

His skating is really holding him back. If he could get his skating into Jesse Joensuu'ish level he would be a much better player. He is just too slow to get into good scoring positions now.
 
JJTT said:
I don't think they are trying to make him a grinder. More of a player who isn't a liability defensively when he is on the ice.

His skating is really holding him back. If he could get his skating into Jesse Joensuu'ish level he would be a much better player. He is just too slow to get into good scoring positions now.
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Have to disagree. Now it seems that the biggest concern is if he is backchecking enough or is he good enough to prevent other team to score.

Last week i watched Selanne's game from 1993 when he was 22 and I have to say that Laine is already a better defensive player than Teemu was at age of 22.
 
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JJTT said:
Räsänen is a captain of the U17 team National Team and long time teammate of Laine..
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Being a long time teammate might make him a bit biased too, but I think he is more reliable as a source than your average Jatkoaika posters.
 
Hold your horses. We are talking about immature, out of shape, injury recovering 16year old player who still might grow even though he is already 195cm. He will train with Nieminen and Barkov next summer. Potential and skill is still there, and you cant teach size. Patience my friends.
 
He only has to get his skating to Perry's level and he can be a great goal scorer in NHL.
 

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