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LW Patrik Laine - Tappara, FEL (2016 Draft)

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From mega-prospect to bust to mega-prospect in just two years. I'm sure many people rated him outside of the first round after last year, now he's challenging for 1st overall spot.
 
mikaH said:
From mega-prospect to bust to mega-prospect in just two years. I'm sure many people rated him outside of the first round after last year, now he's challenging for 1st overall spot.
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Yes, I really think that if not the knee injury, he would be #1 at this point, even surpassing Matthews. The knee injury led also to not performing well in the Hlinka tournament-> conflict with the coach-> all the ****.

But on the other hand, it was a good lesson for Laine. Now he seems to be coping well with everything.
 
FinProspects said:
Yes, I really think that if not the knee injury, he would be #1 at this point, even surpassing Matthews. The knee injury led also to not performing well in the Hlinka tournament-> conflict with the coach-> all the ****.

But on the other hand, it was a good lesson for Laine. Now he seems to be coping well with everything.
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I'm not too sure he would unseat Matthews. Matthews plays a position that is of great importance, center. Matthews, doesn't have the shot than Laine, but he does have the better skating, which in today's NHL, is becoming an important factor. The size factor is not that much of importance, and even then it's not that big of a difference.

I've said it earlier, but Laine's subpar skating will be a hinderance and probably will be the biggest reason IF he dropped outside the top 3. The size is something teams will covet, but you need to be able to move that size. He surely will go in the 1st round, but depending on team needs and how much the scouts think he can improve upon that skating will determine where he ends up.
 
The first was a pure fluff piece and the key takeaway from the second one was that there are many Finnish scouts who rank Laine ahead of Puljujärvi right now.
 
Esko6 said:
If you post a news story, you should write a summary in English so everyone can understand.
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That's a good rule of thumb. The article is pretty text-heavy so I can understand if people cringe at the idea of translating all of it. For me stuff like this isn't a chore so I can do it no problem.

Btw, the text is just Laine hype aimed at non-hockey viewers. I tried to preserve that special tone as much as I could. All aboard the hype train~

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Patrik Laine is currently a hot name amongst teams in the NHL. The seventeen-year-old playing for Tappara has risen over the past few weeks as one of the biggest topics in Finnish ice hockey discussions.

And with ample reason. The top prospect playing his first season in the Liiga struck a goal in four games in a row and even became the top scorer in his team's internal rankings.

Laine will be entering the NHL draft next summer. The respected Canadian sports channel TSN published a pre-draft ranking last week where Laine was ranked fourth overall. Ahead of him in the rankings were the American forward Auston Matthews, currently playing in Zürich, Jacob Chychrun currently playing in a Canadian junior league, and Jesse Puljujärvi from Kärpät.

Right now the Tappara games are buzzing with scouts from various NHL organizations. Just in the last two home games alone nearly a third of all NHL clubs have been represented in the audience.

The TSN list has been gathered from mainly North American scouting data, but many Finnish NHL scouts already consider Laine a better option than Puljujärvi.

- A rare Finnish talent, summed up a Finnish scout working for an NHL franchise.

- It's great to see that Finland can produce talent like this, said another scout.

The shot of a goal scorer

Jukka Jalonen, the head coach of Team Finland U20, suspected that there's no better U18 player in the world compared to Laine back in August during the U20 WJCs played in Lake Placid, USA.

NHL organizations forbid their player scouts from giving reviews of players in their own name before the draft, but the anonymous Finnish scouts interviewed by Ilta-Sanomat agree with the NT coach.

- He's a hockey talent just like anyone else. In his own zone as a goal scorer an absolute top talent. A potential 40-50 goal man in the NHL, and there's not many of those in this era, one of the interviewees said.

The scouts are amazed by the scoring ability of Laine and his excellent wrister.

- That shot is not just a bomb, but more importantly the shot of a goal scorer, very accurate, one of the interviewees said.

- Like a proper goal scorer he makes himself room with small maneuvers and creates scoring chances out of nowhere, another mused.

PICTURE: A great shot is the strength of Patrik Laine

- He can play otherwise as well, gives passes, one of the interviewees reminds.

Will the fuse be lit?

Nearly all of the player scouts have been following Laine for several years and compliment his training discipline.

The Tappara forward also has his darker side. A year ago he was sent home from the U18 WJC after the top talent fought with the coach and other teammates.

Similar incidents have followed him in various teams he has played in. They haven't passed the notice of scouts.

- What I've heard of his background, he can boil over at some point. Of course time could have mellowed him out, one of the scouts ponders.

- And I'd rather take a player who boils over instead of someone who falls asleep standing up. It'll work out over time.

The backstory of Laine as the problem kid of the hockey rinks means that all of the teams will be checking over his background with a magnifying glass.

- When we're talking about a player who will be drafted as early as that, all background research will be made with the utmost care. Someone drafted that high needs to become a superstar for the team. The expectations are great, it's not enough if you're a good player but you need to raise the standards of the team to a new level, one of the player scouts states.

- The teams who get to pick early will definitely go over everything about him with a fine-toothed comb, because these types of cases have been there in the past, another long-time player scout says.

- If the topmost teams get cold feet from his history he could fall a few spots. We'd still be talking about a top ten draft pick, a third scout mused.

Original text here: http://www.iltasanomat.fi/sm-liiga/art-1443528737852.html

I just noticed there was another article too. That was the second link, here's the first one...

Just as a notice, I'm aware that the author is somewhat desperate in trying to hype Laine here. Translating it as closely as I can in respect to the original meaning.

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Here's one thing where the young top prospect in the SM-Liiga beats even Selänne

Patrik Laine is the most talented 17-year-old goal scorer from Finland ever, writes the hockey reporter Juha Hiitelä from Ilta-Sanomat.

These days you see men in the Tappara games who wear NHL team jackets. And those jackets haven't been bought from an online shop or a fan merchandise shop.

Last Friday in Hakametsä in the match against TPS there were a few, Tuesday against the Pelicans at least five. Some of them live in the cradle of Finnish hockey, some of them elsewhere in Finland, and there's always someone visiting from abroad.

Not one of them came there for the air miles or the mileage. They were there to watch Tappara's Patrik Laine.

And there's ample reason to do so. Patrik Laine is the most talented Finnish 17-year old goal scorer of all time.

The most prominent Finnish goal scorer in the NHL, Teemu Selänne, played the season before his draft in 1987-1988 in the Jokerit A-junior team and five games of what was then-called division one, which was later rebranded for whatever reason as Mestis.

The Finnish A-junior league was comparatively much stronger back then, but Laine is currently playing in the men's top league. And he has succeeded in scoring a goal in four games in a row.

Even the level of the Liiga is not what it used to be, but it's still a top European league where 17-year-olds don't usually get to make noise.

Selänne was a more complete player as a 17-year-old, he possessed an explosive start and was much more versatile as a skater, and he made a shocking amount of goals from breakaways, but Laine also has an exceptional ability to make goals with his wrist shot. In this regard he's even more talented as a goal scorer than Selänne.

Laine's goals come about with a wrister at a level that no Finnish player has been able to reach before this. Not as a 17-year-old, anyway.

Laine doesn't just flick the shot with his wrist, but he moves the puck towards himself just before firing. This is the momentum that transfers more power to the shot.

The exceptional ability of the young forward isn't just the speed of his wrister, but also his ability to create scoring chances out of nowhere. He creates space for himself and makes goals from places where no one else would venture.

That's the kind of ability only exceptional goal scorers have.

Laine is currently fighting for the top positions in the next summer draft together with the American forward Auston Matthews playing for Zürich in the Swiss League and Jesse Puljujärvi playing for Kärpät.

Matthews is ahead of the Finnish duo and has opened his season in Switzerland in a strong manner. But he was born in September 1997, only a couple days late for him to have been picked in this summer's draft.

The American forward is seven months older than Laine and eight months older than Puljujärvi. In their age even that kind of different matters, especially just before the NHL draft.

Puljujärvi has always been the most talked about Finnish prospect in his age class. He was written about in the national hockey media for the first time already when he was twelve years old. Right now the prospect from Tornio doesn't quite have a development curve as steeply rising as Laine has, but Puljujärvi could still make a better NHL career than Laine.

When considering Finnish prospects, Laine is just completely exceptional. Puljujärvi is part of the hockey continuum born in the 1990's - with players like Mikael Granlund, Aleksander Barkov, and Teuvo Teräväinen - who are highly skilled but more of a playmaker style.

Laine is a goal scorer through and through. The type of player that the Finnish hockey crowd has long craved for.

It's not realistic to expect the goal scoring of this young man to continue as it has, but all signs point to him having gathered an excellent set of points at the end of the season.

Right now Laine is the most talked about player in the Liiga. The Finnish sports tradition indicates that we now have to turn down the superlatives so that the rush of sudden fame doesn't go to his head.

In Laine's case we have to do the exact opposite. Hype him up and sing his praises as long as we can. Then we'll see how his head holds up. It'll have to, if he wants to make it in the NHL.

Original text: http://www.iltasanomat.fi/sm-liiga/art-1443518353004.html
 
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I really like his game. He seems to be an incredibly gifted goal scorer, and his stats for someone his age in the FEL are very impressive. Something tells me he'll overtake Chychrun for the second spot at some point this season. If he can keep improving his skating, it's scary to imagine what he could become.
 
First reports say it shouldn't be anything serious but of course they don't have the full picture yet. Head coach Tapola said they know more tomorrow. He said it was just a precaution to take Laine away from the game.

Laine didn't head to bench immediately after the hit so I guess it can't be the worst case scenario. Then again I remember Barkov hurting his shoulder in a similar kind of situtation and it kept him away for a few months. Hopefully Laine has better luck.
 
damn. That would really suck if he misses significant time to injury. He has been really impressive lately.
 
To me it looked like he just had some tightness. That can hurt a lot.

With stretching and massage he should be good to go. Glad to hear it actually wasnt anything serious.
 
Hurts to say but Pulju kid owned Laine in their Dual # 1. Next time it should be a completely different ball game, though.
 
Will be sidelined for a while. The projection is now "a few weeks". Fingers crossed this does not cost him the WJC.
 
FiLe said:
Will be sidelined for a while. The projection is now "a few weeks". Fingers crossed this does not cost him the WJC.
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You of all the posters of HFBoards, honorable File!? You are getting paranoid or something? Seeing unfounded "threats" hovering here and there is nothing but a stretch of imagination gone wild. The kid will be back in a couple of week, at the latest. Do the math. :laugh:

Anyway, I still consider you one of the most authoritative and credible posters down here. But this brain fart was something very "un-File esque". - Been drinking the whole night through? :D
 
Loffer said:
You of all the posters of HFBoards, honorable File!? You are getting paranoid or something? Seeing unfounded "threats" hovering here and there is nothing but a stretch of imagination gone wild. The kid will be back in a couple of week, at the latest. Do the math. :laugh:

Anyway, I still consider you one of the most authoritative and credible posters down here. But this brain fart was something very "un-File esque". - Been drinking the whole night through? :D
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With shoulder injuries you never know. What's a bit alarming is that they first said it's nothing just some bruising. Now it's couple of weeks. So i think File had a point.
 

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