To give Matthews a head start in racking up points cause he'll sure as hell will need'em to avoid getting outscored yet again.
If Laine has trouble adapting to a smaller playing surface he won't be outscoring very many people this year regardless.
-
Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
- Status
If Laine has trouble adapting to a smaller playing surface he won't be outscoring very many people this year regardless.
They just had him out against six all star quality defensemen 3 of whom are top 10 in the world at eighteen years old ofcourse he gets shut down.
To give Matthews a head start in racking up points cause he'll sure as hell will need'em to avoid getting outscored yet again.
Yeah... that's it. Good one buddy.
Laine needs to keep up before he can outscore anyone.
PhilJets
Winnipeg is Good
Laine is in a microscope . Since his main objective is to score goals. Beautiful one timers and top corners. He will be scrutinized day in and day out.
If he scores less than 20 all the doubters will be I full throttle and some believers will not believe.
20-30 goals doubters stays doubters and believers stay believers.
Up to 40 goals. Silence most of the skeptics.
40 goals and above, which I personally think, is not happening. Should silence all skeptics , (but naaahhh
)even if he scores 50 goals he will be slow, doesn't play defense and not a good passer. 
If he scores less than 20 all the doubters will be I full throttle and some believers will not believe.
20-30 goals doubters stays doubters and believers stay believers.
Up to 40 goals. Silence most of the skeptics.
40 goals and above, which I personally think, is not happening. Should silence all skeptics , (but naaahhh
)even if he scores 50 goals he will be slow, doesn't play defense and not a good passer. 
JetsWillFly4Ever
Registered User
It's funny cause people are using the first 2 games of this world cup to compare Laine and Matthews.
Thing is one team is playing team Europe and the other is playing team Sweden. That is the equivalent to comparing games against the Oilers vs. the Blackhawks/Kings/Pens. Hell it may even be more like the best AHL team vs one of the best NHL teams. Team Europe will get smacked around by Sweden.
Thing is one team is playing team Europe and the other is playing team Sweden. That is the equivalent to comparing games against the Oilers vs. the Blackhawks/Kings/Pens. Hell it may even be more like the best AHL team vs one of the best NHL teams. Team Europe will get smacked around by Sweden.
ViewsFromThe6ix
Zachary on the Attackary
It was fine to compare them at the WHCs when Laine had Barkov and Matthews had Vatrano though.......
Two exhibition games don't mean much anyways in support of Laine.
UsernameWasTaken
Let's Go Hawks!
You realize that Matthews played with inferior line mates at the WHC and also put up points against good teams not just Belarus and Germany right?
The struggles Laine has aren't anything to worry about but it goes to show how good Matthews is. He went to the Swiss league for a challenge and dominated the big ice having already dominated the NHL rinks. No matter the size of the rink, Matthews dominates without needing so much as an adjustment. It's pretty impressive for a guy that didn't play hockey from a young age.
You mean the -3rd and the -2nd games or something... The tournament hasn't even started yet. And Laine was playing vs Oliver Ekman-Larsson + Niklas Hjalmarsson whereas Matthews was playing against Luca Sbisa + Mark Streit(Admittably a good play vs Josi towards the end).
I think that it'd be appropriate to at least wait for the tournament to begin and see how they do against similar opposition - Team Europe being considered the weakest team with no reason to even try to win, after all.
When we have Team Finland with 0 shots in the first period and Team Sweden with 11, it's tough for any one player to shine, much less an 18-year-old. In comparison to the opposition thus far, Matthews has been playing on an overwhelmingly powerful team with no pressure on him to score at all whereas Laine has been playing on a team that has been getting destroyed on every single facet of gameplay.
They are on the same group so the actual group play will be far more relevant as far as I'm concerned.
All that said, Laine hasn't been that great. Here's the best I could do and most of it is pretty optimistic:
https://streamable.com/d5li
Last edited:
Thanks. What you can see from this small clip is that Laine's vision and passing skills are excellent. He's more than just a shooter. He'll adjust to the speed and strength of the opposition, maybe not during this short tournament but through his first season in the NHL.
TheLeastOfTheBunch
Franchise Centre
In the first period, yes, but he went up against the Josi-Seidenberg pairing after that. Let's be a bit fair here
It's a fruitless comparison anyways
In the first period, yes, but he went up against the Josi-Seidenberg pairing after that. Let's be a bit fair here
It's a fruitless comparison anyways
Alright, my bad. I just remember checking multiple times who he was up against.
Speaking of Laine and that line's play by the way, I really wonder about some things. Early on in the latest match, I remember Laine drove past the defenseman behind the opposing net. Then he got into a 1v3 situation, got the puck stripped off him and looked stupid due to the giveaway.
So the question is: Should he have expected someone to be able to back him up there and help with cycling? I'm not sure what he was supposed to do there to be honest. Isn't challenging like that something you are usually supposed to do? Or maybe I'm trying too hard, hm.
JetsWillFly4Ever
Registered User
Of course I realize that, I've maintained that had a picked 1st overall I would take Matthews and I think that Matthews is the better prospect.
It's just annoying to see people harp on Laine's struggles and talk Matthews up when Laine is having to adjust to smaller ice while playing against arguably the best defensive lineup in the world. Matthews on the other hand is playing against a defense with 1 top pairing guy on it (Josi) and one of the worst defensemen in the NHL on it (Sbisa). It's not like Laine has looked out of place either, he's showed a lot of what teams saw in him to have him ranked as the 2nd overall prospect. I've been impressed with his playmaking ability and vision, certainly is not a one trick pony.
Matthews was just as impressive at the World Cup to me as Laine was. They're both very good prospects.
teravaineSAROS
Registered User
- Jul 29, 2015
- 3,888
- 1,597
He's been decent all-around, I feel fairly safe when he's on ice. People are going to weigh him on his scoring way more than how he looks overall, which is fair since his role is to be a designated sniper.
It doesn't worry me however that he's not being dominant considering he's getting accustomed to playing on small ice while going against the worlds best defense right after the off-season.
He was a slow starter last year too as he adapted, just to have a historically dominant playoffs series.
I'm really not to worried. Laine has always been an adjuster it seems. Every new league takes time but he finds his groove eventually. Even if he scores no goals in the tournament playing the competition he is playing on the smaller ice should really help his transition into the NHL where he will likely be matching up against weaker competition on average most nights. He is being expected to do a lot here against a team who has one of the best defense's in international competition.
Will be interesting to see how he fares against the States though who are playing a much different style in this tournament than Sweden.
Will be interesting to see how he fares against the States though who are playing a much different style in this tournament than Sweden.
Very good point. In fact, when the Jets coach (Paul Maurice) was asked about Laine and his role he made a point of mentioning that the Jets really like Laine's defensive commitment, awareness and technique. Maurice indicated that the focus and capability on defense was something common to many prospects developed in Finland, and that Laine's performance so far has shown that he can likely be used in an NHL line-up without as much concern about his defensive play as you might have with many young prospects. He indicated that even if Laine takes a bit of time to get his offensive production going, Maurice feels confident that he can play him in a prominent role because he doesn't think he'll have to worry too much about bad defense. I think the plan is to play Laine on one of the top two lines with the Jets (with Scheifele or Little at C), where he will likely have to face some tough match-ups and his ability to play defense will be important.
Jussi
Registered User
Jussi
Registered User
He got shutdown at the Worlds by lesser known defenders from North America and those games were in a bigger rink. It's just realistic to expect him to need time to adapt.
You mean like McDavid was "shut down" by Sbisa and other defenders on Team Europe yesterday? These are ridiculously small sample sizes.
Of course it will take Laine a bit of time to adapt, but judging where he stands based on a game here or there is a bit short-sighted.
Jussi
Registered User
Well first of all, McDavid's already familiar with small ice and spent basically a season in NHL already so I don't se why you'd bring him into the discussion. Second, Laine was shutdown in actual games that matter, not exhibition games.
Laine and Barkov have been the most visible players defensively on his line. I keep hearing about Jokinen's massive defensive contributions but despite going through the entire match with pauses like every other second, I didn't see it. I was waiting for the "Oh, he made a great invisible play here" like I got several times with Filppula but nothing.
People in general should understand that Laine's role defensively is not to go behind his own goal to grind and try to get the puck. Often, Laine has put pressure on the D at the point and they've had to pass the puck very quickly and he's rarely allowed a good opportunity to even have a shot. The exception to this is the Hjalmarsson deke where he totally undressed Laine but these things happen. In general, people concentrate way too much on single plays.
I also recall at least 2 attacks where Laine never got the puck. Barkov passes to Jokinen -> Jokinen makes a bad pass back to Barkov -> lost puck. The other one was Barkov passes to Jokinen -> Jokinen runs into D, lost puck. I'm sure there were others but these two are clear in my mind. It's not that Laine is playing perfectly but I'd prefer it if these plays were talked about as well rather than always pointing out every single mistake Laine makes. At least he often has the courage to try to challenge and he's able to get the puck often. 40 actions with the puck is a lot when we consider how little ice time he got 5v5. It's more than Barkov, even, who got more ice time and who is the center.
Patrik Laine 5v5 corsi:
4 for 3 against, 57.14%.
This is the exact same as in last game. It's #4 on his team.
Jussi Jokinen and Aleksander Barkov are both at 50%, 4 for 4 against.
There are so few actions for this line both ways, once again. Mikko Koivu for example was at 45.45% corsi but he was at 10 for, 12 against. But anyway, Patrik Laine managed to have positive corsi in both games despite Finland getting destroyed in 5v5 in both.
Last edited:
kelsier
Registered User
- Aug 17, 2013
- 4,280
- 1,741
Laine started last season in a second or third line and finished the season being arguably the best forward in the league so I wouldn't worry too much about adapting. Every prospect, regardless of the background will have to adjust one way or another in order to be productive in the NHL, not just the European kids.
Yeah... that's it. Good one buddy.
Laine needs to keep up before he can outscore anyone.
Laine held his ground and wasn't a liability against the very best defence men in the world so I'm not quite sure what your trying to imply here? It seems every time he fails to end up on the score sheet we have a lot of Leafs'ers here with "struggle", "not being able to keep up" and the last but not the least, "should be sent to AHL" comments. This, after two exhibition games. Meanwhile Matthews have been playing against inferior competition. I would be cautious with these comments until we actually see them facing the rest of the world and not to mention, an actual tournament instead of practise games.
If anyone, it's Matthews who should feel the pressure for being the first picked player in the 2016 draft after having been outscored by Laine in all the previous tournaments last year. If that happens yet again, I can only wonder what kind of excuses we are looking at this time around. Cause to be honest now, "small sample size, short hot streak etc" are getting a little bit worn out
Kamiccolo
Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.
Laine's microscope is the fault of not only himself but the fans and media hyping him to be "better" than Matthews. He said he is the next ovi, fans say he is better than Matthews, so he better be good.
So far score sheet aside as that is irrelevant, Matthews is notiable every time he is on the ice, always driving a play or being a force in the corners. He plays like a power forward, and already looks like one of team NA best players.
Laine IMO has been the opposite. Largley unnoticeable, with a few moments of seeing him show up out of nowhere with a chance. While some might say "You can see flashes", in my opinion it's more like his old tricks dont work with the faster pace and less room of an NHL rink. This was also discussed a lot before hand. Will he be able to figure out how to play on NA ice? If so, does he become the elite player he was projected? Or a 2nd line scorer who has a few 30 goal years?
To me you can clearly see the tier difference here. Laine is a complimentary piece, while Matthews drives the play. I now question those who hyped Laine so much after the Leafs won the lottery.
So far score sheet aside as that is irrelevant, Matthews is notiable every time he is on the ice, always driving a play or being a force in the corners. He plays like a power forward, and already looks like one of team NA best players.
Laine IMO has been the opposite. Largley unnoticeable, with a few moments of seeing him show up out of nowhere with a chance. While some might say "You can see flashes", in my opinion it's more like his old tricks dont work with the faster pace and less room of an NHL rink. This was also discussed a lot before hand. Will he be able to figure out how to play on NA ice? If so, does he become the elite player he was projected? Or a 2nd line scorer who has a few 30 goal years?
To me you can clearly see the tier difference here. Laine is a complimentary piece, while Matthews drives the play. I now question those who hyped Laine so much after the Leafs won the lottery.
- Status
