I disagree. On small ice you rely more heavily on acceleration and explosiveness whereas in Europe top speed is utilized more often. Laine's skating, as it is currently, is better suited for European game than the NHL.
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I disagree. On small ice you rely more heavily on acceleration and explosiveness whereas in Europe top speed is utilized more often. Laine's skating, as it is currently, is better suited for European game than the NHL.
LeafsNation149
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To be fair, if Laine consistently plays at the level Neal did in his prime that's pretty good. Nothing wrong with Laine as a 30-40 goal scorer. Obviously I think he has way more potential, but that's still good
The Winter Soldier
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He's a better skater at this stage than Barkov or Tavares were when they were drafted. One or 2 summers with a skating coach to work on his starts, and there should be no mention of skating again with Laine. One thing that is not questioned. He already has exceptional size for a skilled player to play in the NHL. There are no what if's here. No prospect is perfect. 6'4 200+ with some filling out. Can't wait to see Laine when he is a finished product in I know he said 5 years, but I can see it as soon as in 2 or 3 years.
Mediocre skater
No, his top speed may be even better than Matthews
Mediocre defensively
He steal pucks very often when he's back checking and he's really good at it.
Average playmaker
This proofs that you haven't watched him play. The most underrated attribute on Laine's game.
X66
114-110
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Exactly.
This is why you normally find the quicker players playing on their off wings, something that I don't think anyone can say Laine is TODAY.
This tournament also showed me, that against the better and faster teams(Canada, Russia and USA) Laine only had 1 point in those 4 games(an assist).
This is what I mean that teams that can take advantage of Laine's skating issues will be able to contain him better.
Yeah. I would not be too disappointed if he ends up being that, but his post just annoyed me because his observations/points weren't accurate.
The Winter Soldier
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On smaller ice, unless you play like Glen Anderson and your signature play was to drive in on your off wing using your skating. I would be more cautionary for Laine. If this was his only move. But we know Laine is not a one trick pony, he has a lot more offensive moves at his arsenal.
Great goal scorers have an innate ability to find time and space in the NHL. I would credit this to more elite hockey IQ rather than skating. Bossy and Hull had it. They just knew where the puck was going to be at the right time. I see Laine in the same mold.
One thing that has not been mentioned is he has above average NHL size already. He can score more goals in dirty areas also if he chooses. So infact the smaller ice surface may benefit him more than the wider ice surface. Laine is not a prospect say you draft a 160-70 lb 18 year old and hope he puts on 20 or 30 lbs. He is there already at 6'4 200+. He will have all the tools necessary to become one of this generation's top fwds IMO.
FinPanda
Barkov Stanley cup champ!
The Winter Soldier
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Maybe you didn't watch, but Laine's best game was against the fast Team Canada in the preliminary rd when he had no points. He created chances, he was very involved, he stood out to where the Canadians were going out of their way to get him off his game, including a cheap shot from Perry. After that game against Canada, everyone praised him for having his best game of the tournament. Stats watching?
X66
114-110
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100%
Laine looks like a driven player, so I know he'll work hard on it. Whether he can become a great skater is still up in the air, and IMO that will have an impact on whether he plays left wing or not.
In the 4 games against the best teams in the WHC tournament, he only had 1 assist, those teams closed in on him a lot after than Laine's used to.
A bit of cherry picking though. The fact is that not that many Finnish players scored much more points against those teams. Probably only Granlund, Aho and Koivu. I think also Barkov and Jokinen didn't get more of points against those teams. I don't have exact data of this though.
Anyway Laine had some pretty nice chances in each of those games. A bit unlucky and goalies did also pretty well in those situations. But if he will manage to get as many and as good chances in the NHL, he will definitely score on some of them. I would say that in the long run his shooting percentage from those kinds of chances should be clearly over 10%. With such a small sample size the more meaningful thing against those top teams is that did he get any good chances. And he definitely did.
OMG! LOL.
How many points Finland have in finals, 0. There is other players in his line too who haven't get the puck him when it needed, he also made many opportunities and shot many times, but no one get's puck in the net always, maybe you should be more concerned to Oveckin or Kuznetsov. First game agains Canada there was whole Canadian team looking to play out Laine and his shot, WHOLE TEAM! That good they see him. This is the guy who is just 18, are top prospect in anyway in every professionals papers. He is actually very good skater after few first steps. It's laughable who you try to turn him to bad player, but don't be worry, he will be one of the best players in NHL in few years. He is also selected Finland WHC team and he is yes, still 18 years old, why, because he is one of the best Finnish players already.
Laine has the tools to become a great goal scorer in the NHL even without elite skating. He has a knack for finding open ice between the slots and the combination of hands, size and reach will help him create space for himself. We'll have to wait and see how it turns out for him but I am optimistic about it.
But regarding his skating the European ice suits him better. The NHL game is dominated by quick transitions and cycling which require much more versatile skating skill than what European game does. (Especially in Liiga where most teams take zone exits slowly making the transition game less relevant).
While this is undeniably true, keep in mind that:
#1 The group match vs Canada might be his best, despite not being on the scoring sheet. It happens.
#2 The game winning goal against USA started with his play and a big reason the scoring chance itself happened is because both the goalie and the defenseman were so desperate to interrupt the pass to Laine that that opened up chances for the rest of the PP unit. Not everything is about the score sheet.
#3 While this could be a stretch, remember that Germany defeated USA and also defeated Slovakia that USA lost to.
Oh, and the thing that he was playing on the wing he cannot play, I'm not sure if this was mentioned...
Finally a post worth reading on here!
He looks like the aliens from Mars Attacks...
Plural
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- Mar 10, 2011
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I'm sick at home today. My fiancee is a doctor and she told me to take some pills and go to sleep. So I did. I woke up about 20 minutes a go from the sofa to the weirdest dream I've ever had.
I was supposed to buy knives with Sidney Crosby in some store. Crosby found some kind of a very small knife that was supposed to be used to gut a fish. He then slashed me in my thigh with it to test if it was sharp. It was. My thigh started to bleed. Crosby then started to act super crazy. He started to joggle with the knife and threatening to throw me with it. I grabbed a knife too and said that if he didn't stop I would have to hit him with my knife. Crosby diabolically laughed at me and told me "I am Sidney Crosby, do you think knives can hurt me?" He then proved his words by stabbing himself in the back with the small knife and laughed.
Suddenly I was flying in a big industrial hall. The NHL entry draft was being held there and number 4 pick was made. I saw a news paper flying towards me and in the headline read "Matthews goes 3rd to CBJ". I immediately took my laptop to sign in to HFBoards to see who was first. It was Laine. Then I looked down from the ceiling of the industrial hall (where I was flying) and I saw the drafted prospect on a platform surrounded by people. 4th pick was just made or it was about to be made. When some of the prospects took a huge knife and drove the knife to some other players brains through their jaw.
I got scared so I flew away. There was numerous different presentators in the hall trying to advertise their products. One was Finnish made skateboard that had flowers in it. It was completely green product (no idea how) and everyone was raving about it. I took the skateboard and started to skate away from the whole deal.
I then woke up covered in sweat and shivering. I don't think can trust my fiancee in medicine issues anymore.
I was supposed to buy knives with Sidney Crosby in some store. Crosby found some kind of a very small knife that was supposed to be used to gut a fish. He then slashed me in my thigh with it to test if it was sharp. It was. My thigh started to bleed. Crosby then started to act super crazy. He started to joggle with the knife and threatening to throw me with it. I grabbed a knife too and said that if he didn't stop I would have to hit him with my knife. Crosby diabolically laughed at me and told me "I am Sidney Crosby, do you think knives can hurt me?" He then proved his words by stabbing himself in the back with the small knife and laughed.
Suddenly I was flying in a big industrial hall. The NHL entry draft was being held there and number 4 pick was made. I saw a news paper flying towards me and in the headline read "Matthews goes 3rd to CBJ". I immediately took my laptop to sign in to HFBoards to see who was first. It was Laine. Then I looked down from the ceiling of the industrial hall (where I was flying) and I saw the drafted prospect on a platform surrounded by people. 4th pick was just made or it was about to be made. When some of the prospects took a huge knife and drove the knife to some other players brains through their jaw.
I got scared so I flew away. There was numerous different presentators in the hall trying to advertise their products. One was Finnish made skateboard that had flowers in it. It was completely green product (no idea how) and everyone was raving about it. I took the skateboard and started to skate away from the whole deal.
I then woke up covered in sweat and shivering. I don't think can trust my fiancee in medicine issues anymore.
X66
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I'm just point out that I saw that Laine was noticeably less effective against faster teams. He doesn't have the speed yet to create that gap control like the high flyers that play their off wings(Ovechkin, Kovalchuk etc.)
Maybe Laine is only best served playing the LW on the PP and he becomes a PP goal specialist, always good to have one of those available. But even there, he needs to improve his mobility because it's not nearly to the same level as Ovechkin and Stamkos(who play the same side on the PP).
No one is trying to make him look like a bad player, he's likely going 2nd overall in a very top heavy draft. He's an elite prospect and not a single person would(or should) argue otherwise.
I hope Laine reaches his max potential because it's good for the league.
I'm just pointing out something that he needs to work on, but as another poster mentioned, he's young enough to learn it.
This is the one reason I have Laine 3rd in this draft, the fact that Matthews and Puljujarvi have game breaking speed out of the box makes them more appealing to me, but that's just me.
You see, I'd have no issues agreeing with you here if this was the case, as I do think that his skating has to improve. However, as he wasn't the LW in this tournament during those scenarios against the top teams, how can you reach that conclusion? It was obvious he would be less effective against faster teams, he was less effective against everyone. Completely ineffective, that is. But the primary reason for that is that he was playing the wing he cannot play. While the argument that he needs to be faster does make sense, this tournament cannot be used as reference to reinforce that point of view.
There's a very good reason behind the fact that we didn't see stuff like this at 0:39-0:42 in this tournament:
I don't get it that people call Laine good or even great skater. He is not. He has a good top speed but there goes a lot more into skating than top speed. His acceleration is slow, explosiveness almost non-existent, and he's as agile as a mule.
He has a lot to improve on skating and I think that he will, but as of currently he is not a good skater.
He has a lot to improve on skating and I think that he will, but as of currently he is not a good skater.
Rabid Ranger
2 is better than one
This is the point. A lot of big players in the NHL have good, even great top end speed.....once they get going. It takes them awhile to do so though and it's that first step explosiveness/agility that us key. Laine lacks in that regard. It could get better over time but there are no guarantees he ever becomes an elite skater.
Plural
Registered User
- Mar 10, 2011
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Yup. The good thing is that guys who go through growth spurs like Laine did often times look like baby deers on ice for a while before adjusting to their new bodies. Puljujarvi is actually a huge outliner in that regard. Laine can improve surprisingly much.
But skating will never be one of his weapons. At the age of 18 you already have signs of the abilities if you have them. Laine will just have to use his other tools to make impact in the NHL. His skating can become good enough so that it's not a negative anymore. But it will never be one of his strengths.
Gsus
MVP
He is an average skater. Just like you said when gets going he's going fast. Main thing in NA is to be explosive, and everyone including himself knows he needs to improve on that. And I believe he will, he has a great coach in Turku he has the thrive for success which means work ethic.
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