The "advanced stats" in question half the time are literally just:
-How well does a player produce when both teams have the same amount of hockey players on the ice
-How well does a player produce when they are a man up
-How well does a player stop goals/chances against when a man down
and
Is the player getting more shots, and higher quality shots than the opponent when on the ice
Tell me, what does those stats say about Laine? To my understand, CLB was a better team with Laine on the ice than when he wasn’t in pretty much every single metrics.
I hope you're right, but it's not like the leadership group he came into in Columbus was a weak disarrayed mess. There was a King Clancy winner captain and a coach that won the Jack Adams. And that's not even mentioning Winnipeg. I know everything is Different in Montreal and the Habs are the Special Exception Always to things, but you know. Be prepared. Laine is very much his own person who does his own thing. What you've got is a captain younger than him who's never accomplished any individual awards or even a winning season (as the Habs were under .500 in their Cup final random luck season), a Smurf for a coach even with his accolades, and a lot of Good Canadian Boys in leadership positions. It could just as easily blow up in their faces because again, Laine is a volatile, unpredictable personality. I wish him the best and I hope it works out, but this is a silly statement.
Re-read my second paragraph to the post you quoted. That’s basically what I meant. We all know Laine always had a main character arc that didn’t always translated into on-ice performance but the bet here for Montreal is that his 6 months therapy flipped the switch for Laine and brought him back to reality.
Montreal had their fair share of internal drama in the past couple of years - The Petry and Armia situation - and the leadership group as well as management and MSL handled that well.
Also, from my understanding, MSL has a way to communicate that is very unique and make you feel part of something. Hell, the guy even stayed on the ice after practice to work 1 on 1 with depth guys/healthy scratches to help them improve.
No one can humble Laine other than Laine himself but if he’s willing to move toward that path, he will have all the help and tools to succeed in Montreal and be part of something great.