Player Discussion: Patrik Laine IVever: a new hope? (Laine out of PAP, trade request still stands)

[CBJWerenski8]

Team MVP was Boone Jenner. It's not really even close either.

They have a point until someone else shows otherwise on the ice. Yeah he's been the MVP but sidelined too often. Performance wise yes, he outplayed Johnny and that was the competition. Korpi would have been the 3rd option

Laine outplayed Johnny?

 

[majormajor]

Laine outplayed Johnny?

I'm not sure but he got better results. Johnny was mailing it in so not a huge bar for Laine to clear.

 

[Marioesque]

Team MVP was Boone Jenner. It's not really even close either.


Laine outplayed Johnny?

Yes Laine outplayed Johnny and Boone. Only player in the team with positive goals for 5 on 5.

But I do acknowledge that he was out a lot so in overall impact maybe you can make a case for someone else. When Laine was out there, he was the best player. That I don't find to be controversial.

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

I havent seen Finlands roster, I wonder if he will convince them to let him play center

This x1000.

But there's another tangent here - Finland is coached by Jukka Jalonen and I'm fairly sure he's not going for an experimental C in a short tournament like this. He's usually very specific about the players he picks and wants them to play their role (more so for the bottom-6 of course). He has gone on record to say that Finland doesn't have that many great centers at the moment (outside of the top NHL guys like Barkov) so maybe there's a chance but I still find it unlikely. (To be more specific I think he mentioned that it's easy to find players for all the other positions throughout the local league and Europe, but centers are tough.)

So most likely Laine is going to play wing. Very interesting to see how his chemistry is going to be with whoever his linemates will be.

 

[stevo61]

This x1000.

But there's another tangent here - Finland is coached by Jukka Jalonen and I'm fairly sure he's not going for an experimental C in a short tournament like this. He's usually very specific about the players he picks and wants them to play their role (more so for the bottom-6 of course). He has gone on record to say that Finland doesn't have that many great centers at the moment (outside of the top NHL guys like Barkov) so maybe there's a chance but I still find it unlikely. (To be more specific I think he mentioned that it's easy to find players for all the other positions throughout the local league and Europe, but centers are tough.)

So most likely Laine is going to play wing. Very interesting to see how his chemistry is going to be with whoever his linemates will be.

Yeah they have top end centers in the playoffs with Barkov, Aho and Hintz but I cant think of many outside. Granlund, Filppula and... Hartikainen? Maybe he said play me at center and Ill come

 

[VT]

Yeah they have top end centers in the playoffs with Barkov, Aho and Hintz but I cant think of many outside. Granlund, Filppula and... Hartikainen? Maybe he said play me at center and Ill come

Hartikainen is RW, Granlund can play center but he is better LW, more precisely he played better there in Salavat Yulaev (KHL).

This x1000.

But there's another tangent here - Finland is coached by Jukka Jalonen and I'm fairly sure he's not going for an experimental C in a short tournament like this. He's usually very specific about the players he picks and wants them to play their role (more so for the bottom-6 of course). He has gone on record to say that Finland doesn't have that many great centers at the moment (outside of the top NHL guys like Barkov) so maybe there's a chance but I still find it unlikely. (To be more specific I think he mentioned that it's easy to find players for all the other positions throughout the local league and Europe, but centers are tough.)

So most likely Laine is going to play wing. Very interesting to see how his chemistry is going to be with whoever his linemates will be.

I wonder why they allowed him to play.

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

I don't think Jalonen would let Laine dictate where he must play. Jalonen will only play Laine at center if he thinks it makes for a stronger team. Our top 2 centers in today's 2-0 loss to Denmark were Arttu Ruotsalainen and Mikael Ruohomaa (roster)... I don't know. Maybe if Patty gets some practice time with the team and Jalonen likes what he sees, then maybe... I doubt they'll do any such experiments in the actual tournament.

Didn't Columbus also let Jiricek and Svozil play in the WC for the Czechs? I think it's an established mindset at this point - let them play if they are chosen for the teams. The injury risk is always there but European players usually want to play in these tournaments and it could give a boost after a short season. Probably plenty of pros and cons but I'm happy we get to see Laine in the WC, this is the first time since 2017 I think I read somewhere.

 

[VT]

I don't think Jalonen would let Laine dictate where he must play. Jalonen will only play Laine at center if he thinks it makes for a stronger team. Our top 2 centers in today's 2-0 loss to Denmark were Arttu Ruotsalainen and Mikael Ruohomaa (roster)... I don't know. Maybe if Patty gets some practice time with the team and Jalonen likes what he sees, then maybe... I doubt they'll do any such experiments in the actual tournament.

Didn't Columbus also let Jiricek and Svozil play in the WC for the Czechs? I think it's an established mindset at this point - let them play if they are chosen for the teams. The injury risk is always there but European players usually want to play in these tournaments and it could give a boost after a short season. Probably plenty of pros and cons but I'm happy we get to see Laine in the WC, this is the first time since 2017 I think I read somewhere.

Patrik was injured, Jiříček and Svozil no. So interesting why Jarmo & JD did it.

 

[NotCommitted]

*Was* injured, if it's all healed up then doesn't really matter. Often NHL players will decline if they have "something" that needs time to heal, but if Laine is all good to go, he should. It's hopefully the last time in a long time he's available for the worlds, in his home town no less.

Laine won't put conditions on his participation (like those would work with Jalonen anyway ) and no way Jalonen plays him in a different position than he thinks is the best for the team. I really doubt it'll mean Laine at center, but I have no idea on how the roster is shaping up to be.

As for his play in CBJ this season, for the 55 games he did play, that was overall pretty impressive performance. I'm not sure people even realize how much better the team was with him on the ice over the course of the season and you could pick pretty much any player on the roster and see their numbers were better with Laine, that includes Gaudreau, Marchenko, Roslovic (especially!), focusing on players whose usage was similar with / without.

I wouldn't put too much stock in trying to evaluate individual player performance on a season like this and like we've seen with Gavrikov & Nyquist, the team around you makes a huge difference, that includes both the roster & coaching. Still, managing to be somehow net positive 5v5 with a team that finishes 31st is somewhat impressive and the underlying metrics were up there as well. Something I haven't seen mentioned is Laine actually had the lowest shooting percentage of his career, which of course is not a positive thing, but what is positive is getting good results despite it.

Gaudreau especially has a lot more to give, it was evident comparing him out the gate and later in the season, I wanna see a full 82 game season of the Gaudreau we got for the first 10 games or something.

 

[Halberdier]

Patrik played 55 games. It is too little for MVP even if a player played great.

I am going to buy tickets...

That's also a matter of perspective and of course a valid opinion. For some/many that 55 games might be just too low for MVP, as it's just a little bit over 2/3 of the season.

Also like someone already commented, you don't really have a MVP on a team that is 31st on the league. Maybe tanking wise the MVP is actually someone who was the best in losing

Too bad the tickets for team Finland games are so expensive (at least they were last year) so I didn't even consider trying to get one. And still the games might be sold out anyway. But I am certainly going to watch each and everyone of those. Last time when Laine was able to compete on WHC, it was 2017, and he was the tournament MVP and did break some ~100 year old records while doing so, as he was officially an U18 player even though he had his birthday just prior the tournament.

 

[VT]

That's also a matter of perspective and of course a valid opinion. For some/many that 55 games might be just too low for MVP, as it's just a little bit over 2/3 of the season.

Also like someone already commented, you don't really have a MVP on a team that is 31st on the league. Maybe tanking wise the MVP is actually someone who was the best in losing

Too bad the tickets for team Finland games are so expensive (at least they were last year) so I didn't even consider trying to get one. And still the games might be sold out anyway. But I am certainly going to watch each and everyone of those. Last time when Laine was able to compete on WHC, it was 2017, and he was the tournament MVP and did break some ~100 year old records while doing so, as he was officially an U18 player even though he had his birthday just prior the tournament.

But not for EHT in Brno, what is about 4-5 hour from my town. If without jokes I don't see any reason to visit a game only because of one player but nobody knows...

 

[anotherlurker]

I have a feeling Laine is aiming to play center in the wc, as apparently he will join the team already on Euro Hockey Tour, which is prior to Skoda Cup. Joining the EHT is kind of unheard for NHL players, so to me the only reason is that in those games they will teach Laine to play center in Jalonen's team.

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

I have a feeling Laine is aiming to play center in the wc, as apparently he will join the team already on Euro Hockey Tour, which is prior to Skoda Cup. Joining the EHT is kind of unheard for NHL players, so to me the only reason is that in those games they will teach Laine to play center in Jalonen's team.

Has it been confirmed already that he will play in the EHT? Will definitely make me want to watch these "meaningless" games if Laine is already playing, especially if he indeed gets to try center. That would be super positive for CBJ too, getting some more reps at center (and under a coach like Jalonen/team who are aiming to win and are probably going to push him even more than Larsen and co did).

Edit: I'll confirm it myself, yes, Laine will be playing in the last EHT tourney in Brno on May 4-7 (source 1, source 2 with roster for the Umeå tourney that will be played next week without Laine/Manninen/Määttä). So yeah if there's a plan to try Laine at center, the Brno tournament is perfect. Maybe they'll give it a shot. There's going to be more NHL guys joining after that anyway. Fingers crossed, I'd like to see that...

 

[DoingItCoolKiwi]

I have a feeling Laine is aiming to play center in the wc, as apparently he will join the team already on Euro Hockey Tour, which is prior to Skoda Cup. Joining the EHT is kind of unheard for NHL players, so to me the only reason is that in those games they will teach Laine to play center in Jalonen's team.

For sure he wants to get some center games in before the wc if he actually joins for EHT already. Sounds like a good plan since he missed half of the games this season anyways

 

[Halberdier]

I have a feeling Laine is aiming to play center in the wc, as apparently he will join the team already on Euro Hockey Tour, which is prior to Skoda Cup. Joining the EHT is kind of unheard for NHL players, so to me the only reason is that in those games they will teach Laine to play center in Jalonen's team.

I think he joins EHT for 2 reasons: it's already several weeks ago when the season ended for Laine personally due to his injury, so he doesn't need to have an after-season rest, and also he needs some games under his belt as he has not been able to play at all lately. Also bonus point: he wants to be as good as possible at Tampere to help the team.

While it's not impossible he would be a center in WHC & EHT, I am surpised if that happens.

 

[VT]

I think he joins EHT for 2 reasons: it's already several weeks ago when the season ended for Laine personally due to his injury, so he doesn't need to have an after-season rest, and also he needs some games under his belt as he has not been able to play at all lately. Also bonus point: he wants to be as good as possible at Tampere to help the team.

While it's not impossible he would be a center in WHC & EHT, I am surpised if that happens.

What do you think, how likely is it that Jarmo had a conversation with Jalonen on this theme? After all, a player has to be allowed to play by the team and Laine wasn't healthy for there to be no issues.

 

[NotCommitted]

What do you think, how likely is it that Jarmo had a conversation with Jalonen on this theme? After all, a player has to be allowed to play by the team and Laine wasn't healthy for there to be no issues.

0% if "having a conversation" implies some kind of demands.

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

As far as I understand Laine was probably healthy enough to play in the last few games of the season but they shut him down to prevent any further injuries. Not a fact but the injury originally had a timeline that would have had him return in the last week or two. I bet he's been healthy for a while now.

I have no clue how much communication there is for this stuff, but I imagine the World Championship talk goes Laine/Laine's agent <-> Jarmo for the permission (maybe during the exit interview) and the national team coaches have no part in it. On the national team side I think it goes Laine <-> team GM Jere Lehtinen. I doubt Jarmo and Jalonen have had any talks about Laine (or even the head coaching job, I bet all that goes through agents and assistants first and I doubt Jalonen gets even an interview).

 

[VT]

As far as I understand Laine was probably healthy enough to play in the last few games of the season but they shut him down to prevent any further injuries. Not a fact but the injury originally had a timeline that would have had him return in the last week or two. I bet he's been healthy for a while now.

I have no clue how much communication there is for this stuff, but I imagine the World Championship talk goes Laine/Laine's agent <-> Jarmo for the permission (maybe during the exit interview) and the national team coaches have no part in it. On the national team side I think it goes Laine <-> team GM Jere Lehtinen. I doubt Jarmo and Jalonen have had any talks about Laine (or even the head coaching job, I bet all that goes through agents and assistants first and I doubt Jalonen gets even an interview).

If Laine didn't play at the end of the season so he didn't get hurt, then it's pretty surprising that he'll be playing WC. I think he didn't play because of the draft. I also think there was a conversation between Jalonen and Jarmo. They are Finns, Jarmo was supposed to be an assistant GM in the Olympics if the NHL was involved. Europe and NA are two different things.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Not really interested in seeing Laine play center at the Worlds. If it happens, then fine, I don't expect it to stick, but cool.

I am mostly hoping he lights it up and gets his confidence back. Something to feel good about going into the summer.

 

[VT]

Not really interested in seeing Laine play center at the Worlds. If it happens, then fine, I don't expect it to stick, but cool.

I am mostly hoping he lights it up and gets his confidence back. Something to feel good about going into the summer.

I wouldn't care either if it doesn't involve Blue Jackets too.

 

[mattihp]

Will Columbus force him to get a different skating coach for the off season? He will be forever in injuries if he doesn't get one specialising in coaching tall players.

As far as I understand Laine was probably healthy enough to play in the last few games of the season but they shut him down to prevent any further injuries. Not a fact but the injury originally had a timeline that would have had him return in the last week or two. I bet he's been healthy for a while now.

I have no clue how much communication there is for this stuff, but I imagine the World Championship talk goes Laine/Laine's agent <-> Jarmo for the permission (maybe during the exit interview) and the national team coaches have no part in it. On the national team side I think it goes Laine <-> team GM Jere Lehtinen. I doubt Jarmo and Jalonen have had any talks about Laine (or even the head coaching job, I bet all that goes through agents and assistants first and I doubt Jalonen gets even an interview).

Finnish players have gotten crap before when they played injured or didn't play in the end of the season due to injury and then went lights out in the World Champs. Saku Koivu was called out for not going full tilt in the NHL (WHAT A JOKE!) when he was amazing with a Lions jersey on.

National pride gives some extra juice.

 

[BB88]

As far as I understand Laine was probably healthy enough to play in the last few games of the season but they shut him down to prevent any further injuries. Not a fact but the injury originally had a timeline that would have had him return in the last week or two. I bet he's been healthy for a while now.

I have no clue how much communication there is for this stuff, but I imagine the World Championship talk goes Laine/Laine's agent <-> Jarmo for the permission (maybe during the exit interview) and the national team coaches have no part in it. On the national team side I think it goes Laine <-> team GM Jere Lehtinen. I doubt Jarmo and Jalonen have had any talks about Laine (or even the head coaching job, I bet all that goes through agents and assistants first and I doubt Jalonen gets even an interview).

I believe it was reported it ended up being worse than originally expected.

I believe they would have liked to see him get few more reps at C to end the season

 

[VT]

I believe it was reported it ended up being worse than originally expected.

I believe they would have liked to see him get few more reps at C to end the season

If the team win just once, we're not second but fourth, we could move up to 6th pick. Do you think Jarmo & JD wanted that? After all, in the last game Gaudreau, Boqvist, Marchenko played little, Svozil and Kňažko had the most ice time of the defensemen or one of the most.

 

[Monk]

If the team win just once, we're not second but fourth, we could move up to 6th pick. Do you think Jarmo & JD wanted that? After all, in the last game Gaudreau, Boqvist, Marchenko played little, Svozil and Kňažko had the most ice time of the defensemen or one of the most.

But think of the momentum they would have carried into next season