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

[VT]

okay i'm not saying patrik laine is definitely a center but he's put up multiple points in all three games (2 reg season, 1 preseason) he's played at center…

0-2–2 in both of his games there last season and 2-0–2 today. nice little 55-109–164 line over 82 games lol

If without jokes I'm more interested in how he looked, the center game isn't just goals/points.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

There's a real chance they start with him as a center. But he cannot be that poor on faceoffs and stick there. Or, they need to have Danforth or Roslovic (likely Danforth) to take draws for him.

 

[Marioesque]

There's a real chance they start with him as a center. But he cannot be that poor on faceoffs and stick there. Or, they need to have Danforth or Roslovic (likely Danforth) to take draws for him.

Danforth is good at them, maybe the best in the team

 

[VT]

There's a real chance they start with him as a center. But he cannot be that poor on faceoffs and stick there. Or, they need to have Danforth or Roslovic (likely Danforth) to take draws for him.

Roslovic and face-offs...

 

[CBJWerenski8]

There's a real chance they start with him as a center. But he cannot be that poor on faceoffs and stick there. Or, they need to have Danforth or Roslovic (likely Danforth) to take draws for him.

So in saying that, with the idea of two 200 foot players on each line..

Gaudreau-Laine-Danforth
KJ-Jenner-Marchenko
Texier-Fantilli-Bemstrom
Robinson-Kuraly-Roslovic
Foudy, Olivier

Also has two centers/guys who can take faceoffs on every line

 

[VT]

So in saying that, with the idea of two 200 foot players on each line..

Gaudreau-Laine-Danforth
KJ-Jenner-Marchenko
Texier-Fantilli-Bemstrom
Robinson-Kuraly-Roslovic
Foudy, Olivier

Also has two centers/guys who can take faceoffs on every line

If with Gaudreau.... by, by Laine.

 

[Marioesque]

If with Gaudreau.... by, by Laine.

I don't think they were bad together, but they're both puck hungry and it might not work so well together. No issues having them together though. Still might get the most out of it by having them in their own lines

 

[VT]

They are players who like to drive the line. And Johnny's game without the puck is not ideal. So why should they play together?

I don't think they were bad together, but they're both puck hungry and it might not work so well together. No issues having them together though. Still might get the most out of it by having them in their own lines

 

[NotCommitted]

Roslovic and face-offs...

He's actually not that bad at them, 45% last season and it's been trending up each year in CBJ he's played center. 45% is by no means good but it's nothing to laugh at, plenty of well respected centers do similar or worse.

 

[VT]

He's actually not that bad at them, 45% last season and it's been trending up each year in CBJ he's played center. 45% is by no means good but it's nothing to laugh at, plenty of well respected centers do similar or worse.

45% is not enough. Therefore, rather Danforth.

 

[NotCommitted]

I'm not saying Laine and Gaudreau should be glued at the hip, but at the same time just because they weren't tearing the league apart last season together doesn't mean they are a bad fit. They had some very promising initial games but then everyone got injured.

The problem with last season is it was a injury hit roster playing bad hockey to begin with. Can't make too far reaching conclusions based on that. The top-6 won't be playing majority of their minutes with 3rd pair / AHL quality D-men this year.

I also expect Gaudreau to play more consistently at the level he's capable of than he did last season, so in that sense splitting them might end up being the right call for roster balance. Learn what you can from last year but I really wouldn't make line up decisions based only on that.

The 1st line will play majority of their minutes with the top-4 D-men in all likelyhood. Last season the 1st pair was made up of 3rd pair dmen pretty much. Likewise the bottom-6 were playing mostly with AHL guys.

 

[Marioesque]

They are players who like to drive the line. And Johnny's game without the puck is not ideal. So why should they play together?

I'm not arguing that, but they are the best players and having them out together is not a bad idea.

Gaudreau is clearly used to making plays into the slot, really close quarters tap ins etc. Laine is a different beast, with him you should create chances 30-40 feet out instead of the usual people's 5-10 feet. Once Johnny gets that, It should work fine

 

[cbjthrowaway]

laine looks like a completely different player at center, both in terms of style and how noticeable/involved he is.

at times it looks like he's trying too hard to be joe thornton out there, looking to pass when he has a window to use his shot. as the last game went on, he got a lot better at letting it rip when he had the chance.

when he's on, he looks kinda like a cbj-era ryan johansen, but less lackadaisical. his feet are constantly moving and he's highly involved in all three zones. if he gets a bit more trigger-happy, he's going to be a monster.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

laine looks like a completely different player at center, both in terms of style and how noticeable/involved he is.

at times it looks like he's trying too hard to be joe thornton out there, looking to pass when he has a window to use his shot. as the last game went on, he got a lot better at letting it rip when he had the chance.

when he's on, he looks kinda like a cbj-era ryan johansen, but less lackadaisical. his feet are constantly moving and he's highly involved in all three zones. if he gets a bit more trigger-happy, he's going to be a monster.

I agree on all of this. However, I wish he would stop trying to be joe Thornton and just play. If there’s an open pass, make it. If there’s an open lane, take it. If there’s an open shot, take it. I feel like he’s trying too hard to pass the puck (especially to Johnny yesterday).

 

[Marioesque]

I agree on all of this. However, I wish he would stop trying to be joe Thornton and just play. If there’s an open pass, make it. If there’s an open lane, take it. If there’s an open shot, take it. I feel like he’s trying too hard to pass the puck (especially to Johnny yesterday).

Yeah he needs to get over that. People only saw the shot at first and he was quickly pigeonholed as one trick pony. And he's been trying to prove those people wrong since. He's made his case already, he's a really good passer and playmaker. Now he should get over it and show us more of that shot. More Tage, less Marner

 

[cbjthrowaway]

I agree on all of this. However, I wish he would stop trying to be joe Thornton and just play. If there’s an open pass, make it. If there’s an open lane, take it. If there’s an open shot, take it. I feel like he’s trying too hard to pass the puck (especially to Johnny yesterday).

he made a pass that actually led to the marchenko goal (i think) that would've been right on the tape with an open net if he had a lefty there (gaudreau) instead of a righty on the left side.

his playmaking instincts and passing ability are so good that even when he does over-pass, it's still pretty effective. just kinda clunky and awkward at times right now, but hey, it's preseason.

if he does start shooting it more (and he should!) it's going to open up some windows for some absurd highlight-reel assists. he's going to be really fun to watch this year if he sticks at center.

imo at this point the laine-at-center experiment has enough proof-of-concept that they kinda have to keep it going. also gives him more of an opportunity to maximize chemistry with gaudreau since they'll be a lot closer on the ice, rather than on opposite wings.

the 10-4-17 line was also really fun/effective yesterday. pazzy's not going to scratch kuraly, but i wonder if the best lines for this team as currently constructed are actually something like:

13-29-86
91-11-42
59-38-96
10-4-17

with kuraly as an extra, and one of olivier/robinson moved.

 

[MissADD]

Here are the numbers. I think Laine will play center.

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

And even if Laine wouldn't play center, this has already proven that it's certainly a viable option to shake things up if/when needed.

But I concur that he looks a lot more active and involved overall in all situations. He's lost the puck a bit too much to my taste but that's more individual decisions than systems or position.

If Laine plays with Fantilli then I don't know what position he should take, maybe they can share the duties somehow.

 

[Viqsi]

Here are the numbers. I think Laine will play center.

I guess we got that quality center back for PLD after all.

 

[squashmaple]

And even if Laine wouldn't play center, this has already proven that it's certainly a viable option to shake things up if/when needed.

But I concur that he looks a lot more active and involved overall in all situations. He's lost the puck a bit too much to my taste but that's more individual decisions than systems or position.

If Laine plays with Fantilli then I don't know what position he should take, maybe they can share the duties somehow.

I wondered last night while watching him if they specifically asked him to look for the pass rather than shooting, possibly as an experiment since it's preseason and St. Louis has such slow footspeed that they could take the risk.

 

[Farmboy Patty]

I guess we got that quality center back for PLD after all.

Imagine what it must feel like for Jets fans if PLD does well in LA and Laine solidifies himself as a 1/2 C here…

 

[cbjthrowaway]

I wondered last night while watching him if they specifically asked him to look for the pass rather than shooting, possibly as an experiment since it's preseason and St. Louis has such slow footspeed that they could take the risk.

even if laine as a center is more of a pass-first playmaker, that actually pairs very well in a 1-2 center punch with the shoot-first fantilli.

 

[majormajor]

I wondered last night while watching him if they specifically asked him to look for the pass rather than shooting, possibly as an experiment since it's preseason and St. Louis has such slow footspeed that they could take the risk.

We've heard the coaches talk about wanting Patty to shoot more, I doubt that changes at center.

Imagine what it must feel like for Jets fans if PLD does well in LA and Laine solidifies himself as a 1/2 C here…

Laine has been gone for years, and on a pretty bad team. For now they're pretty excited for Vilardi.

even if laine as a center is more of a pass-first playmaker, that actually pairs very well in a 1-2 center punch with the shoot-first fantilli.

It pairs well if they're on the same line, I don't see any benefit to that factor being on different pairs.

also gives him more of an opportunity to maximize chemistry with gaudreau since they'll be a lot closer on the ice, rather than on opposite wings.

They'd be a bit more likely to be closer on the ice in transition play, depending on how the rush develops. But most of the time in the offensive zone it's F1, F2, F3.

It feels like we're over-essentializing the differences between center and wing here. The big advantages as I see it, for Patty, is that he gets to exit our zone from deeper, gets to choose his angle/ lane in transition, and doesn't have to stop and start as much.

 

[VT]

And Jakub Voráček :

 

[5minutemajor]

Playing video games was never the bone of contention, it was playing them all night that was the problem. I'd hope our leaders (including Laine) would say something about it if we have a young player doing that.

The problem:

Laine played video games a lot. (Video games is an example here, but other non-hockey centric things by Laine were also factoring in.) Not all night, but a lot. Wheeler and co thought that Laine played too much. They think that Laine should have focused (more) solely on hockey. This idea comes from the fact that their own ceiling AND LEVEL was never going to be as high as Laine’s. And now Laine was not going all-in on just hockey, AND was still better than they ever could and more famous too.

They could not comprehend that Laine was (in their opinion) wasting his talents and/or getting things too easily.

What if Laine focused in hockey 100.00%? Maybe he would have been a lesser player. He needed that gaming. It is a complex equation, and many failed to understand it. In his own career, Mario Lemiux certainly was not all-in in all aspects. But he was not bullied or treated oddly either. Yes, Mario was Mario, but maybe you get the point. Or maybe you will not.