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

[Napoli]

There are a lot of excuses that can be made for Laine, whether one believes them to be justifiable or not is a different discussion. That being said, he needs to stop being hard to root for with his terrible play style. He's incredibly dangerous as a trigger man who takes no time to shoot it. Laine right now is trying to dangle and walk entire teams because he's done it before but he can't do it right now. He needs to simplify his game because at his best he can make players miss but right now he's a skating turnover.

Other players on his line must be the primary puck carrier right now, at least until he gets some more confidence and the results improve with the puck. He's not even really playable with what he's bringing, there's almost no ability to win puck battles and keep the puck. He also is way too slow with it. When he's not scoring goals he's a burden.

 

[majormajor]

There are a lot of excuses that can be made for Laine, whether one believes them to be justifiable or not is a different discussion. That being said, he needs to stop being hard to root for with his terrible play style. He's incredibly dangerous as a trigger man who takes no time to shoot it. Laine right now is trying to dangle and walk entire teams because he's done it before but he can't do it right now. He needs to simplify his game because at his best he can make players miss but right now he's a skating turnover.

Other players on his line must be the primary puck carrier right now, at least until he gets some more confidence and the results improve with the puck. He's not even really playable with what he's bringing, there's almost no ability to win puck battles and keep the puck. He also is way too slow with it. When he's not scoring goals he's a burden.

He has good excuses for being in a funk but no good reason to be this burdensome when he is in a funk. By my count this is the third time in his career where he goes for months where he is a tremendous burden. And I think it has a lot to do with his approach to finding his game. He wants to hold the puck and feel it on his stick and it's taking him further away from his strengths as a player.

 

[Napoli]

He has good excuses for being in a funk but no good reason to be this burdensome when he is in a funk. By my count this is the third time in his career where he goes for months where he is a tremendous burden. And I think it has a lot to do with his approach to finding his game. He wants to hold the puck and feel it on his stick and it's taking him further away from his strengths as a player.

He's so wildly inconsistent that it's become impossible to determine what the long term version of Laine is. At what point is the whole thing just not worth waiting around for? Not like you could really trade him the way he's playing right now.

 

[Marioesque]

He's so wildly inconsistent that it's become impossible to determine what the long term version of Laine is. At what point is the whole thing just not worth waiting around for? Not like you could really trade him the way he's playing right now.

If they're not going to try and play to his strengths and instead focus on the weaknesses then there's not much payoff for anyone. I don't believe that he dictates who brings the puck in the zone on the PP, that's practiced and strategized. Coach could draw a different plan for it, if that works better with someone else carrying it.

But these coaches have been trying to bring Laines confidence back by dropping him out of PP1 after they tried him as the RD on it. So I don't have much faith in their ability to help the situation, these tested ideas are pretty terrible even on paper and didn't look much better on ice, although he did score from that RD spot too.

If you have a really good shooter, you should aim to increase the shot volume from them. Strategy comes to play, and it seems the coaches are clueless about how to get him more chances to shoot. They make changes that further reduce the shots (reduced time and opportunity). I don't agree with their problem solving.

 

[majormajor]

I don't believe that he dictates who brings the puck in the zone on the PP, that's practiced and strategized. Coach could draw a different plan for it, if that works better with someone else carrying it.

I think the set up of the play is just the drop pass to the trailer, I don't think there is anything compelling the trailer to dangle in. That's one of several options in a read and react play. They can carry in, they can pass to either side, or they can dump and chase. Laine loves to carry, but we'd have a higher success rate recovering the puck on a dump in than on a Laine carry.

 

[VT]

It seems to me that in the last few games Laine doesn't carry the puck anymore, he passes the puck to his teammates.

Regarding ice time and partners, tell Chinakhov or Marchenko. Sorry guys, I know you're playing well, but Patrik needs to get his confidence back here, so he needs to play more than you. IMO, he has to earn his time. By the way, it seems to me the Johnson - Danforth - Laine could work. Those two or three shifts what they played together have played very well, it's been shown more than once that Johnson and Laine have chemistry. Also Danforth can be changed by Sillinger. Just let them get more time and not the old familiar song again, Gaudreau needs to play a lot because Johnny is a star.

To PP. The problem is not which one he plays in, the 2 PP Unit, it's that even in that Unit he plays on the right side, while on the left.....Bemstrom. Although Bemmer is a right winger. Besides, I don't understand at all why Emil is playing when that Unit lacks a player in front of the net, also can use Fantilli, or Johnson on the left. IMO that Unit doesn't need Gaudreau.

4
29 - 11 - 91
55

Besides, both Unit should have equal time too, like TOP 9 lines.

 

[Napoli]

If they're not going to try and play to his strengths and instead focus on the weaknesses then there's not much payoff for anyone. I don't believe that he dictates who brings the puck in the zone on the PP, that's practiced and strategized. Coach could draw a different plan for it, if that works better with someone else carrying it.

But these coaches have been trying to bring Laines confidence back by dropping him out of PP1 after they tried him as the RD on it. So I don't have much faith in their ability to help the situation, these tested ideas are pretty terrible even on paper and didn't look much better on ice, although he did score from that RD spot too.

If you have a really good shooter, you should aim to increase the shot volume from them. Strategy comes to play, and it seems the coaches are clueless about how to get him more chances to shoot. They make changes that further reduce the shots (reduced time and opportunity). I don't agree with their problem solving.

I think they have attempted somewhat to play to his strengths but would agree it's been failed but more realistically, the team is failing and Laine just another part of that. He does need to be on the left wing with a RH shot feeding him pucks. That experiment has not been tested enough, they can't even get him a pass so he can hit the one timer.

You can agree with all of that and still think the rest of his game has been so bad that it feels lost. He needs to start playing quicker with less turnovers and MUCH less Hero puck.

 

[Farmboy Patty]

Laine's interpretation of "scoring winger" seems to be to try to carry the puck all around the ice.

He needs to be told to not hold the puck. Shoot it or pass it. Quickly. Zero extra handling.

Laine was not a puck carrying type of player in the sense that he is now before he was coached/shoehorned to be that kind of player. I’ve watched and followed a majority of his NHL career. If he was smaller there wouldn’t have been any kind of coaches fantasies about turning him into a power forward (Maurice/Jets era) or a 200 ft player (most elite scorers are far from that).

I just hope that he doesn’t waste his talent in his prime focusing too much of the things that aren’t his strengths by trying too hard to transform his game to a coaches needs/visions of him as a player. And I genuinely feel this way for every hockey player. Play the players to their strengths, and adapt the lines and system around them. On well oiled teams players in different roles and established lines know how much they can push/cheat for offense.

 

[NotWendell]

Laine must never be allowed to skate with the puck. He's only allowed to shoot or pass.

 

[Farmboy Patty]

Laine must never be allowed to skate with the puck. He's only allowed to shoot or pass.

But he also can’t stand still in a shooting posisiton for more than a couple of seconds or look for soft spots without the puck, looking lazy. He’d just be a one trick onetimer pony in that case.

 

[ViD]

I just don’t see anyone trading for Laine at this point with an offer that could be acceptable for the Jackets.

He will stay put until the off season at least

 

[Cowumbus]

Didn’t realize Laine is bigger than Voronkov. Allegedly 1 inch taller and 15 pounds heavier. Seems hard to believe? Voronkov looks huge.

 

[majormajor]

Didn’t realize Laine is bigger than Voronkov. Allegedly 1 inch taller and 15 pounds heavier. Seems hard to believe? Voronkov looks huge.

He's not.

Voronkov was measured at 6'5 240 in camp. Maybe ten pounds lighter now. For whatever reason a lot of sites don't update the measurements so Voronkov still has his KHL measurements from like 5 years ago when he was 190 lbs.

It seems that Voronkov stands taller than Laine too, just stronger and better posture.

 

[Cowumbus]

He's not.

Voronkov was measured at 6'5 240 in camp. Maybe ten pounds lighter now. For whatever reason a lot of sites don't update the measurements so Voronkov still has his KHL measurements from like 5 years ago when he was 190 lbs.

It seems that Voronkov stands taller than Laine too, just stronger and better posture.

Ah gotcha. I use hockey DB, evidently it’s not right. Laine is listed as 6’5 too. Jiricek at 6’4 but probably closer to 6’2 with his posture/skating style lol.

 

[stevo61]

He's not.

Voronkov was measured at 6'5 240 in camp. Maybe ten pounds lighter now. For whatever reason a lot of sites don't update the measurements so Voronkov still has his KHL measurements from like 5 years ago when he was 190 lbs.

It seems that Voronkov stands taller than Laine too, just stronger and better posture.

I thought he was 250 at camp and dropped the 10 to now be listed at 240

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Coach Pascal Vincent was so frustrated by winger Patrik Laine, who has five goals eight points in 17 games this season, he scratched him to send a message. That’s a card the coach can play, but Laine has a cap hit of $8.7 million per season and sitting him makes zero sense.



There has been talk that Laine may be traded but, let’s be clear, he has never asked to be moved. His deal runs through the 2025-26 campaign and, unless the Jackets are willing to eat a portion of the contract, then there’s no chance Laine is going anywhere.

 

[VT]

If he is as bad as I have red here, we would get too little. In doing so, the club would have to keep his salary for another two and a half seasons. And I don't want to imagine the reaction to that if he found his game in the other team.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

If he is as bad as I have red here, we would get too little. In doing so, the club would have to keep his salary for another two and a half seasons. And I don't want to imagine the reaction to that if he found his game in the other team.

Depending on the team he’d potentially go to, I have no doubts Laine would rediscover his potential. If he could get to a team where all he had to do was set himself up in the offensive zone and make quick plays with the puck, I think he’d be awesome. Sort of like the role he had in his early Winnipeg years. For instance, if somehow Laine found a way to get to the LA Kings I think he could score 50.

Just probably isn’t going to happen here

 

[Cowumbus]

Hopefully not serious

 

[Marioesque]

Hopefully not serious

Looked like shoulder injury when he hit the boards. The sportsnet broadcast was saying there would be a hearing on that slewfoot, we'll see. Might depend on the injury

 

[jonu]

Just when he seemed to get going..

 

[Marioesque]

Just when he seemed to get going..

Yeah he looked good and the line was working. Of course he had to get injured. Wonder which one is out longer, him or Boone?

Oh well, that's why we have depth.

 

[Farmboy Patty]

Sneaky slewfoot by Lagesson. Laine just can’t catch a break this season.

 

[DoingItCoolKiwi]

Shoulder injuries are rough. Could be the season done just like Werenski last year.

 

[Marioesque]

Shoulder injuries are rough. Could be the season done just like Werenski last year.

INJURY UPDATE: #CBJ forward Patrik Laine is expected to be sidelined six weeks with a clavicle fracture suffered in last night's game at Toronto.