Player Discussion Patrik Laine: Part 2 - Healthy Living Edition

[The Great Weal]

Not sure many teams will want to go long terme with him. Too much risk


I wouldn’t give 8 years to Laine personally

No team will. Hell he was negative value at his current contract. 7-7.5x4 seems like the right contract.

 

[26Mats]

Not sure many teams will want to go long terme with him. Too much risk


I wouldn’t give 8 years to Laine personally

We still have a full more year (hopefully he can stay healthy) to see how his game fits in with the team.

I can't wait until Demidov is here next year.

 

[sampollock]

We still have a full more year (hopefully) to see how his game fits in with the team.

I can't wait until Demidov is here next year.

You're going to change the top six
We just have to remember the kid is Young we going to give him time

 

[Habs Halifax]

Not sure many teams will want to go long terme with him. Too much risk


I wouldn’t give 8 years to Laine personally

I prefer 5 years but if he says 8 years or UFA.. do you let him walk or trade him?

 

[sampollock]

I prefer 5 years but if he says 8 years or UFA.. do you let him walk or trade him?

Sign in

 

[Vachon23]

I prefer 5 years but if he says 8 years or UFA.. do you let him walk or trade him?

I let him walk

 

[SlafySZN]

Délete

 

[Habs7631]

I prefer 5 years but if he says 8 years or UFA.. do you let him walk or trade him?

Laine is a stop gap. I don’t even know if they’ll offer him 5. Maybe 3, to give Hage/Roy/Mesar or whoever we pick with our 2 1st this year the time to get ready for the big show.

I can’t help but look at his salary. If they get a chance to consolidate their plethora of picks+prospects to get a star, Laine salary structure is just perfect. Big enough that you can use it to match big salaries, but since its expiring after next season, perfect for the other team to not have bad money on their books moving forward, clean slate to weaponize their cap space. He’s a stop gap that is also the perfect trade bait in a cap world.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Signing Laine for 8 years would be insane. It won’t happen.

Contract ends when he’s 36? He already moves like he’s 46.

He’s a placeholder. He can fill that place himself with lower salary and term or give way to a younger player.

 

[Beendair Donedat]

He’s a weapon, but a limited weapon.

Teams are taking away the opportunity for his set up by not pressuring Hutson as much, knowing Hutson doesn’t have a strong shot… with the big one timer no longer easily available, he’s exposed as a guy who isn’t scoring much or doing much of anything else.

He’s talented, but he’s slow, and he doesn’t seem ultra motivated. I can’t see Hughes (or anyone else) signing him to a long term deal. Best I think he could do right now is 3 years and at a lower cap hit then he’s currently paid - there are far too many questions about his mental health and holes in his game to commit long term or at big money.

 

[RationalExpectations]

Powerplay Specialist at This Point, very slow on the ice. Maybe Next season he ll be more in Shape, who knows…

 

[VT]

Powerplay Specialist at This Point, very slow on the ice. Maybe Next season he ll be more in Shape, who knows…

You are wrong. Patrik was excellent in 5v5 in Columbus and not ideal in the PP.

Btw, he had bad chemistry with Gaudreau



His speed and shot are affected by injuries. See stats:

2021/22 (he had leg injury - muscle)

2022/23 (had injuries too, include ankle sprains and elbow injury in the first game, he didn't miss much and didn't finish the season)

2023/24 (season with concussion)

And now

Even to a blind man, it's clear that if Laine doesn't have problems, he skates very well, plays excellent in 5v5 include defense, play without the puck. After all, he doesn't even have that strong of a shot this season. His problem is acceleration, but that's due to his muscle type.

The 5v5 game depends on speed. If a player has problems, he automatically cannot play ideally. And he has problems for objective reasons, he hasn't played for a long time, and that includes not only last season, but also the current preseason due to shoulder surgery (cleaning) and also part of this season.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Laine is a stop gap. I don’t even know if they’ll offer him 5. Maybe 3, to give Hage/Roy/Mesar or whoever we pick with our 2 1st this year the time to get ready for the big show.

I can’t help but look at his salary. If they get a chance to consolidate their plethora of picks+prospects to get a star, Laine salary structure is just perfect. Big enough that you can use it to match big salaries, but since its expiring after next season, perfect for the other team to not have bad money on their books moving forward, clean slate to weaponize their cap space. He’s a stop gap that is also the perfect trade bait in a cap world.

Laine is a stop gap at age 26? Yeah, I don't think so. Why do you think so? Because you want to get rid of everyone older than Suzuki and pencil in prospects?

Hage looks good. He's 2 years away from NHL (one more NCAA and one AHL probably)

Roy needs to improve a lot before he can show ability to replace someone like Laine

Mesar? Yeah, I very much doubt he will be a top 6 talent at this stage.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I let him walk

Risky to let go a talent like that but I understand the risks to a 8 year term as well. What are you scared of? He doesn't put up 30-40 goals and 60-80 pts? From age 28-35? $8M with a $100M cap is like $6M with the old cap.

Ideally, it's 5 or 6 years. 8 year talk is a bit of a reach but if he is after that, someone on the UFA market will give it to him. I doubt it gets to this because I think Laine wants to stay

 

[RationalExpectations]

You are wrong. Patrik was excellent in 5v5 in Columbus and not ideal in the PP.

Btw, he had had chemistry with Gaudreau



His speed and shot are affected by injuries. See stats:

2021/22 (he had leg injury - muscle)

View attachment 968945

2022/23 (had injuries too, include ankle sprains and elbow injury in the first game, he didn't miss much and didn't finish the season)

View attachment 968947

2023/24 (season with concussion)

View attachment 968948


And now

View attachment 968949

Even to a blind man, it's clear that if Laine doesn't have problems, he skates very well, plays excellent in 5v5 include defense, play without the puck. After all, he doesn't even have that strong of a shot this season. His problem is acceleration, but that's due to his muscle type.

The 5v5 game depends on speed. If a player has problems, he automatically cannot play ideally. And he has problems for objective reasons, he hasn't played for a long time, and that includes not only last season, but also the current preseason due to shoulder surgery (cleaning) and also part of this season.

Not sure why you Say I am wrong and Say the same thing afterwards : he has problems right now and Hence has been effective mostly as a PP specialist, hopefully he is back in shape next year

 

[Habs Halifax]

Signing Laine for 8 years would be insane. It won’t happen.

Contract ends when he’s 36? He already moves like he’s 46.

He’s a placeholder. He can fill that place himself with lower salary and term or give way to a younger player.

Truth is in the middle with this. I do agree that 8 years is risky but if he wants it, and produces with the Habs from now till end of next season, some team in UFA will give it to him. It would be age 28-35.

I don't think it plays out that way though. If Laine is after team fit and contract, the offers he gets will be 5 or 6 year terms. 5 years is a good term for a talent like this (based on his career so far). This is not an easy no answer when you have someone with an elite level shot.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He’s a true star. I was surprised by the amount of posters who didn’t want to pursue him. He gets back into full game shape and he is over a ppg for sure.

All comes down to price. Some folks wanted us to give up a first +. That made no sense.

He was coming off a couple of injuries and mental health issues, wanted out and had a big cap hit. As some of us said, we should be paid to take him and that’s exactly what happened.

As for his play right now, you couldn’t ask for more on the PP. that shot is ridiculous and any concerns on his shoulder was gone game one. As for five on five, right now he sucks. But I think it’s unfair to judge him on that. That training camp injury was brutal and I suspect he’s still recovering. We may not see what he’s all about until next year.

For now though, I don’t think he’s a 7 million dollar player. We need to see better five on five play before we give him that kind of cash.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

A large part of our fan base are herd followers and because they are in a popular herd, they think their party is the best one out there. Impossible that a herd of people can be wrong.

I remember the comments made towards Laine. "Montreal is the last place Laine should be" That was said by a lot of posters. I fought that pretty hard and I will admit, the cost to acquire was much less than I expected. Cap problems for contenders was the biggest reason.

Those concerns were legit. Montreal can be a tough place to be, just ask Kirby Dach. Fortunately, Laine got off to a scorching start. My big worry with him was that he’d get out of the gate slowly and the fans would get on him. That would’ve been disastrous.

But again, it comes down to risk. I don’t know anyone who didn’t think this was a great trade. It’s all about what you have to have up. He was absolutely worth taking at that price. But a player like that, I wouldn’t pay anything significant for. It’s too big a risk.

In terms of re-signing, I want to see more. Right now he’s a one trick pony. Not worth seven mil. However, I suspect his injury is still affecting him and we need to show patience.

 

[VT]

Not sure why you Say I am wrong and Say the same thing afterwards : he has problems right now and Hence has been effective mostly as a PP specialist, hopefully he is back in shape next year

Sorry, I thought you meant in general and not just for this time.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Those concerns were legit. Montreal can be a tough place to be, just ask Kirby Dach. Fortunately, Laine got off to a scorching start. My big worry with him was that he’d get out of the gate slowly and the fans would get on him. That would’ve been disastrous.

But again, it comes down to risk. I don’t know anyone who didn’t think this was a great trade. It’s all about what you have to have up. He was absolutely worth taking at that price. But a player like that, I wouldn’t pay anything significant for. It’s too big a risk.

Those concerns were pondering thoughts that could have been right or wrong but they were wrong. We like to worry talk a lot in Montreal and yeah, it came right after Drouin so I can see why.

Cost to acquire was a different angle some other fans had. Lets not group the cost to acquire risks some fans were talking about to the "keep him away from Montreal" group of fans. Those are two different groups

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Those concerns were pondering thoughts that could have been right or wrong but they were wrong.

They weren’t wrong at all. Montreal is atill
A brutal place to play when things aren’t going well. And that can be especially tough on people with mental health issues.

We like to worry talk a lot in Montreal and yeah, it came right after Drouin so I can see why.

These concerns aren’t made up. They’re legitimate concerns that we have to take into account whenever we add a player. Not everyone can handle the pressure of playing here.

Cost to acquire was a different angle some other fans had. Lets not group the cost to acquire risks some fans were talking about to the "keep him away from Montreal" group of fans. Those are two different groups

It’s all part of what you have to examine when you think about acquiring a player. Laine represented a risk to us on three levels. Mental and physical issues as well as his salary. Thats not a player you pay top dollar for.

 

[Habs Halifax]

They weren’t wrong at all. Montreal is atill
A brutal place to play when things aren’t going well. And that can be especially tough on people with mental health issues.


These concerns aren’t made up. They’re legitimate concerns that we have to take into account whenever we add a player. Not everyone can handle the pressure of playing here.

It’s all part of what you have to examine when you think about acquiring a player. Laine represented a risk to us in three levels. Mental and physical issues as well as his salary. Thats not a player you pay top dollar for.

Some of them were not out of line to have it as a pondering thought but in hindsight, they were wrong. He's here now and he's doing very well. I said it over and over again, If Laine wants to come to Montreal, that means he is not afraid of it and that counts for something with me. I stand firm and I think we were worried too much due to the Drouin factor. I said the opposite, I think Montreal is the exact place for him to be if he wants to rebound. And I also said that I am gullible to snipers who can pick corners. I knew the risks to both sides of it

It's OK to have worried about it but some were absolutely dead set against it. Acting like it would be the worse move ever. Lets not slide what was said under the rug. You might have been respectful with your angle but not all fans took the respectful road with what they said and they need to eat it today. When you are right you are right, when you are wrong, you are wrong. Happens to us all but how you act and behave is a different story

Those who didn't want to pay a high price was another group. I don't think it's fair to group them with the others who were very aggressive in laughing and belittling the idea of Laine in Montreal.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

They were not out of line to have it as a pondering thought but in hindsight, they were wrong.

No they weren’t. Nobody said he was going to fail. What people said was that there was a significant risk of failure and as such, we should not be paying a premium.

Those people were absolutely right and it’s borne out by the price we paid to get him.

He's here now and he's doing very well. I said it over and over again, If Laine wants to come to Montreal, that means he is not afraid of it and that counts for something with me. I stand firm and I think we were worried too much due to the Drouin factor.

He’s been amazing on the PP. At 5 on 5 he’s been underwhelming. But tha could be due to recent injury so we’ll see.

 

[Habs Halifax]

No they weren’t. Nobody said he was going to fail. What people said was that there was a significant risk of failure and as such, we should not be paying a premium.

Those people were absolutely right and it’s borne out by the price we paid to get him.

He’s been amazing on the PP. At 5 on 5 he’s been underwhelming. But tha could be due to recent injury so we’ll see.

100% disagree with your "nobody said he was going to fail" narrative. Sorry

Saying no to a talent like this is weird and I repeat, I think it was the Drouin flu

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

100% disagree with your "nobody said he was going to fail" narrative. Sorry

Okay. Go find the posts. I’ll wait.

Saying no to a talent like this is weird and I repeat, I think it was the Drouin flu

It’s not weird if you have to pay a premium to get him. I mean we could go get JT Miller right now but we won’t. Why? Because it would cost too much to get him.