Player Discussion Patrik Laine: Part 2 - Healthy Living Edition

[26Mats]

Laine has to get Laine going. The injury means he gets a mulligan from me for now but he has been pretty useless 5 on 5.

Well I've seen him make a lot of nice zone entries to set Newhook up, only to ha e Newhook do nothing with it and lose the puck. It's not like Newhook was lighting it up and then Laine came to his line and his production dropped. He never had any production.

Let's try Laine with other players that can make plays and see what happens?

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Well I've seen him make a lot of nice zone entries to set Newhook up, only to ha e Newhook do nothing with it and lose the puck. It's not like Newhook was lighting it up and then Laine came to his line and his production dropped. He never had any production.

Let's try Laine with other players that can make plays and see what happens?

Laine is losing the puck just fine on his own.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Agreed. It's OK to put a little heat on him. He's not a young developing player so there should be some level of pressure. But lets not go overboard with it like we usually do. Stay calm, cool, and collected boys and girls.

This is up to Laine to make adjustments.

Laine is currently what scouts feared would be the worst version of Cole Eiserman. Big shot and that’s it.

He MUST improve his game. Getting healthy should hopefully help. We may have to wait until next year to know how good a player he really is

 

[Marioesque]

Laine is losing the puck just fine on his own.

That's the thing when he has to be carrying to the puck more but if his line mates can create space and skate it up , that's the situation you want where Laine is the triggerman.

In his current line, it looks like he often becomes a net front player trying to tip the puck and that's about the worst spot you could have him in the offensive zone.

 

[overlords]

Laine is losing the puck just fine on his own.

He's the worst guy on his line and it's not particularly close. He's lost. It took Kirby like half a season to get his shit somewhat back together, no reason to expect more from Laine who has played even less games than Dach over the last 3 years.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He's the worst guy on his line and it's not particularly close. He's lost. It took Kirby like half a season to get his shit somewhat back together, no reason to expect more from Laine who has played even less games than Dach over the last 3 years.

Agreed. Dach has improved tenfold and Newhook - while inconsistent- does create chances on that line. I haven’t seen Laine do anything.

But your point about him not playing in a while is forgotten about. I was just thinking about recovery from injury but he hasn’t played in a while too. And we saw how that messed up Dach earlier in the year.

 

[sampollock]

“Overall, my body is good, I skate well. My confidence is not at a high level, but otherwise, I feel good. It’s difficult even if my body feels good sometimes and my confidence is less there. I have to contribute in another way if my offensive game is not there. It will work, it will work” - Patrik Laine, via RDS

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

“Overall, my body is good, I skate well. My confidence is not at a high level, but otherwise, I feel good. It’s difficult even if my body feels good sometimes and my confidence is less there. I have to contribute in another way if my offensive game is not there. It will work, it will work” - Patrik Laine, via RDS

Oh yeah, I beleive it !!

 

[Habssince89]

“Overall, my body is good, I skate well. My confidence is not at a high level, but otherwise, I feel good. It’s difficult even if my body feels good sometimes and my confidence is less there. I have to contribute in another way if my offensive game is not there. It will work, it will work” - Patrik Laine, via RDS

He definitely is self-aware. I like Laines blunt attitude. I think he has a lot of challenges to overcome still but no one can accuse him of not giving a shit

 

[ursus maritimus]

Laine has its flaws. He needs a certain type of player who is able to feed him and at the same time he is able to give good passes to the opponent as well, who has the ability to solve or move the puck forward.
It doesn't work in this line. Laine is not the type to fight with the puck, but a quick solver.

 

[Ozmodiar]

He's the worst guy on his line and it's not particularly close. He's lost. It took Kirby like half a season to get his shit somewhat back together, no reason to expect more from Laine who has played even less games than Dach over the last 3 years.

Maybe the whole line is bad. All 3 players. Castoffs. The line of misfit toys.

3 former 1st rd picks, incl 2nd and 3rd OA, and nobody can drive the line?

I think there’s still room for improvement, esp Dach, but I don’t think HuGo is banking heavily on any of them. The 2nd line will look much different in 2 years.

 

[BergevinBurner]

If I'm being honest, Laine being benched over Newhook irks me.

I know he's not great 5v5, but everyone on the planet knew that his main purpose on the team is to be a sniper, yet Dach and Newhook combine for 14 assists across 104 shared games this season in which they both played on the 2nd line essentially the whole time and received powerplay time, that's utterly insane to me. Of course Laine isn't going to succeed when he has those 2 as linemates.