Player Discussion Patrik Laine: Part 2 - Healthy Living Edition

Acquired WITH a 2nd round pick, 16 goals in 36 games playing a not very productive line and Habs fans still find a way to complain.

Smdh

We don't deserve shit 😂

We can complain about his effort sometimes, but yeah, his production are top notch and he play better since the break of 4 nations.

I'm very confident that he will be even better with a Demidov type of guy with him!
 
Going to jump into the thick of this, with an acknowledgement of being a fan.

Laine when drafted was seen by at least one Finnish commentator as being the most defensively responsible forward since Koivu. I couldn't understand that for a long time (Barkov was there in between) but it makes sense. He is not great at defending (sometimes even bad) but he does genuinely try. He is not defensively talented but he makes the responsible moves.

He is mostly in the correct spot covering the correct opponent. He can try to get a little fancy instead of flipping out the puck.

And ofc we acknowledge that he would not be in the league without that ability to shoot the puck
 
If he was as good as @Marioesque claims he is he would make his line mates better and carry the line. He has never done this and it doesn't look at all as though he is trending towards becoming that calibre of player.

would you consider a guy who has a point on over 80% of the 5v5 goals scored when he's on the ice, is point per game game on a team where the next best guy is like 0.75 P/GP (2021-22) and has the best 5v5 GF/GA in the team a "guy who drives the play"? That's literally Patrik Laine in Columbus through the 111 games he played through 21-22 & 22-23 seasons, but I guess what happens in Columbus stays in Columbus.
 
I always shit on players when their effort is .. well, shit. But credit where it’s due, Laine is not a liability in the past few games defensively and he produces offensively. He is still slow as f*** tho.

Next year he will play with Demidov and a brand new 2C(hopefully). If he does his work defensively, he can let Demidov carry the puck and just worry about sniping it.

I want the person to be happy, I want him to be willing to put in the effort. He seems to be a good lad.
He shown us both side of the medal and I just hope that he love the game enough to put in the effort 4 out of 5games.

I also hope that we can make the playoffs to see if he step it up a notch or continues to be a coin flip.
 
Acquired WITH a 2nd round pick, 16 goals in 36 games playing a not very productive line and Habs fans still find a way to complain.

Smdh

We don't deserve shit 😂

The most hilarious part is he's put up a 36 goal pace... since 96-97 the only times a Hab has put up over 35 goals in a season was Pacioretty in 13-14 and 14-15.

For a fan base who's team has lacked goal scorers for 3 f***ing decades you'd think they'd appreciate anyone who can put the puck in the net. :laugh:
 
The most hilarious part is he's put up a 36 goal pace... since 96-97 the only times a Hab has put up over 35 goals in a season was Pacioretty in 13-14 and 14-15.

For a fan base who's team hasn't had any legit goal scorers in 3 f***ing decades you'd think they'd appreciate anyone who can put the puck in the net. :laugh:

He's appreciated.

He also has warts and parts of his play that isn't good that he has to own.

I think it's fair to evaluate him appropriately and not put his shortcomings on Dach, Beck, Roy, Newhook or anyone else he played with 5 on 5 when he wasn't pulling his weight offensively and defensively.

The hope is that with a full off-season that we can see a more complete Laine, not the immobile PP cannon user that he is this season, because if we get anything close to that, that's big news for the team.

I expect that to happen.
 
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would you consider a guy who has a point on over 80% of the 5v5 goals scored when he's on the ice, is point per game game on a team where the next best guy is like 0.75 P/GP (2021-22) and has the best 5v5 GF/GA in the team a "guy who drives the play"? That's literally Patrik Laine in Columbus through the 111 games he played through 21-22 & 22-23 seasons, but I guess what happens in Columbus stays in Columbus.

If Montreal could somehow get the Laine who played for Columbus for those 2 seasons, along with the PP production he has now under Montreal's system (with Hutson feeding him), he'd be an insanely valuable player.

That's a big if, of course, but I'd say it's worth keeping him just to see if that happens. Montreal have already been one of the better teams in the league since Laine started playing for them, just imagine if Laine starts performing 5on5.
 

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