What would be best for Demidov's long term future with the Habs?
Not getting stuck playing on a line with Gally or Anderson would be a great start
What would be best for Demidov's long term future with the Habs?
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![]()
If someone give me a 2nd Round pick and another player for absolutely nothing, can that player have, at the very least, a decent Corsi FFS!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![]()
Either an exaggerated joke, or completely delusional. Can’t tell.
That cuts both ways. Laine is being set up by some exquisitely sweet passes.He’s ain’t perfect , but laine is part of the reasons Hutson is a top producing defenseman .
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.
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 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.![]()
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.
you win the internet!The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the world's largest ocean plastic accumulation, located between Hawaii and California. Spanning 1.6 million square kilometers, it consists of plastics ranging from large fishing nets to tiny microplastics.
Formed by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, it's not a solid "island" but a concentration of approximately 1.8 trillion plastic pieces weighing 80,000 metric tons. These plastics harm marine life through ingestion and entanglement and fishermen around the area are alarmed about their increasingly empty nets.
Researchers claim it is the biggest pile of floating trash in the world, but a small number of hockey fans insist that the title belongs to ice hockey player Patrik Laine. A clear difference between the two is that while the Garbage Patch empties nets in the ocean, Laine somehow keeps filling them with pucks.
I don’t get it either. He’s much more than a one-trick poney. His passing skills were on full display during the 4 Nations tournament. There’s a reason why Babcock wanted to try him at Center in Columbus. Laine’s size and playmaking abilities didn’t go unnoticed.I know people say he's one dimensional, but I find his puck handling to be buttery smooth. He's also a good passer and he tends to create a lot of space due to both being huge and having the defense always focus on him when he's on the ice.
NHLers know who can embarrass them and a lot of them saw him make a fool out of us when he played for Columbus.
I think people confuse constructive criticism with complaint. And I think some people are being overly defensive.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![]()
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.
Yeah that's a really big if. He's never had a "complete" season even offensively, where BOTH 5v5 and PP production would be there during the same year. Like during those CBJ years where has great 5v5 (he was producing at a clip which would've made him a ~top10-top20 player in the league for 5v5 points if projected to over 82 games) he got barely any PP goals.
I'm not holding my breath he ever has that season where it all clicks somehow, but at the same time it needs to be said Laine can be very good 5v5 and has shown it in the league starting his rookie year already - top20 for even strength points despite missing 9 games with a concussion. For what it's worth, he's usually had among the best 5v5 goal differentials in his teams, apart from a couple real stinker seasons.
So if he can keep producing anything like this on the PP and get his 5v5 game back to level it has been about half the time of his career, he'd be a great player for Montreal. I wouldn't dismiss his ability 5v5 just yet, though unlike what they tell to kids in Finland, if you injure a body part it usually doesn't get stronger...
A specialist like Laine that needs better players is appropriate for a team like the Habs that are talent starved.
He absolutely needs to improve if he wants a role on a great team.
I would say that we have passed the threshold from where one dimensional pp specialists who are egregious defensive liabilities and have the personality of a wet sock are that useful but I do know what you are saying and these types of players usually get blacklisted by contending teams and end up peddling their narrow scope of elite abilities to bottom feeders who just need a placeholder to fill certain roles.
MSL was recently very open about Laine's lack of interest in both playing defence or applying himself in practice to get better at it. This of course runs in direct opposition to a certain sycophant's cherry picked stats but I will defer to MSL on this one as well as every coach who has ever had to endure his lazy play and poor attitude.
I was really hoping that Marty would bring out a more responsible and happy version of Laine but he looks every bit the person that we have seen for years now.
Maybe he is just back in a dark place due to him dealing with a potentially nagging injury and having to be accountable for his overall poor play. I refuse to endorse this line of reasoning as a legitimate excuse but I aslo will not rule it out. We will know more next season if he is still here after the summer, and I would like nothing more than to be entirely wrong.