Player Discussion Patrik Laine: Part 2 - Healthy Living Edition

Hasn't really been a good playoff performer ever in his career. Also does he play 2nd line LW moving forward? That spot I think will be occupied by Demidov of Slaf.
Unfortunately , ( or fortunately) we don't really need an Ehlers right now , need size down the middle. It's funny because if Laine wasn't here I wouldn't be opposed to throwing money at Ehlers.

First time in 30 years of my time on this earth that we might have 4 top 6 wingers on the team next year lol
 
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He almost seems lost out there half of the time 5v5. Constantly losing board battles and seems disinterested unless it’s a power play. It would be nice to see him try to take charge of his line instead of slowly skating around
 
What world are you living in?! 6.5 a year with the cap going up? Laine has the 3rd most powerplay goals in the league playing half injured and he's tied with Caufield for goals since joining the team: NHL Stats
And that is after St Louis paired him with absolute scrubs on even strenght, while Caufield gets to play with the best center on the team. Laine is by far the best goal scorer on your team. My Leafs will be happy to take Laine and pay him a salary that will make him feel like a real man again. 6.5 a year? Laine will be making almost twice as much playing for my Leafs!
He’s not “by far” the best scorer on the team. Caufield could get 40 this year. Do you think Laine can get 60? So many bad takes with this post. Making leaf fans look worse lol
 
He almost seems lost out there half of the time 5v5. Constantly losing board battles and seems disinterested unless it’s a power play. It would be nice to see him try to take charge of his line instead of slowly skating around
He is the kind of player I qualify as "frustrating to watch" over the decades I watched this team. He indeed as a weird style, looking nonchalant, losing pucks.... and then you see him snap into motion very quick and surprise the D guy or the goalie. No question he has been useful this year for this race, but man, does he look lost sometimes.
 
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No he's not. Caufield is by far the best goal scorer. Laine is a one trickpony who's only able to score on the pp in the circle dot riding a career year shooting%. Caufield is 10× the player that Laine is and I would be ecstasy if the leaf were dumb enought to offer him 12M a year.
I’m hard on Laine but maybe you should try watching a hockey game with him in it for the first time in your life. He’s not a one trick pony. He’s an underrated passer and is one of the best at deception thus making more space for other players on the PP.
 
Yeah for sure...he never quite did it for me like he did for most Habs fans to be honest lol
He was a mercenary. And MB was foolish in how he negotiated with him.

Anyways he left and MB got fired so at the end of the day it’s all good.
 
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Caufield may be the better player, but 10 out 10 coaches would put Laine in that spot before Caufield. Caufield needs to be in tight to score, Laine can rip a one-timer from the top of the circle and beat a goalie clean. Other than Ovechkin I can't of a better player to play the pp on that left circle.
Not really. Laine pp production is a unstainable hot streak this year. You just have too look at all his prior year to see that something isn't right. 14g in 38 games this year while the best he ever had was 20 and 15g in 82 games. And his shooting % this year is better than every prior year by a significant margin. For reference, Caufield had 7g in 25games on the pp beford laine got the spot and it was without Hutson. His shoot is less lethal but his passing skill and vison made up for it unlike Laine who's a one trick pony.
 
I’m hard on Laine but maybe you should try watching a hockey game with him in it for the first time in your life. He’s not a one trick pony. He’s an underrated passer and is one of the best at deception thus making more space for other players on the PP.
He's a turnover machine who skate like Savard and have the compete lvl of a green flower. He's a liability out there and everyone who know just a little bit about hockey would say it. He's a one trick pony THIS YEAR. Maybe next year he will be better but if not you can be sure he's not coming back unless he take a big paycut
 
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Caufield may be the better player, but 10 out 10 coaches would put Laine in that spot before Caufield. Caufield needs to be in tight to score, Laine can rip a one-timer from the top of the circle and beat a goalie clean. Other than Ovechkin I can't of a better player to play the pp on that left circle.
Absolutely. His one timer is lethal.

But I don’t think that means Caufield wasn’t ‘good enough’. :laugh: Laine is just better there. He’s better than 99 percent of all players in that spot.

I look at Laine very much the same way.
Maybe. I don’t know enough about him. He’s had so many struggles so maybe he just wants a home.

Radulov was a mercenary from before he even joined.

He's a turnover machine who skate like Savard and have the compete lvl of a green flower. He's a liability out there and everyone who know just a little bit about hockey would say it. He's a one trick pony THIS YEAR. Maybe next year he will be better but if not you can be sure he's not coming back unless he take a big paycut
He’s been better lately.
 
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Hasn't really been a good playoff performer ever in his career. Also does he play 2nd line LW moving forward? That spot I think will be occupied by Demidov of Slaf.
If they trade Newhook, I could see LW being a need down the road. Along with speed and experience.

eventually could have:
CC - Suze - Slaf
Xxxx - Hage - Demi

I think Ehlers would be a good fit.
 
Points isn't everything.. Radulov was a highly skilled grinder, he provided way more impact 5 on 5 than Laine did.

I'd take a prime Radulov on my team any day of the week, while I'm happy to have Laine and his pure offensive talent, it comes at the cost of little defensive engagement and a lot of bad turnovers.

Impact on ice is the difference between GA/60 and GF/60. How much you affect the winning, which is ONLY determined by how many goals your team has and how many opponents have at the end of game.

Any other "impact" is mostly just optics, personal preference of style over substance.

Grinding isn't much impact if it doesn't lead to more goals than opponent. Newhook and Armia and Evans grind.
 
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He's a turnover machine who skate like Savard and have the compete lvl of a green flower. He's a liability out there and everyone who know just a little bit about hockey would say it. He's a one trick pony THIS YEAR. Maybe next year he will be better but if not you can be sure he's not coming back unless he take a big paycut
Laine has 0,74 giveaways/GP and Gaufield has 0,75 GA giveaways/GP

So I think Gaufield is more turnover machine than Laine. :sarcasm:
 
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Impact on ice is the difference between GA/60 and GF/60. How much you affect the winning, which is ONLY determined by how many goals your team has and how many opponents have at the end of game.

Any other "impact" is mostly just optics, personal preference of style over substance.

Grinding isn't much impact if it doesn't lead to more goals than opponent. Newhook and Armia and Evans grind.

and the way Laine plays he gives up way more on the defensive side of the puck than Radulov did, not to mention all of the other things Radulov did on the forecheck that resulted in goals for his team but not always in points for himself. Similar to Slafkovsky on the top line, his point totals will be lower than Caufield or Suzuki, but he does a lot of things on the forecheck that creates opportunities that lead to goals.
 
Laine has 0,74 giveaways/GP and Gaufield has 0,75 GA giveaways/GP

So I think Gaufield is more turnover machine than Laine. :sarcasm:
good, now do it for /60min or even better, with their own possession time.....
 
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and the way Laine plays he gives up way more on the defensive side of the puck than Radulov did, not to mention all of the other things Radulov did on the forecheck that resulted in goals for his team but not always in points for himself. Similar to Slafkovsky on the top line, his point totals will be lower than Caufield or Suzuki, but he does a lot of things on the forecheck that creates opportunities that lead to goals.

GA/60 vs GF/60 would measure that grinding impact too, it's about how many goals get scored with you and against you on the ice. The grinding that leads to goals is measured in it.
 
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