Player Discussion Patrik Laine: wearing a regular practice jersey

[BB88]

Apparently there was another team that would have taken his full salary but Laine nixed the trade as that team was on his no trade list.

As I said from the realistic teams Montreal was the only one

I don’t see any concerns with Laine on their locker room, staying healthy will be the big ? but atleast we know he’s really focused on being shape start season.

I’ll say 35 goals for Laine next season (without major injuries) and lot of people will be eating crow

 

[JIMVINNY]

It makes no sense for a team that has consistently been at the bottom of the league in PP success to want to spread assets on different units. Get 1 good pp unit first, then we can start talking about getting 2 good pp units.

Loading up one PP unit means the other team only has to defend against one good unit. Last year that's all we had, so that's what we went with. But now that we can create two good units, not doing so would be foolish.

 

[Habssince89]

As I said from the realistic teams Montreal was the only one

I don’t see any concerns with Laine on their locker room, staying healthy will be the big ? but atleast we know he’s really focused on being shape start season.

I’ll say 35 goals for Laine next season (without major injuries) and lot of people will be eating crow

Pretty much in line with how I feel. Laine looks especially driven to prove people wrong. I think he is a player who wants to be the best, and believes his own hype. Sometimes, that can be toxic, it can lead to entitlement and weak training. But after the ups and downs Laine has experienced, I think he probably has matured to understand what kind of an opportunity is in front of him. He wants to cement his legacy and he needs both a contending team and icetime to do that. I think the fact that Laine was (understandably) written off as a could-have-been will have him at his best.

 

[Habssince89]

Loading up one PP unit means the other team only has to defend against one good unit. Last year that's all we had, so that's what we went with. But now that we can create two good units, not doing so would be foolish.

I think we have the depth for 2 units as hutson and Laine make it possible.

CC-Suzuki-Slaf
Hutson/Matheson-Roy

Laine-Dach-Newhook
Matheson/Hutson-Guhle/Barron

OR, if we wanted to stack PP1 a little:

Laine-Suzuki-Slaf
CC-Matheson

Dach-Newhook-Roy
Barron-Hutson

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Loading up one PP unit means the other team only has to defend against one good unit. Last year that's all we had, so that's what we went with. But now that we can create two good units, not doing so would be foolish.

It's far harder to defend against one great unit than against 2 decent units.
All the best powerplay teams in the league load up their top unit. Doing the opposite is what makes no sense.

 

[Vachon23]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1828381117390401873

 

[ahmedou]

Slaf on Laine: ''I’m excited about the season, especially with the Patrik Laine trade! I just landed in Prague and it popped up on my phone and I was so happy! In 2016, I was probably 13 or 14 at that time, waiting to see whether he or Matthews would go first in the NHL Draft... I was a fan of him back in the day!”

 

[bsl]

Only if he doesn't fit as intended. What is the point of the haul when in two seasons we will be out of the rebuild?

Exactly. Eventually you go with what you have. Multiple draft picks every year is good to a point. But you only have 50 contracts.

 

[bsl]

Yess, I agree. But it's a normal thing for a elite goalscorer. Even Ovy have some month no much goals in his career but finish his season with a fire number of goals.

Laine his problem when younger that if he can't score, he don't want shoot...

But at 26 years old with a better mental, I think he understand that if he don't score, he will not stop shooting.

Msl will demand minimum 300 sog. Like he did with cc I think. You don’t shoot. You don’t score. Msl is the perfect coach for pl right now.

 

[Sorinth]

It's far harder to defend against one great unit than against 2 decent units.
All the best powerplay teams in the league load up their top unit. Doing the opposite is what makes no sense.

Generally teams have a big variance in talent levels, so yeah when you have a superstar like say Kucherov you load up his unit and give them all the time they can handle because he's simply so much better then any other option. We aren't built like that though, we arguably have a very small skill/talent variance throughout our top guys making 2 units much more viable as a strategy. And in all honesty I don't think you could take 2 decent units and create 1 great unit from the parts.

The other thing to keep in mind is that a good 2nd unit is really more about managing the tiredness of the top guys since it's the difference between the top line playing 1:45 of the PP or 1:15.

 

[sampollock]

Engels the puzz is backtracking now on his reporting... what a loser
says now he never said no.... clown

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1828381117390401873

Says Laine is the most talented player he coached and he can do what he wants on the ice.

Engels the puzz is backtracking now on his reporting... what a loser
says now he never said no.... clown

Never heard him say no, just highly doubted it

So, instead of 0%, he gave it like 5%.

 

[Captain97]

Dach on PP2 was always the likely scenario. He can run that one himself. But PL or CC will be on his unit most times if not at all times.

Honestly if he is healthy and recovered I'm open to try and treat him like Ovi. Since he doesn't move as much he can play both units and fire one timers

 

[bsl]

That’s been said since he was basically a rookie, nothing to do with the Habs. He probably is the best pure shooter right now and obviously technology and training/techniques are getting better so its pretty feasible that the current best is among the best ever. Someone like Bedard may surpass him but Laine is elite at every type of shot as well where some guys focus on just snap/wrist/slapshots. Obviously guys like Matthews and Ovi are there who are certainly better goal scorers overall but I think there’s an argument to be made.

The snap is very effective. Surprises goalies. My favourite shot.

 

[bsl]

I'm also interested how the PP will look. It should be laine's best asset, however the problem is that he's best where caufield also sets up.

They have made more of an investment in caufield (term wise) so I think it's his spot to lose, but how do you keep that weapon off the 1st unit?

Yeah I’m confused by this as well.

 

[puckeater]

Marty will get his head in the right place and the culture will keep him on track once he settles in. I wouldn’t be surprised to see his best hockey in Montreal. In fact, I’d be shocked if we didn’t. There’s a lot on the laine. :-P

 

[Walksss]

Engels the puzz is backtracking now on his reporting... what a loser
says now he never said no.... clown

It's time to let it go man.

 

[bsl]

It makes no sense for a team that has consistently been at the bottom of the league in PP success to want to spread assets on different units. Get 1 good pp unit first, then we can start talking about getting 2 good pp units.

Agreed. Score in the first minute of the pp.

 

[bsl]

I think we have the depth for 2 units as hutson and Laine make it possible.

CC-Suzuki-Slaf
Hutson/Matheson-Roy

Laine-Dach-Newhook
Matheson/Hutson-Guhle/Barron

OR, if we wanted to stack PP1 a little:

Laine-Suzuki-Slaf
CC-Matheson

Dach-Newhook-Roy
Barron-Hutson

Not bad but can cc hold the blue line? Dangerous.

It's far harder to defend against one great unit than against 2 decent units.
All the best powerplay teams in the league load up their top unit. Doing the opposite is what makes no sense.

Correct. And more and more the first unit is out there for 1:30 or the full 2.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Exactly. Eventually you go with what you have. Multiple draft picks every year is good to a point. But you only have 50 contracts.

But it could be years before you have to sign the picks. And the picks can be traded. Or players traded to make room for the players drafted. It is always good to trade for future 1st or 2nd round picks to extend a teams Cup window.

 

[HuGort]

Jets fan here. I really hope for the return of a mentally and physically healthy Patrik Laine. He's an all-world talent who hasn't played more than 10 games in his career with a #1C. His development in Winnipeg was completely destroyed by Paul Maurice who tried to turn him into a power forward and seemed to f*** with his head out of pure spite - refusing to play him on the 1st unit PP, then refusing to put him in the Stamkos/Ovechkin spot until our PP numbers stunk and he was forced to. Maurice had Laine playing a large stretch on the PP in the right defense spot. Completely bizzare. Maurice also let Blake Wheeler decide who he was playing with and so no surprise, Wheeler was paired with Scheifele. I'm trying to imagine how Ovechkin's career would have turned out if he never got to play with Backstrom. Obviously, Ovie was more explosive and dynamic than Patty - but Laine is a far better playmaker. Trying to turn Laine into Adam Lowry in WPG turned out to be very dumb. Who knew!

Best of luck to Patty in MTL.

Maurice is among all time winning coach. Just been to 2 cup finals. Imagine there's reasons he never played Laine on top line. Defense issues I would guess

 

[Want My Dach x 77]

This is a cool interview, Check it out!

 

[Want My Dach x 77]

This is a cool interview, Check it out!

He looks and sounds healthy, happy & motivated

 

[Habssince89]

Not bad but can cc hold the blue line? Dangerous.

It's the PP. I think we'll actually see the lone Damn and Suzuki/Laine actually rotate to the top. Suzuki does well from there and Laine likes to shoot from distance. CC is all over the zone

 

[Captain97]

It's the PP. I think we'll actually see the lone Damn and Suzuki/Laine actually rotate to the top. Suzuki does well from there and Laine likes to shoot from distance. CC is all over the zone

I think they are going to try

Matheson/Hutson at the point
Laine in Ovis office
Caufield in the bumper
Slaf on the right half wall/rotating with Suzuki
Suzuki behind the net/rotating with Slaf