Re Signing Laine

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My hope is that the rest of his game, 5 v 5, catches up before he stops scoring a PPG per game. If he were to be a 35 plus goal scorer for us that would be awesome.
Let's assume that he play the rest of the season (49G), rate of PPs/game for the team stays same, Patrik playing in PP1 and his PP goal scoring production dropping to 25% of the recent, and he won't get his 5-on-5 properly working all season, but still score some odd goals here and there:

25 Goals for the season are almost 100% sure with above conservative projections.

Would require 6 5-on-5 goals whole season.

Note that this doesn't take account of the fact that if Habs is playing 5vs6, 4vs6, 3vs5 or 4vs5, against Empty Net during a regulation, Laine should always be on ice. For obvious reasons.
 
It doesn't look like he has good chemistry with his linemates. Why would he like to stay and pay high taxes playing 13-16 minutes nightly being in the cold -7 after 9 games already. Once he stops hitting the net, shit is gonna rain down, we all know that

He's a pure goalscorer and he's on a line with a dude who has 0 assist in 33 games.
 
Let's assume that he play the rest of the season (49G), rate of PPs/game for the team stays same, Patrik playing in PP1 and his PP goal scoring production dropping to 25% of the recent, and he won't get his 5-on-5 properly working all season, but still score some odd goals here and there:

25 Goals for the season are almost 100% sure with above conservative projections.

Would require 6 5-on-5 goals whole season.

Note that this doesn't take account of the fact that if Habs is playing 5vs6, 4vs6, 3vs5 or 4vs5, against Empty Net during a regulation, Laine should always be on ice. For obvious reasons.
I really dont think that Hughes will look at extending him until the 2025 season is underway. The injury history, falling off from when he was a star player, how he holds up mentally playing in Montreal, all of that means taking advantage of the fact we have him signed through 2025-26, and we do that by letting him get games in. And see what happens when Demi comes over.

You dont worry that if he lights it up we will pay him more, we have to be as sure as we can before we sink a chunk of money into Laine. If we cant do a deal, then fine we can see about moving him at the TDL next year. But I think a guy like Laine gets value in playing on a young team like this and he fits age wise, and he gets value playing in the one of a kind Montreal. As I have said many times before, though many good players may not want to sign with Montreal, once they have played here most good players want to stay in Montreal.

EDIT; And for his part he will want to see a legit 2C for him. Hopefully Dach gets it together, otherwise Hughes goes big game hunting this summer. And theres Demi of course.
 
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It's too soon to tell -- it's only been 9 games. Can Laine stay healthy -- both physically and mentally? If so, what will his asking price be in a new contract? Will he even want to stay in Montreal?
At this pace, it’ll be a big contract, but why the hell not?
 
It doesn't look like he has good chemistry with his linemates. Why would he like to stay and pay high taxes playing 13-16 minutes nightly being in the cold -7 after 9 games already. Once he stops hitting the net, shit is gonna rain down, we all know that
Why would anyone for that matter? Besides, the dudes from Finland. You think the cold bothers him?
And we’re not talking about RHP here. What do you mean “when he stops hitting the net”? The guy is a world class shooter. He just doesn’t suddenly stop hitting the net.
 
He is a player we can take our time to assess. So far he is looking good but as pointed out a million time, his injury history + play at even strength have to scare us a bit.

The good news is the we have almost two years to make that decision and IMO the more we wait (even he if hits free agency) the more we can be sure to make the best decision. The issue is that Habs fans are very trigger happy to want to re-sign their players fast. Let's wait it out.
 
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Why would anyone for that matter? Besides, the dudes from Finland. You think the cold bothers him?
And we’re not talking about RHP here. What do you mean “when he stops hitting the net”? The guy is a world class shooter. He just doesn’t suddenly stop hitting the net.
He is known for his hot and cold periods. For sure he loves the fans in Montreal, but for his own good a city close to Mexico, where not many watch hockey might be better in the long run. But thats just my opinion
 
He's a pure goalscorer and he's on a line with a dude who has 0 assist in 33 games.

That's why i am thinking he is a good fit with Celebrini in San Jose. He cant get Barky, so Macklin might be the best available option for him. Also he would prefer the California climatefor his health issues
I’m kina hoping for a Kovalev affect and Laine falls in love with MTL.

Good point about him needing better support from his linemates, but I think this could be worked out overtime, and he may be very aware that his role as a veteran is to help get other guys going by mentoring, as he said in his interview when he was first traded to us.

If Dach doesn’t work out by the start of next season, I can see a replacement being a target that is accelerated, if it hasn’t already been done at the trade deadline or the draft.

But if Laine is successful and helps Dach and others meet or exceed their potential, I can see hum feeling even more motivation to stay.

He does seem to have made an immediate impact is the whole team is playing better.
 
Still hasn't produced 5 on 5
This.

If he's only scoring on the PP and he's doing it at the expense of Caufield (by taking his spot/goals), the added value to the team isn't as high as people think.

He needs to pull his weight at 5v5 and the team needs to find a way to have both Laine and Caufield on the score sheet. Not one or the other because they only score from the same spot on the same PP unit.
 
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I just hope he keepa being great until next trade deadline. Then we have many options. Either re-sign him or trade him for a haul
 
I'm not worried his 5vs5 stats. If you play with a guy who has 0 assist and very low hockey IQ and a guy who wins 37% of his FO's. At this point they are chasing puck all the time. You should look closely, when Newhook recive the puck at O-zone. He doesn't see open player, although he have blinking light on top of his head.

If you look his +/-. At least half of those has been defensive mistake made by defender. He couldn't do enything to stop those.

His speed isn't there yet, but he is showing some good signs in his 200ft game.
 
I'm not worried his 5vs5 stats. If you play with a guy who has 0 assist and very low hockey IQ and a guy who wins 37% of his FO's. At this point they are chasing puck all the time. You should look closely, when Newhook recive the puck at O-zone. He doesn't see open player, although he have blinking light on top of his head.

If you look his +/-. At least half of those has been defensive mistake made by defender. He couldn't do enything to stop those.

His speed isn't there yet, but he is showing some good signs in his 200ft game.
= "Demote" Laine to 3rd line center (with PP1) and promote Dvorak to 2nd line C...

or

simply switch Laine (with PP1) and Dach to see what happens...

Laine isn't natural center, but he is certainly better than Dach for a winger-needs of PL.
 
I'm not worried his 5vs5 stats. If you play with a guy who has 0 assist and very low hockey IQ and a guy who wins 37% of his FO's. At this point they are chasing puck all the time. You should look closely, when Newhook recive the puck at O-zone. He doesn't see open player, although he have blinking light on top of his head.

If you look his +/-. At least half of those has been defensive mistake made by defender. He couldn't do enything to stop those.

His speed isn't there yet, but he is showing some good signs in his 200ft game.

Yeah he keeps feeding Newhook great chances too but nothing going in.

There's been one goal where I felt it was on Laine, where he had to cover for Hutson and lost his man in front of the net in the penguins game. Other than that the goals against have been from defensive mistakes of other players, often Dach or Hutson. Hutson gets away with it because he's productive but Dach has not been.
 
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I think his starts and potentially ends with his price.

If the conversation were for him to sign at a reasonable price (7-8.5M) then I think he's worth the risk to sign now. If he's asking for 10M+ you hold off and weigh your options, before signing him.

Who knows where Laine's head is in regards to extending and what his priorities are, right now. If he wants to paid fairly and wants long-term security in a franchise that will support him and give him the best opportunity to maximize his potencial, sign me up!
 
He is known for his hot and cold periods. For sure he loves the fans in Montreal, but for his own good a city close to Mexico, where not many watch hockey might be better in the long run. But thats just my opinion
From what he’s said, he seems to like the attention/spotlight, so if that’s true, he’s in the right place. If the Habs can show that they have a chance to compete, I think he re-signs.
 

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