Laine also played with Ilomäki who was at the time better as a two-way guy than a wow factor a la Palve or Filppula. JM-Järvinen has been years easily one of the best offensive players in the league (And pls dont watch his point production, cuz hes about as good or in this case bad finisher as Filppula, cuz looks more a hl reel pass than shoots the puck). Even "Kölli" Kortelainen stated last year that JM Järvinen wuld be a sure NHL player if he only was like 10 cm longer (my apologize I dont know inches at this case) and as a Tappara fan myself I totally agreed that its not that far-fetched after all. Tho his defensive game and physical play doesnt appear to me to be even close to that level.
Jukka Peltola otherwise has always been a warrior type of intelligent forward, who forces a lot of turnovers cuz of his smart and plays a gritty game, even tho he doesnt look like effective guy on and off the puck theres a reason why he played in Finnish olympic roster last year and has been force for Tappara even during Laine's tenure.
And yes Laine played with offensive dynamo Kuusela in the poffs, but it has some little to do with his performance and production imo. Laine looked atleast to me almost as flashy as Kakko looks right now. Especially in the playoffs and Kärpät series he created something in almost every single shift. When he hit Kukkonen hard on the boards or drew penalty vs Sebastian Aho (did like 2-3 times and while circling around and keeping him outside and puck long away from him with his kilometer long stick). I even remember one PP shift from that serie where Tappara player's distances were very long and Laine had the puck in no danger zone (near the boxes on the blueline), two Kärpät PK forecheckers went all over him and Laine's pass created like 4vs2 opportunity for Tappara in front of the Kärpät net, but they culdnt capitalize that. At that very moment I thought that Kärpät seriously scared one guy and I wuld say Laine's versatile dominance was the main factor why Tappara won them and eventually the championship.
When it comes to Kakko, I totally agree he might have better linemates, but like Laine, he seems to be the "X-factor" even with those guys he plays currently and has started to show more and more of what hes capable of with that shot and tenacity and confidence to toy like Laine did in his year. Thats why we can honestly expect any kind of rabbit from the hat in poffs from Kakko either.