hamzarocks
Registered User
So you've decided to join leaf nation have you
. All are welcome. Matthews... Laine... Puljiarvi... Stamkos... Mcdavid. Anyone can be brought along.RW Patrik Laine - Tappara, Liiga (2016 Draft) III
- Thread starter JawandaPuck
- Start date
. All are welcome. Matthews... Laine... Puljiarvi... Stamkos... Mcdavid. Anyone can be brought along.
Oh man, oh man! Can someone really see that clip so differently? It is absolutely clear and obvious that it went exactly the opposite from your description. In the beginning Laine is in fact positionally at the same level with the other defender and has maybe two strides of a headstart with the other defender. At the end the closer defender is two strides behind even when he threw himself on the ice to reach Laine with his stick desperately. Laine had clearly gained a better speed than either defender during the whole skating distance. Clearly what Laine can still improve a lot, is the explosiveness of his first strides. But when he gets his motor running he is in fact pretty fast. Anyone should be able to see this.
Last edited:
supermann_98
Registered User
- May 8, 2002
- 9,733
- 8,258
Wonder how fast mathews is
I think laine is bigger, faster, stronger and more skillfulhow do you like that?
He's bigger, and may be stronger, and that's it.
kelsier
Registered User
- Aug 17, 2013
- 4,280
- 1,741
Bigger, probably stronger and better shooter. Also European, not playing center and probably with less complete game at this point. Everything else is debatable.
Based on the last couple of games Laine will play in the NHL next season, given a full and healthy summer training. Very calm and confident with the puck and he is not a liability in his own end either. Actually he is rather good backchecker at the moment, stripping pucks with his stick like the best of them. Also his playmaking abilities start to really show, he has done some very impressive passes even from the defensive-zone and knows how to use boards in o-zone. He is ready in terms of general skill level,passing and shooting. Skating will be NHL-ready once the 2016-17 season starts.
Next season 2nd/3rd liner with 40-50 points in NHL, regardless of the team that will draft him. (Hopefully it will be Buffalo or Toronto )
Next season 2nd/3rd liner with 40-50 points in NHL, regardless of the team that will draft him. (Hopefully it will be Buffalo or Toronto
)
HockeyHistorian
Registered User
- Mar 17, 2015
- 1,563
- 1,451
Based on the last couple of games Laine will play in the NHL next season, given a full and healthy summer training. Very calm and confident with the puck and he is not a liability in his own end either. Actually he is rather good backchecker at the moment, stripping pucks with his stick like the best of them. Also his playmaking abilities start to really show, he has done some very impressive passes even from the defensive-zone and knows how to use boards in o-zone. He is ready in terms of general skill level,passing and shooting. Skating will be NHL-ready once the 2016-17 season starts.
Next season 2nd/3rd liner with 40-50 points in NHL, regardless of the team that will draft him. (Hopefully it will be Buffalo or Toronto
I think he should be able to play and excel in the NHL next season, but if, for example, Toronto picks him, I don't expect him to play in the NHL that much as Babcock seems to have brought the same mentality of over-ripening players in the AHL from Detroit. But I'd like to see him in Toronto nonetheless, they have really good playmaking prospects in Nylander and Marner, they'd complement Laine quite well I believe.
we'd need to time the kids as they go around the rink. The problem with 6'4 200 lbs guys is that they don't look fast, even when they are. Their strides are so big.
If I can be candid with you guys... I've honestly never seen any problems with Laine's skating. All the issues have been age/size/injury-related. He is no Ovie or Kovy, but who is?
kelsier
Registered User
- Aug 17, 2013
- 4,280
- 1,741
The knee injury definately had a huge impact on his last season. It's pure speculation how fast he'd be today, but having to carry that frame that he has and missing out the whole off season training pretty much ruined last season for Laine. I'm really excited to see him after next summer. He's quite far from being a lazy trainee. One more leap and he's going to be fast enough for NHL no doubt about it. There's no telling what his end speed or acceleration could be like in the long run.
Didn't say otherwise.
He clearly didn't blast away from the opposing defence like a speedster a la Bure, that was my point. Speed wasn't the factor that provided the opening for a breakaway for him, it was mainly his game awareness.
Didn't look to me he gained any distance from number 18 on HIFK at any point during the breakaway. He did however outskate the guy who made the blunder obviously because Laine took off on the fly while the HIFK player from a stand still.
I didn't say anything about Laine's general skating ability in my post. The post was merely a reference to that particular sequence shown in the video. Maybe he was running on fumes and didn't have the strength left to gain top speed at that particular moment, but whatever the case may have been his speed didn't stand out for me. Certainly didn't mean to bring controversy into the topic as the overall effort and display of skill left me impressed.
Loffer
Registered User
- Sep 22, 2011
- 3,938
- 427
If this is true and I'm not saying it couldn't be 'in principle' the following question begs itself to be presented in all sincerity:
HOW ****in slow those defenders are really??
If so - even I would skate circles around them like for fun.
Scuba-Steve
Registered User
For those who have seen them both in the Liiga at the same age; Laine or Barkov in the long term?
They are quite different players, so I would say that which one you would see better in long term would have to do with what you prefer in hockey. I myself despise what kind of a defence oriented game of ice chess hockey has become over all these years. So I would opt for Laine, as I see him as a better offensive prospect than Barkov. I at least believe that Laine's ceiling is higher there. Although might very well be that by present hockey standards Barkov becomes the better player all in all. I would still opt for Laine, as I love offensive talent in hockey so much.
This does not mean that I don't rank Barkov very highly. But just that really good talent with very good offensive mind and skillset is that rare in present hockey. It is absolutely great to have some players like Jere Lehtinen or Alexander Barkov, but when every player is more and more developed towards that type and mold, I have to say that it makes the game of hockey more boring in general.
This is why FEL and even NHL have become quite boring leagues in general. At least compared to the gameplay that they had a couple of decades ago. Especially FEL has become such horribly defensive minded league that it is really rough to even watch the games. And I have seen quite much the same happening to NHL also, unfortunately. Of course much more offensive talent there, so not as boring as FEL definitely. But I don't still like the tendency.
Last edited:
Uncle Scrooge
Hockey Bettor
Barkov without a doubt.
He was the first Finnish prospect i've ever went "man, this kid will be a star". Just the whole package and what he did in his draft year (48 points in 53 games, 5 points in 5 playoff games, one of the best 2-way centers in the whole league much like he is in the NHL now, huge size, good compete level, humble) impressed me more than anyone i've ever seen coming from our league. It wasn't exactly rocket science to feel pretty good about him becoming the next big thing for us.
Laine is a shooter with gamebreaking ability and that's pretty much the only thing he has on Barkov. Not that it's not a huge thing to be a gamebreaking forward, but Barkovs elite 2-way game+center does it for me. They have pretty much equal skillset but if these guys produce roughly the same amount of points and the other is a future selke nominee ? Im going with him, even if the other has more goals.
Last edited:
Barkov was always such a safe bet. When he was playing in Liiga, everyone knew that he was going to be that 1st line two-way center for the NHL.
Laine has still much question marks above his head and no one can really say how he will pan out. He has that 40 goal potential for sure, but it remains to be seen if can he reach it.
Answer is Barkov.
well any laine hater will tell you that those 2 defenders we're obviously the slowest players in FEL and obviously Husso is the worst 1on1 goalie in FEL...
And HIFK is the worst team in the league.
Scuba-Steve
Registered User
FinnishDevil
Registered User
Laine just got his first 2 minute penalty in Liiga in his 38th game of the season. No discipline at all, bust.
FinPanda
Barkov Stanley cup champ!
If he knew how to skate he would have not taken that penalty. He has been bribing the refs all season so that his so-called skating would not show in his penalty column. Also his stickwork on backcheck is relentless and he'd hit everybody to their face with his stick all the time if he wasn't so small. I mean look at the pictures, he's like half a meter shorter than Jesse the Allmighty.
Hokinaittii
Registered User
- Aug 15, 2015
- 2,497
- 1,293
Winnipeg Jets
Lucky #7
This guy would not fit on the Jets, taking a penalty a game is a team requirement
