Rumor: The All Encompassing Patrik Laine Thread (it’s happening!!)

[Habs10Habs]

At the supermarkets. In the malls. At the bars... You can't go out when you're struggling and not hear it from people.

Montreal is a fishbowl. If you're an introvert or have mental health issues, it's going to be rough on you. It's similar in Toronto but at least Toronto has other sports teams in the city. In Montreal, all the focus is on the Habs.

Is that an enviroment that Laine should be brought into? I don't know the nature of his mental health issues and so I can't say. But they should absolutely factor this in before bringing him here.

Yes, but they don't slam them in person the same way the players are slammed say here on HFBHabs. The fans in person are more concerned, usually wishing the player(s) well. Hoping say the losing streak, or the players struggles come to an end.

Also as I mentioned, most of the players have people buying their food for them. In malls or bars, all they have to do is call ahead. Stores will close down, just for them. Restaurants will provide a private areas for the players. So that they don't get bothered.

Yes it is a fishbowl, compared to other NHL cities. But as I've mentioned above, there are ways of getting around it. Sure they can't move around like you or I can. But with the salaries they make. It's much easier than you might think.

I honestly don't know, since it hasn't been said why he went into the program. But I'm sure his mental wellness will be part of the discussion. If/when HuGo talks to him.

Read what Walsh wrote about Montreal. "There is no getting away from it."

Yes, but I also read how his condition was worsened by Covid. Where he was trapped inside the majority of the time. Only going out to walk his dog six times per day.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Everyone knows this already. There is nothing enlightening about this. It still doesn’t support what you claimed.

?????

It supports EXACTLY what I said. Montreal is a fishbowl. His agent went into detail about it and Drouin said 'Until you live it, no one's ready for it.'

Carey Price didn’t “want out” either. Swing and a miss.

Where did I say he wanted out?

Price talked about the pressures of playing in Montreal. He talked about not wanting to go out and the pressures of being here. That doesn't mean he requested a trade or asked to leave. It simply confirms what we already know: Montreal's a tough place to play.

 

[Habs10Habs]

Mailloux

Ouch, go big or go home. Sounds fair, but I'd really have to think about that offer.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Yes, but they don't slam them in person the same way the players are slammed say here on HFBHabs. The fans in person are more concerned, usually wishing the player(s) well. Hoping say the losing streak, or the players struggles come to an end.

Also as I mentioned, most of the players have people buying their food for them. In malls or bars, all they have to do is call ahead. Stores will close down, just for them. Restaurants will provide a private areas for the players. So that they don't get bothered.

Yes it is a fishbowl, compared to other NHL cities. But as I've mentioned above, there are ways of getting around it. Sure they can't move around like you or I can. But with the salaries they make. It's much easier than you might think.

I honestly don't know, since it hasn't been said why he went into the program. But I'm sure his mental wellness will be part of the discussion. If/when HuGo talks to him.


Yes, but I also read how his condition was worsened by Covid. Where he was trapped inside the majority of the time. Only going out to walk his dog six times per day.

Nobody is saying there aren't other factors. But it's a fishbowl and it's not the right place for everyone.

And they should factor this in if they're thinking about trading for Laine (or any other player for that matter.) I don't think that's an unreasonable argument to make.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

?????

It supports EXACTLY what I said. Montreal is a fishbowl. His agent went into detail about it and Drouin said 'Until you live it, no one's ready for it.'

Where did I say he wanted out?

Price talked about the pressures of playing in Montreal. He talked about not wanting to go out and the pressures of being here. That doesn't mean he requested a trade or asked to leave. It simply confirms what we already know: Montreal's a tough place to play.

You said Drouin wanted out. You then posted about his agent talking about Montreal being tough and how Carey said the same thing. So what? Carey didn’t want out either, and nowhere did Drouin say he wanted out.

I am going to bow out of this conversation. It’s going nowhere.

 

[Habs10Habs]

Nobody is saying there aren't other factors. But it's a fishbowl and it's not the right place for everyone.

And they should factor this in if they're thinking about trading for Laine. I don't think that's an unreasonable argument to make.

Yes it is a fishbowl, that might not be for everyone. Yet I've pointed out a way for the players to get around it. You're also not mentioning that since it's a "fishbow", the players get amazing perks. That they wouldn't receive in some of the smaller market cities.

I agree, I'm sure HuGo isn't just looking at stats when/if they're considering Laine. There will be or should be discussions with Doctors, mental health professions as well as discussions with Laine himself. Add in discussions with our new Laval coach. Who's name totally escapes me right now.

 

[Rapala]

Maybe in the past. But there's a recent video floating around where he's training with NFL football players. It's not a long video, but it does show that he's doing something.

Well I equate getting fit as a necessity for all NHL players. I'm referring to working on aspects of the game he is deficient in.
I used Caufield because he put in a conscious effort to improve his Dzone game.
The only thing Laine said when he came back from injury in Winnipeg is I vow to score a lot of goals.
Nothing about improving the aspects of his game management weren't happy with.
They asked about his contract negotiation and the apparent disagreement between his camp and the club.
He kind of shrugged it off and said I'm happy to be here and the club seems happy to have me here.
He also said he's betting on himself and he has to play the same way regardless if the contract was 8 years or not.
His camp wanted term but they ended up signing a 2yr bridge deal in Sept 2019.
He was traded the next season in Jan 2021 after having played only 1 game for the Jets in year two of his deal.
There were obviously more issues than team mates picking on him.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

You said Drouin wanted out.

Right. Not the same thing as demanding a trade.

He took leave due to anxiety and the fishbowl of playing in Montreal. You challenged me on it and I showed you an article confiming what I said. He needed a change of scenery and that's exactly what he did when his contract ran out.

You then posted about his agent talking about Montreal being tough and how Carey said the same thing. So what?

So what?

Let me explain to you about the basics of backing up an argument.

1. Don't distrort what the other person's position. You've done that twice.
2. When you're making an argument, it's a good idea to show examples that support what you're saying. Price's words mirror exactly what Drouin was going through. In both cases they talked about Montreal being a very hard market to play in. In both cases it affected their mental health.

Carey didn’t want out either, and nowhere did Drouin say he wanted out.

For the second time, nobody said Price wanted out.

Nowhere did Drouin say he wanted out? Okay... he didn't explicitly say it. That doesn't mean we can't use common sesnse (and his own words) to see that he wanted out.

I am going to bow out of this conversation. It’s going nowhere.

Have a nice day!

 

[Habs10Habs]

Well I equate getting fit as a necessity for all NHL players. I'm referring to working on aspects of the game he is deficient in.
I used Caufield because he put in a conscious effort to improve his Dzone game.
The only thing Laine said when he came back from injury in Winnipeg is I vow to score a lot of goals.
Nothing about improving the aspects of his game management weren't happy with.
They asked about his contract negotiation and the apparent disagreement between his camp and the club.
He kind of shrugged it off and said I'm happy to be here and the club seems happy to have me here.
He also said he's betting on himself and he has to play the same way regardless if the contract was 8 years or not.
His camp wanted term but they ended up signing a 2yr bridge deal in Sept 2019.
He was traded the next season in Jan 2021 after having played only 1 game for the Jets in year two of his deal.
There were obviously more issues than team mates picking on him.

Fair enough, I misunderstood, my bad. I understood it as he's not really into fitness or working out.

I honestly wouldn't hold that against him. He's known as a goal scorer, so he just pointed out that he wanted to score more goals.

I don't really know how to answer that. Maybe management told him they were happy with what he'd done.

As for his effort. I'd hope he'd preform the same way for an 8 year contract, as he would for a shorter one.

There were a lot of factors that I've heard about involving Laine being traded from WPG. I'm not going to pretend I know exactly why he was dealt.

Agreed, I don't think his teammates picking on him was the only factor.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Laine and a 2nd for MTL's 3rd. His contract sucks and it's a high risk picking him up. Just like Mohanan was for us.

If Waddell doesn’t want to retain anything then I can’t imagine the asking price to be THAT steep.

That’s a big cap hit that many teams won’t be able to carry. Considerably shrinking the trade market for him

 

[ReHabs]

Read what Walsh wrote about Montreal. "There is no getting away from it."

I, for one, have never heard Allen Walsh deflect from his client to reduce scrutiny placed upon him.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Dach needs a goal scorer and Laine can score goals. I'd actually keep last year's 3rd line of: Armia-Newhook-Gallagher, which means Dach needs wingers.

Laine-Dach-Anderson probably winds up as 2nd line.

That means Dvorak f***s off to 4th line along with Evans.

Dvorak, Evans, Pezzetta, Roy and maybe Beck battle for a 4th line spot. RHP to IR then waivers when he's ready to come back.

I don't see Newhook playing on the third line as Hughes brought him over from Colorado with the belief that he was buried in the bottom six and needed an opportunity to play higher in the lineup. Dvorak will center the 3rd line and Evans the 4th barring injuries of course.

Anderson is the player who does not fit and should play in the bottom 6 with one of Roy/Armia/Gallagher looking to fill the final spot beside Dach and Newhook. I do understand the need to jump start Anderson's career as we still have 3 years of him at 5.5M but at some point they may just need to bury him in the lineup unless Hughes can miraculously trade him or if he can somehow get his game back . I just don't think that Anderson, even at his best is a top six winger because his hockey IQ is too low to play with offensive players. He makes his own offense with his speed/shot and is almost indifferent to who his linemates are. I don't want to welcome Dach back with all of these high expectations and saddle him with a creative black hole like Anderson.

Here is the forward lineup that I would like to see at least tried to begin the season.

Caufield Suzuki Armia
Newhook Dach Slafkovsky
Roy Dvorak Gallagher
Pezzetta Evans Anderson

If it doesn't work then Slaf and Armia switch spots but this lineup gives us two very strong lines as a 1a/1b at the top and a 3rd line that is both defensively responsible and talented enough to outscore most 3rd lines although I do have some concerns about the lack of foot speed. Dvorak seemed to have an extra gear upon returning so perhaps that helps to compensate for Roy and Gallagher having below average foot speed especially with Dvorak in the middle.

This lineup in contingent on Armia playing like he did to finish the season and Dvorak being healthy and nimble but it is a deep and competitive lineup imo.

This exercise also highlights the problem of what do you do with Anderson if we acquire Laine. I feel as though Anderson would need to go the other way in any such deal and this would drastically increase the cost of acquiring Laine........not that I think that we are going to trade for Laine anyways.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I, for one, have never heard Allen Walsh deflect from his client to reduce scrutiny placed upon him.

Not to mention that in the article that Lafleurs shared, Drouin himself says 'If it wasn't for COVID, maybe I would have been fine' so clearly there were also factors outside of hockey that didn't help. And a lot of his issues started in Tampa, issues that had nothing to do with Montreal as a market.

For people who read French, that was before his leave:

Portrait | Dans la tête de Jonathan Drouin

Jonathan Drouin est fou de hockey. Tellement qu’il aimerait parfois avoir un interrupteur, dans sa tête, pour cesser d’y penser. Portrait d’un jeune homme studieux, curieux et sensible, qui a l’ambition de devenir entraîneur.

www.lapresse.ca

Of course if you swing a trade for Laine you do your due dilligence on how he's feeling but him getting help shouldn't be a strike against him either.

 

[salbutera]

Ouch, go big or go home. Sounds fair, but I'd really have to think about that offer.

Chevaldayoff won’t simply deal McGroarty unless he gets a young NHL ready player in return - either Habs step up and be the one to acquire or someone else will.

 

[Tyson]

Chevaldayoff won’t simply deal McGroarty unless he gets a young NHL ready player in return - either Habs step up and be the one to acquire or someone else will.

A player who may end up being a good NHLer but as of now...no one knows.

 

[Toene]

I don't see Newhook playing on the third line as Hughes brought him over from Colorado with the belief that he was buried in the bottom six and needed an opportunity to play higher in the lineup. Dvorak will canter the 3rd line and Evans the 4th barring injuries of course.

Anderson is the player who does not fit and should play in the bottom 6 with one of Roy/Armia/Gallagher looking to fill the final spot beside Dach and Newhook. I do understand the need to jump start Anderson's career as we still have 3 years of him at 5.5M but at some point they may just need to bury him in the lineup unless Hughes can miraculously trade him of if he can somehow get his game back. I just don't think that Anderson, even at his best is a top six winger because his hockey IQ is too low to play with offensive players. He makes his own offence with his speed/shot and is almost indifferent to who his linemates are. I don't want to welcome Dach back with all of these high expectations and saddle him with a creative black hole like Anderson.

Here is the forward lineup that I would like to see at least tried to begin the season.

Caufield Suzuki Armia
Newhook Dach Slafkovsky
Roy Dvorak Gallagher
Pezzetta Evans Anderson

If it doesn't work then Slaf and Armia switch spots but this lineup gives us two very strong lines as a 1a/1b at the top and a 3rd line that is both defensively responsible and talented enough to outscore most 3rd lines although I do have some concers about the lack of foot speed. Dvorak seemed to have an extra gear upon returning so perhaps that helps to compensate for Roy and Gallagher having below average foot speed especially with Dvorak in the middle.

This lineup in contingent on Armia playing like he did to finish the season and Dvorak being healthy and nimble but it is a deep and competitive lineup imo.

This exercise also highlights the problem of what do you do with Anderson if we acquire Laine. I feel as though Anderson would need to go the other way in any such deal and this would drastically increase the cost of acquiring Laine........not that I think that we are going to trade for Laine anyways.

I'd like to see :
Newhook - Suzuki - Slafkovsky
Roy - Dach - Caufield

as the top-6. Slaf and Suzuki seem to have a great chemistry that I wouldnt be ready to break up by separating them.

 

[Deus ex machina]

A player who may end up being a good NHLer but as of now...no one knows.

You could say the same thing about Mailloux and pretty much every other prospect in the league.
So i'm not sure what your point is.

Also, McG is generally considered a better prospect than Mailloux.

 

[salbutera]

A player who may end up being a good NHLer but as of now...no one knows.

I disagree, HuGo will know - they’ve got a very strong pulse on the top end players coming out of USA hockey

I believe Rutgers old man Jimmy & Hughes go back a ways as well to the Hughes bros summer development camp 30+ years ago .. coincidentally Rutger & Michael Hage are slated to be teammates at U of Michigan shortly…

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Not to mention that in the article that Lafleurs shared, Drouin himself says 'If it wasn't for COVID, maybe I would have been fine' so clearly there were also factors outside of hockey that didn't help. And a lot of his issues started in Tampa, issues that had nothing to do with Montreal as a market.

Nobody has suggested that it's only one thing. And covid or not... it doesn't matter either.

That's beside the point. The point that was relevant is that Montreal's a tough market to play in. And if we're going to trade for players with mental health issues, this should factor into the decision. That doesn't mean we should automatically exclude players who've been in the assistance program but it's definitely a factor.

This is not a complicated point to understand. I don't know why we have so many people arguing that playing in Montreal isn't different from other markets. It very clearly is.

 

[Tyson]

You could say the same thing about Mailloux and pretty much every other prospect in the league.
So i'm not sure what your point is.

Also, McG is generally considered a better prospect than Mailloux.

My point is I wouldn't overpay for an unproven commodity. It's one thing to draft an 18 year old, it's another to trade for one who hasn't proven he is worth overpaying for.

 

[Deus ex machina]

My point is I wouldn't overpay for an unproven commodity. It's one thing to draft an 18 year old, it's another to trade for one who hasn't proven he is worth overpaying for.

Who said anything about overpaying?

 

[Rapala]

I disagree, HuGo will know - they’ve got a very strong pulse on the top end players coming out of USA hockey

I believe Rutgers old man Jimmy & Hughes go back a ways as well to the Hughes bros summer development camp 30+ years ago .. coincidentally Rutger & Michael Hage are slated to be teammates at U of Michigan shortly…

That would be interesting.
I wonder if it plays out that way.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

I'd like to see :
Newhook - Suzuki - Slafkovsky
Roy - Dach - Caufield

as the top-6. Slaf and Suzuki seem to have a great chemistry that I wouldnt be ready to break up by separating them.

Slaf looked great with Dach to start the season and Dach's injury was what derailed the start of the season for him. I would argue that Caufield and Suzuki are much more closely bonded as a duo as well as the fact that Caufield has exclusively played LW under MSL.

I think your idea is worth a look as long as Caufield moves to Dach's left side but for a different reason than you listed. Caufield is and will always be a defensive liability to some degree and if they want to match Suzuki up against the oppositions top lines then it might be prudent to move him to a line where he won't be relied upon as a defensive presence.

If you want these players in your top six and you want Caufield with Dach then I would prefer:

Roy Suzuki Slafkovsky
Caufield Dach Newhook

Roy has such an immense IQ that I think he will be a plus defender much like Toffoli was and would partner with Suzuki and Slaf as a dominant top line that could shut down and outscore most top lines in the league.

 

[Tyson]

Who said anything about overpaying?

You aren't getting him for free. Chevaldayov will expect alot for a 14th overall pick. I would not trade Mailloux even up for him.

 

[Wateredgarden]

Montreal does not need a veteran fixer'uper.

Laine is a bit over a year older than Suzuki.