Ed Olczyk " Laine has the ability to be a 65-70 goal scorer. Agree?

[grieves]

People are disputing this as if they’ve believe he will. Heck I’m doubtful he will get 55+ in his career but he has the potential to score 65(pretty much everything would have to be perfect though).

If Laine can work majorly on his skating in the Offseason, get top line 5v5 minutes beside Connor and Scheifele and get Ovi like PowerPlay minutes(pretty much out there for the whole power play) I think he will catch 50 and 90pts though. It’s very possible but it lays within allot of factors that would need to be made. But all that being said Laine only just turned 20 years old(and has time to develop), he will eventually play beside a Top 10 League wide Center(Scheifele) with the likes of Connor/ Ehlers being on the opposing side, I mean those guys(Connor and Ehlers) are still very much in development and putting up big time numbers, just wait until these guys get it all together(Goals and Points will be flying all over the damn place).

Laine would have scored 53 goals if he had the same ice-time as Ovi already now. Saying that you are doubtful he gets to 55 goals in his career is saying that you think he has peaked as a scorer at 19.

You are exactly right that if you calculate in better line-composition, added PP time (he should be out there for 2mins), his own improvement, added ice-time in general etc. his numbers are going to increase by a lot.

I also think he will be playing with Scheifele as no other combo on the Jets came even close to their production.

 

[StatisticsAddict99]

Laine would have scored 53 goals if he had the same ice-time as Ovi already now. Saying that you are doubtful he gets to 55 goals in his career is saying that you think he has peaked as a scorer at 19.

You are exactly right that if you calculate in better line-composition, added PP time (he should be out there for 2mins), his own improvement, added ice-time in general etc. his numbers are going to increase by a lot.

I also think he will be playing with Scheifele as no other combo on the Jets came even close to their production.

I partially agree with all of your statements(maybe assuming he’d get 53 this season with given minutes might be a stretch, but it would not suprise me if those minutes would had given him those amount of goals).

I certainly hope Scheifele and Laine play together next season, they’re where the most dynamic duo on our team in Laines rookie season(by a long shot, and Laine seemed to get better this year as time moved on, so I can only imagine them now) and one of the best in the league period. As a Jets fan I truly hope Maurice desides to not give Wheeler Top line minutes just so Scheifele and Wheeler can dominate on all sides of the puck(Laine is not near as good as Wheeler in the 2-way portion of his game but he is better offensively when given the opportunities Wheeler gets), but Wheelers 200ft game could really support Roslovic of Lowry at 2C next season(I really don’t think Little is holding that spot after this year), as they will need that help to get them rolling.

If that is to happen I am expecting 50 out of Laine.

 

[grieves]

I partially agree with all of your statements(maybe assuming he’d get 53 this season with given minutes might be a stretch, but it would not suprise me if those minutes would had given him those amount of goals).

I certainly hope Scheifele and Laine play together next season, they’re where the most dynamic duo on our team in Laines rookie season(by a long shot, and Laine seemed to get better this year as time moved on, so I can only imagine them now) and one of the best in the league period. As a Jets fan I truly hope Maurice desides to not give Wheeler Top line minutes just so Scheifele and Wheeler can dominate on all sides of the puck(Laine is not near as good as Wheeler in the 2-way portion of his game but he is better offensively when given the opportunities Wheeler gets), but Wheelers 200ft game could really support Roslovic of Lowry at 2C next season(I really don’t think Little is holding that spot after this year), as they will need that help to get them rolling.

If that is to happen I am expecting 50 out of Laine.

Yeah, mostly we agree.

If you think about it, Laine's second half has been MUCH stronger than his first half. Partly due to his development and partly due to more suitable linemates. I think 50 is a given next season, assuming he gets the minutes and nothing bad happens, and assuming that he does not regress in development. Im gonna go with 60 goals next season.

 

[COHawk]

Laine is going to be better than Ovi IMO, and at this point he is miles ahead. And I'm not saying this to disrespect Ovi because he is absolutely one of the best players, but Laine is going to be THE best (or at least battling for that status hard).

Even IF Laine becomes this good to start this discussion, durability is going to be his biggest obstacle. Yeah he had a couple lockouts, but Ovechkin has only missed 29 games over 13 full seasons in his career. This is mind blowing. When you consider that he has been suspended three times for a total of 7 games, that brings that number to 22 games missed for injury/sickness/etc.

Only 5 players in the league have played more games than Ovi since his rookie year:

Patrick Marleau: 1,017
Dustin Brown: 1,014
Henrik Sedin: 1,012
Eric Staal: 1,012
Brent Seabrook: 1,004
Alex Ovechkin: 1,003

Though I disagree he will be better than Ovechkin. Once Ovi retires I do believe Laine will take his place easily as the face of goal scoring in the NHL.

 

[grieves]

Even IF Laine becomes this good to start this discussion, durability is going to be his biggest obstacle. Yeah he had a couple lockouts, but Ovechkin has only missed 29 games over 13 full seasons in his career. This is mind blowing. When you consider that he has been suspended three times for a total of 7 games, that brings that number to 22 games missed for injury/sickness/etc.

Only 5 players in the league have played more games than Ovi since his rookie year:

Patrick Marleau: 1,017
Dustin Brown: 1,014
Henrik Sedin: 1,012
Eric Staal: 1,012
Brent Seabrook: 1,004
Alex Ovechkin: 1,003

Though I disagree he will be better than Ovechkin. Once Ovi retires I do believe Laine will take his place easily as the face of goal scoring in the NHL.

Fair point. My point(s) did not include durability, I was talking about peak performance if everything goes right.

To summarize: I believe Laine's peak as a player is above Oveckin's, but if he will have a more impactful career than Ovi is still very much up in the air.

 

[Cleatus]

I’ll be happy if he gets a single 60 goal season... 70 seems pretty unlikely, but I wouldn’t completely count it out. His shot is that crazy.