Player Discussion: Patrik Laine Part VIII: Eliitti! Mod Warning Post #571

[YWGinYYZ]

I've created a new thread to enable continued discussion of the 1st vs. 2nd line / Schief vs. Little pairing. It leaves no room for any other discussion in this Laine thread.

You're welcome to continue the discussion, but please do it in a dedicated thread. Any further discussion of those lines here will get moved or deleted. Here's the new thread:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/1st-vs-2nd-line-time-to-split-up-ell.2413075/

A reminder, in case you're wondering why some posts in this thread are no longer. I'll move the deleted posts to the other thread when I have time.

 

[Festinator]

Can you find giveaways from this season somewhere? I´m hoping for improvement.

Here's this season so far

Last column. So far, Wheeler leads jets forwards with 16 giveaways, Laine has 13 and Ehlers has 11. Several defensemen ahead of all of them, but that's to be expected.

 

[Treskov]

Here's this season so far

Last column. So far, Wheeler leads jets forwards with 16 giveaways, Laine has 13 and Ehlers has 11. Several defensemen ahead of all of them, but that's to be expected.

Thank you, sir

 

[SirKlaus]

Wheeler is better at some things. Mainly puckbattles and acceleration. Just a stronger man at this point in time and it shows on those.

There isn't one hockey skill that Wheeler is better at, and in shooting the difference is massive.

I'd argue battling the puck and speed/acceleration are hockey skills and fairly important ones. The captain might not have the hands and shot equal to Laine but he's no slug on those departments either. Intensity or drive or whatever you want to call it is where Pate falls behind at the moment. Get the feet moving, drive that lane, attack the net - do not curl back, and throw that weight around. Only seen glimpses of that this season.

 

[SirKlaus]

Get the feet moving, drive that lane, attack the net - do not curl back, and throw that weight around.

I forgot the most important one from that list. Shoot... and then shoot again.

 

[avgard]

of this i thinking...is laine playing it with a very too much long stick? many times he looks like having way too long which making his playing too difficult , maybe at younger years too easy and makin it more difficults for himself. a challenge? or this coach Another pervert idea?

avgard hockeyprofessor

 

[YWGinYYZ]

I've moved posts that weren't blatantly breaking site rules or quoting a post that contravened site rules to this thread: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/1st-vs-2nd-line-time-to-split-up-ehlers-little-laine.2413075/

 

[Howard Chuck]

I think the lack of breakaways for him is by design at the moment. He is obviously being asked to think defense first and when you are defensively 100% responsible, you are never going to be available for a stretch pass behind opponents defense.

He is the guy who gives the long stretch passes, not the one who receives them. In this current role anyway.

He had some breakaways in Liiga and juniors but his role was different then. He was the target rather than playmaker.

Of course I agree that his acceleration needs work, he is so big that it's only going to come with time and hard work, like Barkov. Laine is a better skater than Barkov was at 19. Today Barkov is a fantastic skater. Laine could follow that pattern.

Just wanted to point out that lack of breakaways is a positional preference instead of skating issue.

Absolutely agree. He's the last one to leave the D zone and the first one back. Many times he doesn't get further than two feet into the O zone. It's what he's been asked to do obviously, because that isn't normally how he has played, and it's showing.

 

[Insthofen]

Patrik looks so small next to Lauri Markkanen, the finnish NBA player. Is that Armia there?

 

[theQs]

Patrik looks so small next to Lauri Markkanen, the finnish NBA player. Is that Armia there?

Well it's not a suprise. Markkanen is something like 215cm..

 

[DashingDane]

Patrik looks so small next to Lauri Markkanen, the finnish NBA player. Is that Armia there?

Was looking for Jets players at last nights Lakers game!

 

[gearmex]

Tämä mies tuhoaa tehokkaasti Patrik Laineen - tilastoissa karu fakta

Finnish press attack Little big time, 18 goals by Ehlers and Laine and Little pass only 1 of them 0+1 to them. Long article about how bad Little is and why so expensive extension was signed. Use google translate and you get the idea.

 

[Lowered Expectations]

Tämä mies tuhoaa tehokkaasti Patrik Laineen - tilastoissa karu fakta

Finnish press attack Little big time, 18 goals by Ehlers and Laine and Little pass only 1 of them 0+1 to them. Long article about how bad Little is and why so expensive extension was signed. Use google translate and you get the idea.

About google translate : to get more accurate translation, translate first from Finnish to Swedish, then from Swedish to English. May sound strange but that is how it is.

 

[boyko10]

That 'press' is the newspaper equivalent of seiska (tabloid). 'Articles' my sweet virgin ass.

 

[avgard]

yeah..Little should win selke Trophy for stopping Ehlers and laine game after game. go Little go!

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

Laine is slow?
He kept up with Kessel stride for stride and Kessel is no slouch.

He’s not slow, but he’s playing slow. In terms of his jump off the blocks, he’s not quick, and with his added weight, he has little confidence he can skate pucks out if he receives passes standing still. He does not trust his jump, so he settles for passing while standing still, which leads to turn overs. Last season he started skating pucks out around December. His speed has been better the last couple games.

And he really needs to improve his forechecking and board battles. For his size, he provides little resistance in both areas.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

Laine is 19 and on pace for 30 plus goals. Kids allright. He will get better with age. He was drafted for his ability to score not his D play... As he gets older he will get better defensively

 

[Howard Chuck]

Laine is 19 and on pace for 30 plus goals. Kids allright. He will get better with age. He was drafted for his ability to score not his D play... As he gets older he will get better defensively

On pace for 40. Nothing wrong at all for his d play now.

 

[Psych0dad]

Yeah I don't get the criticism for his defensive play. Looks better on defense than at least any of his line and probably 1st line too.

 

[Festinator]

Yeah I don't get the criticism for his defensive play. Looks better on defense than at least any of his line and probably 1st line too.

I'd put him 2nd behind Little. Wheeler is usually better, but that might just be the effort he puts into backchecking.
Laine's positioning is fantastic. Always seems to be right place, right time.

 

[Halberdier]

Yeah I don't get the criticism for his defensive play. Looks better on defense than at least any of his line and probably 1st line too.

I do understand. The criticism does come primarily from two things:
1. He is touted as a sniper and a goal scorer. Those guys typically suck defensively.
2. He is not doing aggressive forecheck on d-zone, which is only a Good Thing, but people that do not understand hockey let this thing fool you.

There are three important rules in d-zone defensive play:

#1 Always stay between your guy and the net.
#2 Always stay between your guy and the net.
#3 Always stay between your guy and the net.

Laine follows those 3 rules religiously, and is very effective on that. There are almost no odd-man rushes when Laine is on ice, and his guy almost never scores. If eg. Scheifele did follow those 3 separate rules today, I think Jets would have won 2-0. Also they could have won the game against the Preds.

 

[Halberdier]

I'd put him 2nd behind Little. Wheeler is usually better, but that might just be the effort he puts into backchecking.
Laine's positioning is fantastic. Always seems to be right place, right time.

The positioning is the key. That's why I think Laine is much better than Wheeler defensively. Actually Wheeler happens to be on the receiving end of goals all the time, Laine not so much. This season, at least.

Wheeler is active and thus often "looks better", but actual results are what matters.

(Armia is great as his positional play is great AND his backcheck is top notch. He also had very quick reaction today when some of Jets d-men did lose his balance. Fortunately Armia was on ice when that happened so no goal to the LA)

And about Little, I agree. I'm not going to compare center to wingers, but if you compare Little and Scheifele for last couple of games, it's night and day, Scheifele being lost dark night defensively and Little being on the bright side.

 

[Lempo]

Patrik looks so small next to Lauri Markkanen, the finnish NBA player. Is that Armia there?

"Let's meet there behind the hoop after the game. I'll be the one in white shirt and I have a beard... well, hell, I'll wear a name tag that says Patrik so it'll be clear."

 

[Legend Leinonen]

Well it's not a suprise. Markkanen is something like 215cm..

I actually thought he looks surprisingly big next to Markka but that's probsly because he stands closer to camera.

 

[Festinator]

Hmmm, interesting comments from PoMo when asked about Patrik Laine and how they see him and want to develop him.



Last 40 seconds of the video.