Player Discussion: Laine (mod warning OP)

[YetAnotherGM]

Nostalgia... Laine has scored exactly 3 one timer goals out of 4 total Buff 1st assists on 5v4. Not a single one timer goal with Buff in his normal pp position...

Great post. Funny how these imaginary Buff passes to Laine have come to exist now. Last year the biggest complaint on this board was that Buff didn't like to pass to Laine because the number of passes to Laine from Buff was a very low number. Majority of passes Buff made to Laine were so late and slow that Laine passed the puck right back to him or Wheeler.

Last year, Buff's shot on the PP was practically not a threat either. We are definitely not missing him on the PP1. PP1 suffers from the same problem as last year - Wheeler as the PP QB and a play that the whole hockey world knows about.

 

[Howard Chuck]

Nostalgia... Laine has scored exactly 3 one timer goals out of 4 total Buff 1st assists on 5v4. Not a single one timer goal with Buff in his normal pp position...

Edit:
11/10/2017
16/02/2018
21/11/2018

I don't know who you are, but you always provide perfect examples of stats at the right time. Kudos.

 

[Jets 31]

Nostalgia... Laine has scored exactly 3 one timer goals out of 4 total Buff 1st assists on 5v4. Not a single one timer goal with Buff in his normal pp position...

Not a single pass to Laine in 3 years , i find that hard to believe and even if that's right how many times did Buff feed Laine and Laine didn't score . Everyone wants to see Laine score on his wicked one-timer but having Buff at the point gives the Jets their best chance to score on the PP , this can't be denied . I will say Pionk looks pretty good at the point so far as well .

 

[Jets 31]

Great post. Funny how these imaginary Buff passes to Laine have come to exist now. Last year the biggest complaint on this board was that Buff didn't like to pass to Laine because the number of passes to Laine from Buff was a very low number. Majority of passes Buff made to Laine were so late and slow that Laine passed the puck right back to him or Wheeler.

Last year, Buff's shot on the PP was practically not a threat either. We are definitely not missing him on the PP1. PP1 suffers from the same problem as last year - Wheeler as the PP QB and a play that the whole hockey world knows about.

The PP was one of the best in the NHL last season until Buff got hurt , remember how useless Trouba was when Buff was out ? I sure do . It's not just about Buff's passing or shooting ability either , he had a great ability to be able to keep the puck in at the line as well .

 

[jepjepjoo]

The PP was one of the best in the NHL last season until Buff got hurt , remember how useless Trouba was when Buff was out ? I sure do . It's not just about Buff's passing or shooting ability either , he had a great ability to be able to keep the puck in at the line as well .

The PP was better with Buff on it that's for sure...

 

[jepjepjoo]

Not a single pass to Laine in 3 years , i find that hard to believe and even if that's right how many times did Buff feed Laine and Laine didn't score . Everyone wants to see Laine score on his wicked one-timer but having Buff at the point gives the Jets their best chance to score on the PP , this can't be denied . I will say Pionk looks pretty good at the point so far as well .

4 primary assists in 3 years and 3 of them were one-timer goals on 5v4.

11/10/2017 Straight from the draw Scheifele->Buff->Laine
16/02/2018 Straight from the draw Scheifele->Buff->Laine
21/11/2018 Buff kept the puck in and passed to Laine, Calgary player had lost his stick.

The only time Buff set up Laine for a one-timer that led to a goal from his normal position 5v4(up top in the middle) is in the playoffs... I missed that one initially since I used only regular season stats.

Edit. Double checked while I was looking at Buff pp goals and there's one more 5v4 Buff-Laine one-timer goal 04/03/2018 at MTL.

 

[NotCommitted]

The PP was one of the best in the NHL last season until Buff got hurt , remember how useless Trouba was when Buff was out ? I sure do . It's not just about Buff's passing or shooting ability either , he had a great ability to be able to keep the puck in at the line as well .

No one has tried to argue Buff was bad on the PP, just that all these great passes to Laine are imaginary. Sure, there's a handful or two of good passes if you go through 3 seasons worth of games, but come on, it was not a regular occurence. Buff's strengths on the PP are elsewhere. I still think passing in general is not one of them, sure, he's better at it than a lot of guys, but I also think of the current D-men at least 2 of Pionk/Niku/Heinola are better passers or would become that if given similar PP1 opportunity.

 

[YetAnotherGM]

The PP was one of the best in the NHL last season until Buff got hurt , remember how useless Trouba was when Buff was out ? I sure do . It's not just about Buff's passing or shooting ability either , he had a great ability to be able to keep the puck in at the line as well .

The power play was great until all the teams and all hockey fans figured out how to stop the PP with only one play. It just happened to coincide with Buff's absence.

 

[PhilJets]

Nostalgia... Laine has scored exactly 3 one timer goals out of 4 total Buff 1st assists on 5v4. Not a single one timer goal with Buff in his normal pp position...

Edit:
11/10/2017
16/02/2018
21/11/2018

Edit2.
Plus 1 playoff goal

Yeah Buff don't pass it much to the gun slinger. Either back to Wheeler or a s shot from the point.

 

[GumbyCan2]

Disagree. Laine doesn't have the speed off the line like those guys. 55 and 26 will have to adapt or I don't see it working. Laine isn't going to be a north/south speedster.

No matter who is playing with who, this is the NHL, isn't it. Rushing the zone early ahead of your puck carrier needs to be stopped, dealt with, coaches anvil if needed, because this is the NHL. Continue off-sides by especially top-linestar players should not be happening. Blaming Laine is only partially proper because his line-mates need to adjust not jump the play. If Laine continually turned sideways and kept the puck outside of the blue-line for a couple seconds delay than yes it is on him. By rookies in juniors thus type of adjusting and timing with keeping on-side with your line-mates should be engrained! Never NHL top players. Sheesh.

 

[Halberdier]

Come on, Buff was NOT a good passer on the PP. Buff was excellent on keeping the line and being a "presence" on the PP, but what is this talk about those nice Buff feeds to Laine? They were non-existent and in general he was not that good a puck distributor on the PP. Based on the couple PPs I saw last night, Pionk is definitely better at that and the gap will just grow if he gets regular minutes in that PP. I bet Niku and Heinola would also do a better job with the puck.

Yes, this new "Buff was passing for Laine" is nonsense. Morrissey was trying to pass for Laine much more often. There is no comparison, really. 70-80% of the time Buff just passed the puck back for Wheeler, and 20% of the time he hammered the puck (and usually missed the net).

We miss Buff back to keep the line and have that intimidating (but inaccurate) cannon, but for real he almost never passed for Laine. And if he finally did that it was s-l-o-w pass that Laine would usually just return back.

 

[Halberdier]

He has quarterbacked the power play on pretty much every team he has played on.
Buff is/was the best passer on the team.

Buff is a really good for those long, opening passes. But like those stats @jepjepjoo has indicates, he almost never did those quick passes for Laine. And trust me, the passing lane was open like 100 times without Buff even trying. Buff almost always took his time, and then the passing lane was already partially shut so he did keep the puck for a while and then passed it back to Wheeler.

Very, very, very frustrating to watch.

 

[kelsier]

I wouldn't replace Morrisey with Buff on the powerplay. I think he's mostly doing what he's being told to (and no wonder since Wheelers wants the puck). Buff is flatout terrible that comes to making fast tape-to-tape passes. They should absolutely try Heinola there (& give him some "artistic freedom") and see what it looks like.

I wouldn't worry too much about Laine's accuracy not being there. When those goals come, they tend to come in punches.

As of the moment I'm more concerned with Little, since the first line went scoreless due to the challenge yesterday. Luckily they still took the game and normally when that happens, Maurice doesn't change a thing. Yet still, got a sick feeling in the stomach something could happen (while ELL being the worst potential outcome). Oh well here's to hoping.

Wheeler's has been the weak link in the first line in my opinion but of course he's untouchable and could basically be handing out the out get-out-of-the-jail cards indefinitely. He was playing a lot better last year as far as I can remember.

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

Nostalgia... Laine has scored exactly 3 one timer goals out of 4 total Buff 1st assists on 5v4. Not a single one timer goal with Buff in his normal pp position...

The whole philosophy of the PP its to pull the wing defender out to Wheelers side, push the defence to his side as well, then feed Laine for a one timer.

In today's game, you aint scoring consistently on an NHL goalie when doing a simple pass point to wing. The distance the defending team has to gap from that pass is too short to allow the time for a clean shot, and even with Laine's blast goalies can slide and cover that distance easily.

What buff does better than others is convince the defence he isn't going to Laine, and consistently goes to Wheeler. The D eventually leans to Wheelers side of the ice, and that creates some space for Laine. When a seam opens up that allows a cross ice pass to Laine, who has space to shoot and a goalie that has been leaning towards Wheeler for the past 30 seconds, it has a much higher chance of success.

 

[Howard Chuck]

Buff is a really good for those long, opening passes. But like those stats @jepjepjoo has indicates, he almost never did those quick passes for Laine. And trust me, the passing lane was open like 100 times without Buff even trying. Buff almost always took his time, and then the passing lane was already partially shut so he did keep the puck for a while and then passed it back to Wheeler.

Very, very, very frustrating to watch.

It doesn't seem to matter who is playing the point, they never make room for Laine by skating over opposite of him and QUICKLY throwing a pass back to him (Except Heinola). Our pp is so static that the opposing team has more than enough time to adjust to anything. You have to keep the PK'ers on their toes, skating out of position, not standing still passing back and forth.

That worked for about a year and stopped working half way through last year. Laine, Scheifele, Connor are not scrubs that require to be stationary in their predictable spots in order to receive a pass and score.

We have really dumbed down our PP imo. We assume that our best players are incapable of being creative and adjusting to the play at hand. Sure, have some sort of structure, but you have to get the PK scrambling, and we have more than enough talent to do that.

 

[Howard Chuck]

2 more things regarding the PP and Laine.... Laine can blast a much faster pass than what he normally gets....

and I would love to take some screen shots of us gaining the zone and Laine wide open, but the puck goes to Wheeler (in traffic). Happens almost every time. Mix it up a little, keep the opponent guessing.

 

[Calendal]

Buff at the point gives the Jets their best chance to score on the PP

Buff had one PPG last season and I'm fairly sure that was a wraparound. He might be our best chance but he's still not that good (or we are not good enough screening goalies). For zone entries he seems to have been better than any other Jets D but perhaps things will work out with Pionk now. Wait and see.

Personally I wanted to try Pionk in front of net as screen (is he big enough?) if Jomo could make the blueline work. Watching him 5v5 he seems to be eager to drive the net when opportunity presents and his one greasy goal there showed promise.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Just listened to Laine's comments after scoring the SO winner. Very thoughtful, very self-aware. I was struck by how much older, more mature he looks and sounds. Partly that is probably just because of the improvement in his English. But improving his English that much is just another sign of maturity. He must have put some effort into that.

He is going to be so effing good!

 

[tntkid]

Just listened to Laine's comments after scoring the SO winner. Very thoughtful, very self-aware. I was struck by how much older, more mature he looks and sounds. Partly that is probably just because of the improvement in his English. But improving his English that much is just another sign of maturity. He must have put some effort into that.

He is going to be so effing good!

I prefer Laine's post game interviews to Hellebuyck's post game interviews.

Laine calls it like it is.

 

[jepjepjoo]

Buff had one PPG last season and I'm fairly sure that was a wraparound. He might be our best chance but he's still not that good (or we are not good enough screening goalies). For zone entries he seems to have been better than any other Jets D but perhaps things will work out with Pionk now. Wait and see.

Personally I wanted to try Pionk in front of net as screen (is he big enough?) if Jomo could make the blueline work. Watching him 5v5 he seems to be eager to drive the net when opportunity presents and his one greasy goal there showed promise.

Last 3 seasons Buff 5v4 goals:

12/09/2018 wrister, Weise deflects it in
03/31/2018 Top corner snipe from the blueline, snapshot
03/25/2018 wrister going wide, Sissons deflects it in.
01/05/2018 One-timer from the blueline
01/15/2017 wrister, Kopitar deflects it in

2.2% of his shot attempts have led to a goal for him on 5v4.

 

[Ippenator]

It doesn't seem to matter who is playing the point, they never make room for Laine by skating over opposite of him and QUICKLY throwing a pass back to him (Except Heinola). Our pp is so static that the opposing team has more than enough time to adjust to anything. You have to keep the PK'ers on their toes, skating out of position, not standing still passing back and forth.

That worked for about a year and stopped working half way through last year. Laine, Scheifele, Connor are not scrubs that require to be stationary in their predictable spots in order to receive a pass and score.

We have really dumbed down our PP imo. We assume that our best players are incapable of being creative and adjusting to the play at hand. Sure, have some sort of structure, but you have to get the PK scrambling, and we have more than enough talent to do that.

The lack of creativeness is by far the biggest problem for me with the present Jets and especially with Maurice’s coaching. He is exactly a creativity killer. The power play is the worst kind of example of it, but unfortunately the same applies also way too much to the 5 on 5 play for the Jets. This is the biggest reason why I would like to get rid of Maurice ASAP.

 

[Halberdier]

Last 3 seasons Buff 5v4 goals:

12/09/2018 wrister, Weise deflects it in
03/31/2018 Top corner snipe from the blueline, snapshot
03/25/2018 wrister going wide, Sissons deflects it in.
01/05/2018 One-timer from the blueline
01/15/2017 wrister, Kopitar deflects it in

2.2% of his shot attempts have led to a goal for him on 5v4.

You for sure are a walking dictionary, yesyesyeah. Thanks again!

 

[Duke749]

Last 3 seasons Buff 5v4 goals:

12/09/2018 wrister, Weise deflects it in
03/31/2018 Top corner snipe from the blueline, snapshot
03/25/2018 wrister going wide, Sissons deflects it in.
01/05/2018 One-timer from the blueline
01/15/2017 wrister, Kopitar deflects it in

2.2% of his shot attempts have led to a goal for him on 5v4.

Where are you getting this stuff? Or do you have an eidetic memory? Lol

 

[Howard Chuck]

Where are you getting this stuff? Or do you have an eidetic memory? Lol

I know! I don't know how he gets this stuff..... it's great though!

 

[Kaako Kappo]

How Jets' Patrik Laine is faring since promotion to top line - Sportsnet.ca