Player Discussion: Laine (mod warning OP)

[kelsier]

Wow, if that was his attitude last season, not to try because he wasn't being given what he wanted, then Patty was used EXACTLY how a player that quits trying should be used. If he quit he should have been benched IMO.

We both know that is a bunch of bull.

He played like crap last season, and even he would admit that. This grand delusion that he was held back is laughable at best. Anyone without Laine goggles on see exactly the difference and it all has to do with Laine skating better, Laine playing more physical and being engaged.

Its comical how some want to exonerate him of his own play, delusional but comical.

I would love to put a video together outlining 100 plus plays last season of Laine floating, not engaging, doing drive byes, standing still, moving like he had cement in his pants, and compare it to the 5 games this season and you will quickly see how out to lunch you are in assessing his play

Well if Laine should have been benched then Maurice should have been fired (X-many times over). However neither of these things happened. Also like I said, he wasn't "feeling it" and he played hurt. Quite a number of people have already pointed out how that affected his accuracy and if the back affected his accuracy, then it sure as heck affected his overall game. Having Maurice around to toss him with exact two lines he didn't mesh well with was the final straw there. He plays much better with Connor than he plays with Ehlers, similarly to Ehlers arguably suiting better to top line than Connor. It's called on ice chemistry and plays a big part of how things turn out like.

Someone making a statement that Laine being forced to play with ELL doesn't equal to holding him back is ludicrous. Far less lower minutes, like it's in any way logical to have young excelling player's minutes to go south after his rookie year (please feel free to show me another similar example). There's hundreds of games worth of data of this so it's like turning a blind eye and coming up with an excuse at the same time. His treatment has been anything but ideal and most Jets fans have seem to acknowledge as much. It seems like perhaps not all are up to the track even yet after all. Well maybe all fans don't read up the press either, since after all he did go public about these very same internal issues on the verge of his contract negotiations. Now I would imagine any remotely happy troober would not even contemplate with the idea if they were happy.

There were times Laine would admit he played bad last season and he did, but we have at least perfectly good reasons why. It's not like his skills suddenly disappeared and again re-appeared. Of course today he's quite a bit more agile and better skater (still nothing close to elite) and stronger generally. However I doubt they practised stick-handling or stick-work in general that much in the summer, since after all he's suddenly stealing pucks and doing who knows what out there. Perhaps not having the back pain helps out quite a bit on the ice and he doesn't lose focus or mismanage the puck as he used to. Funny how you're claiming someone is out to lunch when comparing his game and yet at the same time you forget yourself what he looked a like in 16-17 and 17-18. When you take away a bit of natural development over the years, he looked just the way he's supposed to look considering what kind of player he is today. I actually remember lot of those games, but all you seem to recall are his bad plays in the past. Oh well, each to their own I suppose.

 

[Hunter368]

I dont buy it either, which is why the sentence after that statement said we both know its a bunch of bull that he played poorly because he choose to.

Personally I “believe” Laine had some maturity issues and a bit of a feeling of entitlement in his first few seasons that manifested last year in the worse way. This rubbed the coach & some team mates the wrong way (plus some fans).

Whatever the issue was, Laine acknowledged it was his fault (interview couple days ago) and he’s responsible for changing it. Having a heart to heart talk with your coach also helped. The clear message in the media just before the signing was the “team” was unhappy with Laine.....not Wheeler or Mark or PMO......the “team” was unhappy which tells me it was more then just coaches or management.

Either way, IMO how I see it Laine acknowledged he was wrong and has taken the steps to fix it via his effort & attitude. I call that maturing of a young player, I say good on Laine for making this change in himself. Acknowledging when you’ve made a mistake or are wrong is a mature thing to do and signs possibly of leadership ability in the future. I’m very happy if he keeps it up. As a parent of teenagers, I’m not always happy/proud of how my kids act/speak but I know it’s a maturity issue that they will grow out of (with some advice from myself) and not a character flaw.

 

[llwyd]

Personally I “believe” Laine had some maturity issues and a bit of a feeling of entitlement in his first few seasons that manifested last year in the worse way. This rubbed the coach & some team mates the wrong way (plus some fans).

Well, I find this line of thought rather convoluted. As far as I can see he has been for years singularly focused on his career, and ridiculously young for his achievements in the NHL. Sure, there probably has been some immaturity too in the mix but I would base more weight on his back problems and physiological issues with growing into his big size. Anyway, things look good now and I think he suits very well a mostly offensively focused line.

 

[Tommigun]

If Laine has a monster season, Buff is not coming back and Laine keeps on upping his physicality and mentorship of young players, will he get an A? I thought he was a leader last game.

 

[snowkiddin]

If Laine has a monster season, Buff is not coming back and Laine keeps on upping his physicality and mentorship of young players, will he get an A? I thought he was a leader last game.

I think it would be hard to take the A from Scheifele or Morrissey, and they won’t strip Wheeler

 

[Tommigun]

I think it would be hard to take the A from Scheifele or Morrissey, and they won’t strip Wheeler

That's why I said "if Buff isn't coming back". (You can have three alternate captains in addition to a captain so there'd be a vacant slot)

 

[Hunter368]

If Laine has a monster season, Buff is not coming back and Laine keeps on upping his physicality and mentorship of young players, will he get an A? I thought he was a leader last game.

It’s possible....I mention or hinted same in my post above. As much as I don’t like a lot of his comments & effort in the first three years.......this summer he appears to have made significant changes in his attitude & effort level and I have no issues acknowledging that fact. If he maintains this new attitude/maturity and effort level I’m going to become a fan. I’ve been impressed the first five games and not just with his point production but more so with his maturity, humility and effort.

 

[LowLefty]

If Laine has a monster season, Buff is not coming back and Laine keeps on upping his physicality and mentorship of young players, will he get an A? I thought he was a leader last game.

I don't think he's ready for an A at this point.
It's great to see him growing as a player and he's shown a new level of maturity lately - but we're a few games into the "New" Laine and we might want to give it a little more time before we consider him as a member of the team leadership.

 

[Tommigun]

I don't think he's ready for an A at this point.
It's great to see him growing as a player and he's shown a new level of maturity lately - but we're a few games into the "New" Laine and we might want to give it a little more time before we consider him as a member of the team leadership.

The trend seems to be to reward young players with somewhat pre-mature captaincies these days (like Marner for example) though. Especially after a great season.

 

[LowLefty]

The trend seems to be to reward young players with somewhat pre-mature captaincies these days (like Marner for example) though. Especially after a great season.

Are you referring to points?
Not sure that's the best indicator of strong leadership although sometimes they go hand in hand.
And trends are trends - basing an important team decision on a "trend" might not be the best evaluation process.
Pre-mature might be the key term in your post

 

[RageQuit77]

I would not put any kind letter on Patrik's jersey for several years. He needs really find his consistency and balance (psychologically), and mature a little bit more before any serious considerations to that direction. Captaincy could bring extra pressures, which could be really detrimental if he happens to succumb to another dry-spell.

That said, his most natural and apparent 'leadership role' is (and probably will be) to act as mentor to incoming Finns, just like with Ville The Kid. I also think that role does good for both him and Finnish prospects finding their way to Winnipeg.

 

[Calendal]

That's why I said "if Buff isn't coming back". (You can have three alternate captains in addition to a captain so there'd be a vacant slot)

I thought you can have three letters, either CAA or AAA. You could rotate the A's, but I wouldn't say that makes much sense.

 

[Ukkosenjumala]

Laine leads NHL in points, assists and also leads NHL in +/- (what the..?).

8 hits on people in today's game. Way more than anyone else.

I love this motivated Laine. More minutes with Scheifele and Wheeler found his motivation.

Laine being the leader in plus minus is just hilarious considering the discussion on HF Boards last year

 

[Howard Chuck]

We will see lots of this as long as Scheifele and Laine are on the same line

The Wild fall back with 4 players and be like "we got this, it's just a 2 on 4", and then BOOM! Scheifelaine strikes out of nowhere.

Watch that shot carefully. How does Patrik get that kind power with no wind up and his stick comes off the ice about 6 inches. Unbelievable how he generates power.

 

[Puckatron 3000]

Laine looks pretty good on the top line. I'm surprised nobody around here suggested he play there earlier.

 

[Vekke]

Watch that shot carefully. How does Patrik get that kind power with no wind up and his stick comes off the ice about 6 inches. Unbelievable how he generates power.

It is almost like a golf put except it’s a rocket.

 

[snowkiddin]

That's why I said "if Buff isn't coming back". (You can have three alternate captains in addition to a captain so there'd be a vacant slot)

Only allowed 3 letters. Captain and two alternates or three alternates. Unless they changed it for this year, because that's what the rule was last year.

 

[LowLefty]

Well if Laine should have been benched then Maurice should have been fired (X-many times over). However neither of these things happened. Also like I said, he wasn't "feeling it" and he played hurt. Quite a number of people have already pointed out how that affected his accuracy and if the back affected his accuracy, then it sure as heck affected his overall game. Having Maurice around to toss him with exact two lines he didn't mesh well with was the final straw there. He plays much better with Connor than he plays with Ehlers, similarly to Ehlers arguably suiting better to top line than Connor. It's called on ice chemistry and plays a big part of how things turn out like.

Someone making a statement that Laine being forced to play with ELL doesn't equal to holding him back is ludicrous. Far less lower minutes, like it's in any way logical to have young excelling player's minutes to go south after his rookie year (please feel free to show me another similar example). There's hundreds of games worth of data of this so it's like turning a blind eye and coming up with an excuse at the same time. His treatment has been anything but ideal and most Jets fans have seem to acknowledge as much. It seems like perhaps not all are up to the track even yet after all. Well maybe all fans don't read up the press either, since after all he did go public about these very same internal issues on the verge of his contract negotiations. Now I would imagine any remotely happy troober would not even contemplate with the idea if they were happy.

There were times Laine would admit he played bad last season and he did, but we have at least perfectly good reasons why. It's not like his skills suddenly disappeared and again re-appeared. Of course today he's quite a bit more agile and better skater (still nothing close to elite) and stronger generally. However I doubt they practised stick-handling or stick-work in general that much in the summer, since after all he's suddenly stealing pucks and doing who knows what out there. Perhaps not having the back pain helps out quite a bit on the ice and he doesn't lose focus or mismanage the puck as he used to. Funny how you're claiming someone is out to lunch when comparing his game and yet at the same time you forget yourself what he looked a like in 16-17 and 17-18. When you take away a bit of natural development over the years, he looked just the way he's supposed to look considering what kind of player he is today. I actually remember lot of those games, but all you seem to recall are his bad plays in the past. Oh well, each to their own I suppose.

There's an article in the Free Press this morning that quotes Laine and his effort LY -

"Maybe, last year, I thought I was working hard and now I feel like maybe it wasn't as hard as I thought"
"I think it's been me before that hasn't been working and now I feel I'm always working hard every shift and that's been the key for me"

It's great to see that Laine is not making excuses for his game LY - he's making adjustments instead and the major one is he's working hard - much harder than he has in the past.
Why can't we just accept this as the reason he's struggled and move on to discussing how much better he is after figuring out what he needed to do.
This debate should simply stop - Laine is showing everyone what happens when you work you tail off - the results are what most of us knew he was capable of if he put his mind and body through the effort needed to get it done.

This top line is now looking like one of the best on the planet - and Laine has a lot to do with that.

 

[Jack722]

Loved Wheels' interview comments about how Laine had a lot of emotion last year and how he wanted to help him deal with it, and how his (Wheeler's) goal was to leave the team with Laine as one of if not the best forward in the league. Sounds like these two connected a little bit over the off-season.

 

[backwards motion]

I love how his confidence is up and still noting that he needs to devolop. This is more of the Laine that I was used to waking up to watch the scores and highlights in the morning when I couldn't just handle the middle of the night hockey.

Of course he may go cold at some point, naturally. I still have to defend him for at he's been a man, not a boy anymore. All compination of board battles, stripping puch, able to shoot with a wicked writer or onetime it and pass.

As said, sure he's probably not going to be a this pace (well... who really is, when he's leading all kinds of stats) all the season, but I'm just happy to see that improvement. Maybe using more the passing I new he had. We knew that opponents cheat quite a lot on powerplay so the seam isn't there for Laine. Now he's more of a threat since opponents can see more than shoot first kinda guy. In even strenght also.

I like this. So, small sample size or not. Let's keep it up. Go Jets Go!

 

[Calendal]

Laine looks pretty good on the top line. I'm surprised nobody around here suggested he play there earlier.

I guess we just have to accept that sometimes Maurice sees things we don't.

 

[Neuf]

Laine and Schiefele off the rush was awesome. Reminded me of his rookie season where the two scored a few that way

 

[Hunter368]

Loved Wheels' interview comments about how Laine had a lot of emotion last year and how he wanted to help him deal with it, and how his (Wheeler's) goal was to leave the team with Laine as one of if not the best forward in the league. Sounds like these two connected a little bit over the off-season.

Agreed

A good sign of leadership is the desire to make others around you better......not just yourself better. Laine seems to have grown/matured some over the summer and I think it’s fair to say Wheeler has grown some as a leader as well.

 

[KCjetsfan]

Agreed

A good sign of leadership is the desire to make others around you better......not just yourself better. Laine seems to have grown/matured some over the summer and I think it’s fair to say Wheeler has grown some as a leader as well.

The bolded cannot be emphasized enough.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Laine and Schiefele off the rush was awesome. Reminded me of his rookie season where the two scored a few that way

No other two players in this team can combine like that