What do you mean by "missing a lot of passes"?
I guess he stole ~3 pucks tonight, one about 30 seconds to the game. I am never frustrated when I see a player playing well and trying. He could have a couple of more goals, that's for sure. But he just needs to continue exactly like in those 8 first games apart from 1st period on game 6 and last half of game 7. He will be rewarded if he plays that way and continues with his defensive play, which btw. was night and day compared to other young TOP-6 wingers against Coyotes. Patience is needed for Patty. More goals and points will follow when he continues like this.
I agree with the other poster - he did miss passes last night especially in the mid-ice that at least seemed like they were decent/oki'sh. That's not in his habit though so I'm not worried about one game. He also did a lot of good things even if it wasn't one of his best performances. His shot accuracy has been below the norm as well, but since Laine's always aiming for the corners so more often than not it's abound to stay out rather than go in. After all I doubt there's a single player in the team who has as many posts in the recent years. Going back to the game, during one of those powerplays I don't know why Dahlström was there (like wtf?) but Laine was completely open at his slot and the entire defence & goalkeeper was positioned in the middle. If he had made a fast accurate pass to Laine at that moment I'd give it a 55-60% chance the puck would've been in the net. Yet of course Dahlström decided the best option was to shoot into the crowd or was too slow and blind to check the lanes.
He's been getting a lot of assists and even against the Coyotes he got one by Scheifele burying the the puck that bounced back from the post. So even if the PP hasn't worked as well as last year, at least he's still a huge threat, probably the best you can get (league-wise). Too bad he missed that 4 minute penalty cause that was the deal-breaker and they desperately needed him. Generally I simply cannot fathom how Maurice still doesn't play him for the both powerplay units, like Ovy is being deployed in the Caps. I'd argue Laine having even better shot than Ovy and having better vision and passing to find other players. Not utilizing your most lethal weapon to it's fullest is just sheer stupidity and waste of resources.
The Jets have been struggling and losing games. We all know Scheifele and Wheelers will never be broken because Wheelers more or less has the last say on the matter. What I fear the most is Connor being promoted to replace Laine, cause Laine and Connor is twice the better combo than Laine and Ehlers. The latter just doesn't work as we've seen so many times. Ehlers hasn't been playing great with SW lately so this is yet another potential peril they could be moving toward, cause Maurice just sees things that aren't there. The real problem isn't the first line or second line but the defence that seems utterly incapable of making quick opening passes and instead gets stuck trying to fight of the forecheckers and every team (by now) knows as much and they are making the most out of it. Heinola isn't even dressed despite of probably being the best D man what comes down to actually delivering those passes, so there's that. PMo's just making things worse and once again the irony is the fact he doesn't even realize it.
Ah well, no idea for Little's ETA but I'm still trying to remain optimistic that they are done with the ELL the very least. Though if I see that line even just one more time, I'm probably going to start counting days until Laine's RFA years are behind him.