I'm not sure what those Laine-superfans have been telling you but this is the best overall game he's ever played. He's had heaters before and he's had some stretches where he was decently consistent, but he's never had an overall game like this while filling the net like this. November 2018 was his record breaking month, the last time he scored like this, and it was like a comatose person was on the ice and just filling the net in a trance. It's a big contrast with the total package we are watching lately.
Difference is we were watching really, really closely him from the season 15-16 in FEL, not just from 20-21.
And no, he never was like a "comatose person filling the net in trance" and otherwise playing a losing hockey. No, not at all. His overall play was hugely better than arm chair GMs told you.
Has his overall play evolved over time? For sure. But it was never bad when he was on fire.
Is this last 9 or so game stretch his best overall so far? Pretty much so, but later half & playoffs on 17-18 says Hi. But please, it's not the first time Laine has helped his team to win. They did not hand him FEL playoff MVP or WC MVP as a participation trophy. On his 16-17 season his WAR stats were over the moon, trailing only handful of the guys.
And btw. I don't consider his 18-19 November his second best period of time. For sure it was great times as well, jailbreaking from dog house and starting to score like a madman from the 4th line, no kidding.
