Confirmed with Link: PLD, 3rd to Winnipeg; Laine, Roslovic here

[majormajor]

I'm taking your post to suggest that not much changed last season.

A lot of things changed last year, just not in the direction fans may have wanted. "Safe is death" is long gone. Torts tried to take rushing right out of the game for both teams, and just win on the cycle. His new tack works really well against teams like Toronto but it has pretty much muted most of our talent. We're not getting much out of a lot of guys. We might have just bored PLD right off the team (he started complaining about the playstyle last year).

 

[majormajor]

Bjorkstrand has found some nice shooting lanes in the past on that right side. This team just has too many right-handed shots up front, so it's sort of hard to figure out.

That legendary Jets PP was
------------- Connor (L)
Laine (R) - Scheif (R) - Wheeler (R)
------------- Buff (R)

They obviously made all the RHS work. Wheeler wasn't in a primary shooter role, he was the main playmaker who started off set plays. The big one was going cross ice to Scheif or Laine who were ready to one-time the puck. Scheif and Laine would usually be in a straight line or close to it, with Laine obviously directly behind Scheif from Wheeler's POV. Even if the defenders knew the puck was headed that way, they didn't know which of the two RHS was going to one-time it, and they couldn't block both shot lanes.

Anyway, some tough decisions coming up if everyone stays healthy. Sounds like Roslovic will get a look down the middle at first - I'm not sure who they'll rotate out with Koivu and Nash also in bottom 6 C roles. Going to have to send one off the active roster (either to taxi squad or Cleveland) of: Stenlund, Foudy, Robinson, or Harrington/Carlsson if they go 14F/7D.

Foudy isn't coming out, everyone knows he has been great. Robinson has also been great, IMO, and shouldn't come out. Stenlund just played an excellent game too. It would require waivers to move either Stenlund or Robinson to the taxi squad/AHL, and that would be a foolish waste.

Time to waive Carlsson. If he gets claimed, who cares.

That or send down Bemstrom, he is waiver exempt.

I want Stenlund, Roslovic, Nash, and Koivu to all be rotating in and out at bottom six C. None of our current wings should come out until their play falls off.

 

[Halberdier]

Patrik Laine & Learning From Mistakes

Pretty good read, imo.

The author goes over how the Jets PP changed over time and tries to relate it to how the CBJ operate their PP.

For Laine's first three years, he basically sat in "Ovi's office" for lack of a better term on the left circle. They ran a 1-3-1, but with F1 operating more out of the right corner rather than the CBJ who often have F1 as a net front presence. So Laine would get fed from the Dman at the point or fully across the ice from Blake Wheeler. With the time and space he got, his shot was lethal. Then, teams adjusted. The Jets moved Laine to the pivot or bumper spot - the middle forward of the three across in the slot. Laine's PP production dipped as they never really got him going in that spot.

The author notes that in the left circle, Laine thrived with a right-handed Dman at the point because they could get the pass over to him more quickly. So, some interesting thoughts there on Z vs Jones on the point. Werenski is more of a shooting threat to keep the PK honest, but some concerns there about getting the pass over to Laine quick enough - either off his back hand or taking the time to get the puck to his forehand to make the pass.



View attachment 388466

He also notes that Laine scored *80* goals in his first 155 games, but just 58 in his next 150. There are some other notes in the piece about why that might be, how the Jets changed, how defenses changed against the Jets, etc. He thinks at 5v5, Laine has a chance to improve over the last couple of years because the Jackets run their 5v5 cycle better than the Jets did/do.

Thanks, good read and lot's of insight.

However, there is at least one bit odd piece on the article that is simply wrong:

Something that got brought up with Laine is his frustration with the Jets coaching staff. On the surface it seems kind of silly because he was paired with Mark Scheifele for most of his careers.

Not true. Laine has produced quite nicely with Scheifele, but the problem for Laine was that since first half of 16-17, that did not really happen anymore apart from short stretches until the last season.

From top of my head I don't think Laine has been paired (5-on-5) with Scheifele like 25% of his career, at least not +50%, "most".

Also the article misses the fact that Laine had injured back for most of his 18-19 season which affected substantially his shot. Laine missed some training sessions, but was able to play. Just not fully and cannot really use his best weapon. That was the reason #1 why he scored "only" 50 points / 30 goals as a 2nd and 3rd line winger that season.

 

[DarkandStormy]

Foudy isn't coming out, everyone knows he has been great. Robinson has also been great, IMO, and shouldn't come out. Stenlund just played an excellent game too. It would require waivers to move either Stenlund or Robinson to the taxi squad/AHL, and that would be a foolish waste.

Time to waive Carlsson. If he gets claimed, who cares.

That or send down Bemstrom, he is waiver exempt.

I want Stenlund, Roslovic, Nash, and Koivu to all be rotating in and out at bottom six C. None of our current wings should come out until their play falls off.

I agree, but...
Foligno-Domi-Atkinson
Jenner-Texier-Bjorkstrand
Foudy-Nash-Robinson
Grigorenko-Koivu-Stenlund
Roslovic is the extra for now with the 8 D. Add in Laine and you have to send someone to the taxi squad or Cleveland. Taxi squad is at six (max) right now, even with MacInnis headed to Cleveland.

 

[majormajor]

I agree, but...
Foligno-Domi-Atkinson
Jenner-Texier-Bjorkstrand
Foudy-Nash-Robinson
Grigorenko-Koivu-Stenlund
Roslovic is the extra for now with the 8 D. Add in Laine and you have to send someone to the taxi squad or Cleveland. Taxi squad is at six (max) right now, even with MacInnis headed to Cleveland.

Ok. Say goodbye to Carlsson and go 14F, 7D. Obvious, right?

 

[DarkandStormy]

Ok. Say goodbye to Carlsson and go 14F, 7D. Obvious, right?

For us, yes. (Heck, I'd waive Harrington if the team liked Carlsson a bit more). Not so obvious for Jarmo.

 

[blahblah]

A lot of things changed last year, just not in the direction fans may have wanted. "Safe is death" is long gone. Torts tried to take rushing right out of the game for both teams, and just win on the cycle. His new tack works really well against teams like Toronto but it has pretty much muted most of our talent. We're not getting much out of a lot of guys. We might have just bored PLD right off the team (he started complaining about the playstyle last year).

Interesting. I'll have to take a look and see what's going on.

 

[DarkandStormy]

What scares me about Columbus' PP (and not in a good way) we are WAY too lax and rarely show any urgency. It's almost as if we use the PP as a time to rest instead of a time to score. It goes way beyond not being able to score, we can barely break into the zone and get set up. Also we need an amazing faceoff man on the PP. Especially when we struggle so much to break in and get set up.

Are you saying the team needs to change up its strategy at 5v4 because they've put up the league's worst power play since 2017? Bold take lol

 

[Columbus Jack]

Are you saying the team needs to change up its strategy at 5v4 because they've put up the league's worst power play since 2017? Bold take lol

Not sure how you took what I said and managed this post but YES, the PP should be changed. I was, ya know giving reasons as to why rather than just blindly criticizing it like yourself. Everyone knows the PP sucks. Somehow our coaches keep doing the same shit though

 

[Stubu]

I think Jarmo probably can guess at PLD's reasons better than us, but after those interviews I believe that PLD never directly told him why. If he had, Jarmo is generally the type of guy to either not say anything or just say 'I'm not going to go into it, but you ask PLD about it'.

All of this is pretty strange. I actually believe that PLD just decided he wanted to move on for [insert speculative reason here, many of which have been theorized here] but never was up-front about that reason to Torts, Jarmo or the other players.

As an aside, is it common to refer to players with those three-letter acronyms when it's not the last name (like Aston-Reeves and stuff) that's two-part?

I guess it is, looking at the Sabres goalie prospect UPL for one example. Many others abound.

Or maybe it's just too easy to twist "Dubious" out of Dubois.

 

[DarkandStormy]

Not sure how you took what I said and managed this post but YES, the PP should be changed. I was, ya know giving reasons as to why rather than just blindly criticizing it like yourself. Everyone knows the PP sucks. Somehow our coaches keep doing the same shit though

I was agreeing with you and having fun.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

One of the theories (although I don’t believe it applied in this case) is that players want out because the Blue Jackets grind them when they have the hammer due to the way arbitration and free agency are set up.


2. Dubois repeated one particular theme in his post-trade interviews: “Sometimes you have to remain true to yourself, how you feel and how you think.”

It’s cryptic, but a window into his thinking.

One Blue Jacket said, “If you cross him, or he makes up his mind on something, he doesn’t change it.” So, in that respect, he was certainly true to himself.

I don’t believe this was about money — the belief is Columbus was willing to go into the eight-times-eight range to get this done. There are a ton of theories, including: Dubois wanting to be in a place where hockey was more in the spotlight; his relationship with John Tortorella (a factor, although multiple sources have indicated it’s not “the” factor); some kind of dispute with teammates (denied by one source, although they were very unhappy with his performance this year); and, lastly, Dubois being worried if he signed long-term that other Blue Jackets would go elsewhere and he’d be left behind. Maybe we’ll never know the real truth.

3. On the podcast, Kekalainen said Columbus “tried like hell” in 2016 to move up from third to second overall so they could draft Laine. Did he ever think it would happen? “No, they weren’t moving the pick.”

4. As for Winnipeg. Blake Wheeler pushed back against the idea Laine was bullied out of the organization

“If I have any regrets, my regrets would be some of the frustrations that took place over the years,” the captain said. “Every time we communicated, it’s been nothing but positive. Never any fighting, never any yelling at each other…. So maybe I could have communicated a little better instead of just getting frustrated. Never once was I hard on Patty — far from it. If anything, I was very respectful and coddled a young teenager and 20-year-old.”

Whatever the case, one thing is very clear: Not everyone was 100 per cent comfortable with everyone else. That’s not necessarily fatal. Take a look around your own workplace — there are always factions, egos and petty jealousies. What matters is if everyone shows up to play, and Laine’s opener was out of this world.

What can screw up everything is money. The winger’s number is going to be high, and I don’t think the Jets were willing to go there. Look at their salary structure — everyone’s reasonably close. That, to me, is what ultimately set the move in motion.

31 Thoughts: How the Dubois-Laine trade finally came together

 

[majormajor]

31 Thoughts: How the Dubois-Laine trade finally came together

“Sometimes you have to remain true to yourself, how you feel and how you think.”

It’s cryptic, but a window into his thinking.

One Blue Jacket said, “If you cross him, or he makes up his mind on something, he doesn’t change it.” So, in that respect, he was certainly true to himself.

Whenever in my life that I have said the words "Sometimes you have to remain true to yourself", it is a situation where I made a bad impulsive decision and then was very very stubborn about it.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

I'd waive Harrington before I waive Carlsson. Nobody will take him at his 1.6 cap hit for this year and next year.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

 

[DJA]

Lebrun says no talks at all on a new contract with Laine, but he’s not expected to sign an 8 year deal when the time comes.

So, not great news right off the bat.

 

[Eyeseeing]

Jets fan.
I’ll be following you guys a lot now as Laine was my second favourite after Buff ( double whammy)
I wish him extreme success and a very long term relationship with your organization.
Naturally I’m excited to have PLD and hope he can make our C position good enough to help us win the North .
You have a special talent there.
Best of luck this year and next

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Whenever in my life that I have said the words "Sometimes you have to remain true to yourself", it is a situation where I made a bad impulsive decision and then was very very stubborn about it.

I have not had the same experience.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

31 Thoughts: How the Dubois-Laine trade finally came together

Major red flags here, as @majormajor has implied earlier. PLD might know of Jones and Werenski’s intentions, and being “worried” about being the only one there normally wouldn’t bother me too much but since they all share the same agent it is very concerning.

If Jones won’t sign an extension on July 1 he has to be moved. And the same goes for Werenski a year later.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Lebrun says no talks at all on a new contract with Laine, but he’s not expected to sign an 8 year deal when the time comes.

So, not great news right off the bat.

He didn't say no talks at all. Je just confirmed what jarmo said that they had high level talks. I wouldn't have had any in depth conversations about long term contracts on a team I haven't even played for yet after being traded there either. I think he's just talking common sense. I think everyone is going to look at long term contracts differently coming out of Covid, not just Laine. They'll hope that they'll be able to make more money on the back end once the league finances recover.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Lebrun says no talks at all on a new contract with Laine, but he’s not expected to sign an 8 year deal when the time comes.

So, not great news right off the bat.

Meh. I don’t care about 8 years. As long as it’s not under 4 I’m good.

 

[LOFIN]

Meh. I don’t care about 8 years. As long as it’s not under 4 I’m good.

I mean, Matthews broke the market. Who is going to sign 8 years now since Dubas gave him big money and less term? Good luck getting some of those young stars coming out of ELCs signing off for 8 year deals. Same goes for RFAs and UFAs unless you get a monster contract like Panarin.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I mean, Matthews broke the market. Who is going to sign 8 years now since Dubas gave him big money and less term? Good luck getting some of those young stars coming out of ELCs signing off for 8 year deals. Same goes for RFAs and UFAs unless you get a monster contract like Panarin.

I think it’s more of a COVID thing, not matthews

 

[majormajor]

Meh. I don’t care about 8 years. As long as it’s not under 4 I’m good.

I think it probably is going to be under 4 years.

Not necessarily because Laine doesn't want to be here, but he's a "bet on myself" guy all the way through. He doesn't want financial security. He wants the 8-figure marker of super-stardom.

 

[ViD]

Let’s see how Laine plays here first before even thinking of a long term contract