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My First Real Look at Laine


SpikeDDS

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Watched Patrick Laine in Detroit's SO win last night in Winnipeg, and I gotta say that the Jets have a winner here. VERY impressed with his puck handling and his ability to create chances. He was a threat almost every time he touched the puck. He scored in the shootout and made it look easy against Mrazek. We were fortunate to get out of there with 2 points, even though we played a solid last 40 minutes of the game, relatively speaking. The Jets owned the first.

 

Obviously, it's hard to compare my first look at him versus my first look at Auston Matthews, which was in his first game, when he scored so many goals. But Laine has had a lot more than one game to establish his game, and boy does it look fantastic! I'm wondering if the Jets may have gotten the better of the two. It is certainly very possible that my perception is premature, but man was this an eye-opener for me. I now know why he is tied for the league lead in goals with Sid. It doesn't appear to be a fluke to me.

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  • ruxpin changed the title to My First Real Look at Leine
19 minutes ago, SpikeDDS said:

Watched Patrick Leine in Detroit's SO win last night in Winnipeg, and I gotta say that the Jets have a winner here. VERY impressed with his puck handling and his ability to create chances. He was a threat almost every time he touched the puck. He scored in the shootout and made it look easy against Mrazek. We were fortunate to get out of there with 2 points, even though we played a solid last 40 minutes of the game, relatively speaking. The Jets owned the first.

 

Obviously, it's hard to compare my first look at him versus my first look at Auston Matthews, which was in his first game, when he scored so many goals. But Leine has had a lot more than one game to establish his game, and boy does it look fantastic! I'm wondering if the Jets may have gotten the better of the two. It is certainly very possible that my perception is premature, but man was this an eye-opener for me. I now know why he is tied for the league lead in goals with Sid. It doesn't appear to be a fluke to me.

 

Laine showed his passing skills last night for the first real time. His shot is all world. I don't think there's a better one right now, maybe not ever. It's quick, nasty and accurate.

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I have watched a good half a dozen Jet games this year, the kid can flat out play, he is a mountain, (six foot five) with as accurate of a shot as anyone in the game today and he absolutely drills it. And his speed for a guy his size is more than adequate.

 

  One thing I have noticed about him to the negative is he gets pushed around a bit, he does not use his size well yet and can be taken into the wall or the corner or even off the puck with relative ease. don't let him get the puck from twenty feet out with nobody on him, he will bury it and may kill a goalie with his shot someday, but he is a lot like Blake Wheeler who also does not use his size, I seldom have seen him set up in front of the net or get dirty to make a play. Of course with his skill, so far, he hasn't needed to.

  I think the scouting report on how to play him would be to wear him down, contest every time he has the puck, his passing is eventually going to catch up with his shooting but for now it has not hence his Cy Young stats (17 goals 8 assists) being abnormally high and like I said he does not like the physical side of it.

 

Worst case he is a Blake Wheeler, a point a game big forward. That is WORST case. Best case, I don't even want to put a limit on what he can do. Like I said he does have weaknesses but they are manageable and he will work through them with time, for God's sake he is only 18 years old, lol. Two or three years from now he could be the 21st century poster boy of a power forward.

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16 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

I have watched a good half a dozen Jet games this year, the kid can flat out play, he is a mountain, (six foot five) with as accurate of a shot as anyone in the game today and he absolutely drills it. And his speed for a guy his size is more than adequate.

 

  One thing I have noticed about him to the negative is he gets pushed around a bit, he does not use his size well yet and can be taken into the wall or the corner or even off the puck with relative ease. don't let him get the puck from twenty feet out with nobody on him, he will bury it and may kill a goalie with his shot someday, but he is a lot like Blake Wheeler who also does not use his size, I seldom have seen him set up in front of the net or get dirty to make a play. Of course with his skill, so far, he hasn't needed to.

  I think the scouting report on how to play him would be to wear him down, contest every time he has the puck, his passing is eventually going to catch up with his shooting but for now it has not hence his Cy Young stats (17 goals 8 assists) being abnormally high and like I said he does not like the physical side of it.

 

Worst case he is a Blake Wheeler, a point a game big forward. That is WORST case. Best case, I don't even want to put a limit on what he can do. Like I said he does have weaknesses but they are manageable and he will work through them with time, for God's sake he is only 18 years old, lol. Two or three years from now he could be the 21st century poster boy of a power forward.

 

I don't necessarily agree with your comments on him not liking the physical side of things. He does get pushed off picks at times, because he is young and needs some more lower body strength. But he plays the body well - I think he likes to actually - on the forecheck. I certainly don't think he is scared of the physical.

 

Anyway, we agree on the talent. He's a unique talent I'd say. And as you say, *extremely* dangerous if you give him time and space.

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8 minutes ago, Podein25 said:

 

I don't necessarily agree with your comments on him not liking the physical side of things. He does get pushed off picks at times, because he is young and needs some more lower body strength. But he plays the body well - I think he likes to actually - on the forecheck. I certainly don't think he is scared of the physical.

 

Anyway, we agree on the talent. He's a unique talent I'd say. And as you say, *extremely* dangerous if you give him time and space.

By 'don't like the physical side' what I meant is he does not use his size well yet, that is the weak link in his armor, like a lot of young players he gets pushed off the puck by more rugged d-men. I was not talking about him playing the body and forechecking, I was talking about forechecking him. It is an adjustment, THN spoke about it when he went through a stretch a couple of weeks ago with like 1 goal in 10 or 11 games and they were showing him getting wrapped up by the defense as soon as the puck got to him, a hand on the back directing him towards the wall. As of now that is his bane. He is not yet a good passer but that will develop with time as will his ability to shed a defender and to use his size.

  Love the kid, With apologies to Matthews as of now he is my Calder winner in a romp over Matthews and the rest of the class, just a bit of perspective, he is an 18 year old kid and in spite of enormous skill he is still learning the NHL version of the game.

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25 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

By 'don't like the physical side' what I meant is he does not use his size well yet, that is the weak link in his armor, like a lot of young players he gets pushed off the puck by more rugged d-men. I was not talking about him playing the body and forechecking, I was talking about forechecking him. It is an adjustment, THN spoke about it when he went through a stretch a couple of weeks ago with like 1 goal in 10 or 11 games and they were showing him getting wrapped up by the defense as soon as the puck got to him, a hand on the back directing him towards the wall. As of now that is his bane. He is not yet a good passer but that will develop with time as will his ability to shed a defender and to use his size.

  Love the kid, With apologies to Matthews as of now he is my Calder winner in a romp over Matthews and the rest of the class, just a bit of perspective, he is an 18 year old kid and in spite of enormous skill he is still learning the NHL version of the game.

 

Ok, fair enough. Understood.

Maurice goes on and on about how good his passing is actually, lol

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There's a lot more track in front of them than in the mirror, but I was pretty clear in my feelings around here, before the draft, that I wasn't the least bit convinced that Matthews is better than Laine. Now, I also don't think Laine can maintain the pace he's on, but he's a wonderful player.

 

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48 minutes ago, J0e Th0rnton said:

My boy Ehlers is also looking dangerous. Hate how he has begun to deffer to passing instead of shooting, but playing with Scheifele and Laine, I guess it was a natural adjustment. His speed gives the opposition fits

 

He does. He was saying the other day that he wants to be shooting more. He does have a nice shot. He hits the iron a lot. He also misses wildly a lot. 

 

They are a fun team to watch for sure. Lottsa great talent.

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It was so intentional too. you can tell muscle memory kicked in because he almost celebrated for a second.

 

Wheeler at least gave him that hug to say "We have all done that once or twice". Laine looked devastated. Then again, if I made a blunder like that and knew it was going to be replayed on blooper reels for years, I probably would not be too happy either.

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