Laine leaves little to question

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This article was published 26/12/2016 (3493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In hindsight, the choice seems obvious.

This year’s debate about who should be picked No. 2 in the NHL draft — a choice between Patrik Laine or Jesse Puljujarvi or even Pierre-Luc Dubois — raged for months. Now, there seems to be little to argue about.

Laine, a front-runner for the Calder Trophy and second-overall pick by the Winnipeg Jets, is the best of the three. The 18-year-old Finnish right-winger might be better than Auston Matthews, the much-hyped centre who went No. 1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Laine leads all NHL rookies with 19 goals. His production and composure under the pressure of his first pro season in North America has caught almost everyone off guard.

“I think that surprised us all,” says Jets director of amateur scouting Mark Hillier. “Even going into the world championships (last spring), that was the first time probably he’s playing against the best players in the world. It’s not the NHL, but they had a good group of solid NHL players on every team there, and I told our guys, ‘I don’t know how much we can expect here.’ Playing against some of the best players in the world, and he ends up walking away with the MVP. Maybe from that point, maybe we shouldn’t be that surprised.

“If he had the (19) goals at the end of the (2016-17) season, I’d say that was a pretty good year. Now, who knows what his ceiling is?”

Hillier saw Laine play in person 17 times last season, including eight times late in the campaign. He says he witnessed an astonishing growth in a short time.

“Everybody knew for a long time he was a goal scorer and had the great shot, but the playmaking, the passing ability, the ability to make others around him better, really evolved through the year,” says Hillier. “I saw some of that at the world junior (tournament), more of it in the Finnish elite league playoffs and the world championship.”

In early June, there was another major turning point for the Jets. Laine had some explaining to do after stories had circulated in 2014 about him being kicked off the Finnish team at the Ivan Hlinka memorial tournament after threatening his coach following a loss.

The Jets got their allotted 20-minute interview with Laine at the combine and took him out for dinner later that day.

“We asked him point-blank about those things, and they were honest answers coming back. and most of it was, ‘I made a mistake. I was a young kid and I didn’t use my head. I said things or did things I shouldn’t have done. I think that’s behind me,’” says Hillier. “It was refreshing to hear a young kid with honest answers who wasn’t trying to hide anything.

“A lot of kids get coached by the time the combine rolls around to say what they think is the right thing — not maybe the honest thing… He was absolutely genuine, I thought, in everything we asked him and things he asked us. He did it with a real dry sense of humour. I felt a lot better about him after meeting than I did before, that’s for sure.”

As for discussions about Laine’s potential, he is often compared to Hall of Famers and current stars.

“It’s hard to make those comparisons because there’s pieces of a lot of different players in him. You make the shot comparisons to great players like (Mike) Bossy and (Brett) Hull and (Alex) Ovechkin. He’s got pieces of their game, but none of those guys was 6-5. I really think he’s creating his own niche here.

“Very rarely do you see a 6-5 player who can skate, make plays, that can shoot, (has) very good offensive sense like he does — there’s really not a lot of comparables out there.”

Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill, whose team was scorched for Laine’s second career hat trick Nov. 8, sees some similarities between Laine and Stars all-star winger Tyler Seguin. Nill has a particular comparison with another Hall of Famer in mind, however.

“I think the way they shoot the puck is a very fair comparison,” says Nill. “The puck just jumps off their stick. I’m aging myself, but he reminds me a lot of Brendan Shanahan. Certain guys are so strong, they can have their hands anywhere on the stick to shoot… I’ve watched Laine, and his hands can be anywhere on his stick. They can be high or down low, and they’re so powerful, their wrists and forearms are so powerful they can shoot the puck from anywhere.”

 

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14