All-star spotlight awaits Laine

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This article was published 27/01/2017 (3150 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CHICAGO — Patrik Laine will honestly be able to say ‘Been there, done that’ when the book finally closes on his NHL rookie season.

Scored career goal No. 1 in dramatic fashion? Yes, indeed.

Hammered home a couple of hat tricks with a cannon of a shot? Yep.

Reached the 20-goal mark a week after Christmas? True, dat.

Swatted a puck past your own goalie to likely cost your club a couple of points? Missed a few key checks that resulted in crucial tallies for the other side? Suffered a serious injury after getting crushed by an open-ice hit because your head was down?

Check, check, check.

Named an NHL all-star as an 18-year-old? Absolutely.

Laine, the Winnipeg Jets’ young, scintillating right-winger, has, indeed, been front and centre in his first year in the league — and he’ll get plenty of attention this weekend when the game’s best players meet up in Los Angeles for the all-star festivities at the Staples Center.

The Finnish phenom will be the lone Jets representative in L.A. this weekend. The all-star skills competition is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, with the 3-on-3 mini-tournament Sunday.

Surrounded by reporters Thursday, following the Jets’ morning skate as they prepared for a battle with the Chicago Blackhawks, Laine said he’s “super-excited” about his first opportunity to join the elite of the NHL.

“Just looking forward to going there and have a lot of fun and enjoy the weekend,” he said. “Just looking to get a lot of experience and meet the other guys. Every guy there is an amazing player, but it’ll be really nice to see guys like (Sidney) Crosby and Patrick (Kane) and (Jonathan) Toews and guys like that.”

Turning the right heads to earn an all-star nod wasn’t something he set his mind to prior to the start of the season in October.

“No, I don’t think about those things. I just think about our games and just how I can get better, that kind of thing. That was just a nice surprise for me,” said Laine, whose father will be attending the celebrations with him.

He’s not sure if he’s even in the hardest-shot competition Saturday.

“I don’t know. There’s some maybe harder shots than mine, we’ll see.”

Laine has 22 goals and, despite missing eight games with a concussion suffered Jan. 7 in Buffalo, is still in the top 10 in the league in that category. He’s added 18 assists while playing the bulk of the season with centre Mark Scheifele and left-winger Nikolaj Ehlers.

He returned to the lineup Tuesday against the San Jose Sharks, but, at times, looked out of rhythm in a 4-3 loss.

Laine said the first game back was a struggle. “I think I felt better on the morning practice than during the game when I was back. It’s trying to get into the pace that the game requires… my hands and my head were just too slow in the game, and so just try to improve that.”

Head coach Paul Maurice said just as impressive as Laine is on the ice is his commitment to rebound from mistakes and improve.

“His interest in (the game). His understanding of how important it is to learn. He sits and watches his video, and he’s tied into it,” said Maurice. “He is in that group of players that I’ve coached that are either leaders or in the Hall of Fame, they all have a drive to be better. It’s not just about playing well, winning and having fun. It’s about a deep-seeded drive to make their game better.

“It’s hard to convince people because he came into the league and started scoring right away and had 21 goals halfway through his first year, but the quality of his game, from the start to where it is now, is night and day.”

Some might think Laine’s a bit brash for a first-year player, but his straight-forward answers have been refreshing.

Much of the time, he’s still just an “aw, shucks” type of guy who admits he still has piles to learn.

“It’s nice to be here and be an NHL player every day. I think that’s just pretty cool,” he said. “It’s amazing to be here every day and play against the best players in the world.”

Maurice said Laine is going to benefit from just being surrounded by the best the NHL has to offer this weekend.

“It’s just sitting in the room with all of these guys makes you feel a little more like them, right — that it’s there for you,” he said. “These are kids that grow up watching these guys on TV, and they’re gods and they’re light years away from where they are.

“At 18 years old, when you sit in the room and you leave there thinking, ‘Two arms, two legs, I can do this. Everybody’s the same.’”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPJasonBell