‘Day-to-day is an honest assessment’ of Laine’s injury: Maurice

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This article was published 18/01/2021 (1782 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A terrific opening-night performance had fans, and even critics, wondering what Patrik Laine might do for an encore, especially on such a big hockey stage.

The answer, unfortunately, is nothing. Laine was sidelined Monday night by an upper-body injury as the Winnipeg Jets kicked off their busiest stretch of the season with a marquee match-up against Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After playing just once in the season’s first five days, the Jets are now into the teeth of the truncated 56-game regular-season schedule, with five games in seven nights, and six in the next nine. Considering how tight the Canadian division is expected to be, the timing couldn’t be much worse if Laine is lost for any duration.

“He wants to be sure that he can perform with it. We’ve got to get this thing healed. I don’t have a time line for you. I’m not looking at this unless something changes as long term. The day-to-day is an honest assessment in my mind of where he’s at,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said following his club’s morning skate at Scotiabank Arena.

“It’s going to get questioned because we happen to play six games in the next nine (nights). We want to get him back in the lineup, you wish you had more time between games to let it heal. We don’t, but we won’t put him back in until he’s confident that he can be the player that he was.”

Laine scored twice, including the overtime winner, and added an assist as Winnipeg beat Calgary 4-3 last Thursday night at Bell MTS Place. The team had a day off Friday, then cancelled Saturday’s practice at the last minute due to COVID-19 concerns. They were back at the rink on Sunday, but Laine left early, seemingly favouring his left hip and/or back.

The 22-year-old Finnish winger tried to give it a go on Monday morning, but his appearance during the morning skate was short-lived.

“There wasn’t anything in the game that he was worried about. He was aware of it, but it was just minor. Then he came out (Sunday) and couldn’t warm it up, it couldn’t get to the point where he felt comfortable with it. He treated it, rested it, same thing (Monday),” said Maurice.

Jansen Harkins took Laine’s spot on the roster, skating on the fourth line with Nate Thompson and Trevor Lewis. Mathieu Perreault jumped up from that unit to skate in Laine’s place on the second line with Paul Stastny and Kyle Connor.

All eyes were on Laine during training camp following off-season trade speculation caused by his own agent, Mike Liut, who suggested a change of scenery “might be mutually beneficial” for both his client and the Jets. Laine is in the final year of his current contract and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer, and two years from unrestricted free agency.

He sure looked like a motivated player against the Flames, even nearly coming to blows during a second-period melee in which he rode to Connor’s rescue following a dirty hit.

“He came to camp and worked like a pro. He’s in good shape, he’s big, he’s strong but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that from the very first drill, he just pushed himself and everybody noticed it. Fifteen minutes into practice, they’re going, ‘Who’s this 6-5 guy who’s battling in the corners with unbelievable hands,” Maurice said Monday.

“Take away the goals, obviously, that I think we’ve always known about Patrik and we’ve seen it from his Day 1 in the NHL. But the play away from the puck and the battling in the corner. You watch that Calgary game, that’s a different player than most of you have seen. A different player than we’ve seen. This guy now is morphing into a dominant power forward and that’s where we point to.”

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Laine vs Matthews is always a juicy topic when the Jets and Leafs face-off, and the pair will forever be linked as the top two picks in the 2016 NHL draft.

Winnipeg centre Mark Scheifele, who grew up in nearby Kitchener, couldn’t resist taking a shot at the media in the centre of the hockey universe during a Zoom call Monday morning in which he was asked about the fact Matthews slimmed down in the off-season.

“Standard Toronto media, I think you guys talk about weight fluctuations more than anyone,” cracked Scheifele.

“But he’s a fantastic player. His skill speaks for itself, but obviously playing against him is a fun challenge. He’s got tons of skill, really smart, really intelligent hockey player. Any time you get to go against a guy of his calibre it’s always a lot of fun. Maybe his loss of weight will make him a little easier in the corners, but we’ll see.”

Scheifele always looks forward to coming home to play, but admitted this time is a bit different due to pandemic protocols in place.

“Getting off the plane was a really weird feeling. Usually I come here, I get to see my parents, I get to see my brother and sister. I get to see friends after the game. It’s a totally different feeling, being an hour away from my parents’ house and not being able to see them is definitely tough,” he said.

“I talked to my dad for a while (Sunday) night, it definitely stinks not being able to actually see him, which is really hard. But I know they’ll be watching, I know they’ll be cheering from home. Playing in Toronto, it always has a place in my heart. I know they’ll be with me in spirit.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg