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The Patrik Laine experiment must come to an end
Kevin Vallée
The Patrik Laine experiment must come to an end
Credit: When Lane Hutson sits down at his kitchen island in the morning, he puts field hockey in his cereal. The young defenseman never misses a practice, is constantly on the lookout for ways to improve, and is committed to the team’s success. At 21 years of age, Hutson has taken young Ivan Demidov under his […]
When Lane Hutson sits down at his kitchen island in the morning, he puts field hockey in his cereal.

The young defenseman never misses a practice, is constantly on the lookout for ways to improve, and is committed to the team’s success. At 21 years of age, Hutson has taken young Ivan Demidov under his wing, and he too puts field hockey on his toast .

Nick Suzuki is a serious and consistent captain. Cole Caufield has listened to Martin St-Louis and become more than a sniper. Brendan Gallagher would eat 15 cross-checks in the face per game to help his team win. Josh Anderson would throw down the gloves against a pro boxer to defend a young teammate. David Savard would probably block shots in shorts if he could.

You want to build a field hockey team and weave the fiber of a locker room around these guys.

Patrik Laine loves field hockey. He doesn’t even hide it, and to see him play like that in the playoffs speaks volumes.

And the talent that should normally compensate for attitude, 5-on-5 play and effort… just isn’t enough anymore.

Upon his return from injury, Laine excused his shortcomings by scoring goals. He scored 12 times in his first 18 games, before adding just 8 goals in the next 34 games. In his last 17 games, the Finn scored 3 power-play goals.

In fact, the Habs have spent approximately 4 minutes and 25 seconds per game with the man advantage, since December 3. Playing on the first wave, Laine is on the ice for just under 3 minutes per game.

When he scores regularly, his usefulness is obvious. When he loses confidence in his shot and the game seems to constantly die on his stick, a little less so. The Habs have scored just 5 goals on their last 42 power-play opportunities, by the way.

The #92 was so bad in the second period yesterday that Martin St-Louis benched him for the entire third period, and didn’t even send him into the fray at 6-on-5. And he’s the one with the best shot in Montreal, let’s face it …

Benchering a guy in the regular season is already something… But benchering your best natural scorer when you need a goal in the playoffs really says a lot about the situation… which becomes a DISTRACTION!

At 5-on-5, Laine is inconsistent, sluggish, slow and just doesn’t seem interested in playing real field hockey. He has flashes, and that’s normal, because the guy’s talented to begin with. What comes to the surface is a lack of effort, interest and love for the sport.


extension

The experiment must end, for Club de field hockey Canadien’s sake. The shadow of what Patrik Laine was in Winnipeg – a fast, talented, dangerous, committed player – is not positive for the Club, I don’t believe that for a second. Laine isn’t part of the future in Montreal, and if he isn’t, let’s give someone else a chance.

One year was enough.

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