Patrik Laine has proven that he still has a lot of talent and now that he’s playing full-time once again, it’s showing. He needed to get out of Columbus, I get that. Montreal does its fair share of losing. The Canadiens locker room is likely better so maybe that’s good enough for now.
With Laine in the lineup, the Canadiens are 6-3. He has five goals in three games and the Canadiens are now ranked 13th in power play percentage. The records he’s setting don’t interest me, his scoring and the positive impact he’s having on the team do interest me.
Even if the Canadiens get hot, they won’t make the playoffs. What they can do is speed up their rebuild with an improved offense and Laine can do that. He might get 30 goals this season. He hasn’t scored 30 goals since 2018-19 with the Winnipeg Jets.
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Laine’s shooting percentage is off the charts at 24.2%. That’s going to dip at some point but back in 2017-18, it was 18.3%, That season he had 20 power-play goals to lead the NHL. With eight power-play goals already this season, he’s close to regaining that part of his game at the age of 26.
The oddity of this revived Laine is less ice time. 16:13 is the most ice time he’s gotten in the last five games. Martin St. Louis is pushing all the right buttons with him.
Laine is currently out with a UBI, but he has some time to heal over the Christmas break.
Laine’s one-timer is as good as it has ever been. It back to being clocked at over 100 miles per hour. It’s a weapon once again.
Laine has the rest of this season and next season’s worth of a contract. Will the Canadiens keep him or make him a part of a big trade at the deadline? I will monitor this one.
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