Patrik Laine

[franklin]

Laine opened some eyes at the last U18. Some scout said he was better than Puljujarvi.

2G-1A in his 1st game with Tappara this year.

If you can grab a prospect before they have been drafted by an NHL club, you might need to consider Laine if he's available.

[Jouko-Pouko]

Laine has great size and great goal-scoring abilities. His skating is average but his biggest issue is his attitude. If he can mature and develop properly, he will be a beast. It's always tough to figure out if it's just because he's a 16/17-year-old kid, or if the attitude issues will be part of the package. At this point, I don't really know. But he has improved in that regard already.

Laine has similar upside as Puljujärvi but Laine carries more risk with him.

[Jouko-Pouko]

I figured I'd add a little more background information about Laine since I'm sure he will be one of the most asked about players of the 2016 draft class.

A year and a half ago, Laine was sent back home from the Ivan Hlinka tournament after he showed the middle finger to his coach and yelled something about how he could kill the coach. (Source in Finnish: http://www.iltasanomat.fi/jaakiekko/...725477770.html) At the same time, there were also lots of rumors about how his teammates are annoyed by him because he thinks he's a star already and carries that bad attitude everywhere. After a few months, Laine gave an interview to a Finnish newspaper. He admitted being stupid, said he learned from it and that it wouldn't happen again. He also said he saw team psychologist multiple times. (Source in Finnish: http://www.iltasanomat.fi/sm-liiga/a...743958485.html)

Laine was left off the U18 team in the fall of 2014 but he did play for them at the U18 World Championship in 2015, and he played very well there (8 goals and 11 points in 7 games). I can't find a source for this but I remember the coach being asked if he faced any issues with Laine, and the coach said there were no issues whatsoever.

More recently, at the Lake Placid tournament (U20) Laine scored 3 goals and 5 points in 5 games. After the tournament, head coach Jukka Jalonen said that Laine is the best '98 born player he has seen. Of course Matthews is born in '97 but Puljujärvi is also '98, so the coach thinks Laine is at least better than Puljujärvi. (Source in Finnish: http://www.iltasanomat.fi/jaakiekko/...262180006.html)

So far during this fall, Laine has been playing with Tappara at the top level in Finland. Laine has played 3 Champions Hockey League games (2G+1A, all from one game) and 3 pre-season games (2G from 2 different games). It's looking very likely that Laine will spend the entire season playing against men. Maybe not at the top level the entire year but against men anyway.

From what I've heard, Laine's skating has improved a lot from last season. He had that knee injury last year and he also had a growth spurt, so maybe those were causing him to have skating issues. He's never going to be a great skater but it's looking like he could become a good skater for his size (195cm/6'5" right now).

It's also looking very likely that Laine will play for Team Finland at the U20 tournament as a 17-year-old. He's a natural Right Wing but can also play Left Wing if needed. If Kapanen and Rantanen are available, and you throw in Puljujärvi as well, someone has to switch sides in that tournament. At the U18 WJC tournament last year, Laine was playing Left Wing with Puljujärvi playing Right Wing on the same line. Left Wing might actually be better for Laine long-term; it's worked very well for players like Ovechkin and Kovalchuk.

Laine is still trying to do too much by himself and trying to score the pretty goals too often and dangling like there's no tomorrow. His defensive game also needs improving, although it's not bad for a kid of his age. But these are things every player must learn to control when they move from junior hockey to professional hockey, so I wouldn't worry too much about that right now. Laine plays for my hometown team, so I will be keeping an eye on him for sure. His offensive potential is huge because he has good hands and a great shot, and it's very hard to knock a guy of his size off the puck. As I said previously, Puljujärvi is the safer bet but Laine offers similar huge upside.

For fantasy hockey purposes, I would rank the 2016 class right now:
1) Matthews
2) Puljujärvi
3) Laine
4) Tkachuk

As far as potential goes, I would say that Matthews is at the same level with Eichel, while Puljujärvi and Laine are at the same level with Dylan Strome. Getting that type of potential from the wing is pretty rare. At the same time I'm also saying that both of these guys have more upside than another young Finn: Mikko Rantanen. Rantanen is a complete package and his NHL certainty is very high because of it but his offensive tools are not as good. Doesn't mean I wouldn't draft Rantanen ahead of them right now, though.

Here are Laine's (#29) highlights from that Champions Hockey League debut where he scored 2 goals and 1 assist:

[franklin]

Interesting comment:

Juha Hiitelä @jhiitela
Every scout I've talked (not the ones in game tonight) says he's passed Jesse Puljujärvi as top Euro prospect for 216 draft.
9:34 AM - 6 Sep 2015

[franklin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZNn...ature=youtu.be

He seems to struggle a bit to score. But he creates a lot of scoring chances.

[yougo]

This is a huge kid with a equal upside to his size. I also read on twitter by several independant scout that he already has surpassed Puljujarvi on their 2016 ranking. He's got the making of a multi-cat stud.

[franklin]

Nice wrist shot

https://youtu.be/qDUY35dg5N8

[franklin]

4G-2A for 6pts in 7GP good start for him.

[northernnuck]

I figured I'd add a little more background information about Laine since I'm sure he will be one of the most asked about players of the 2016 draft class.

Great read. Anything new? Current rankings 3/4/5 for Puljujarvi/Tkachuk/Laine

[The Comish]

I figured I'd add a little more background information about Laine since I'm sure he will be one of the most asked about players of the 2016 draft class.

I just came here looking for some info on Laine. Thank you for the awesome amount of info Jouko-Pouko!

When Laine got his player of the game today against Canada, he absolutely made Saku Koivu look like a child. I know Koivu didn't have skates on, but Laine looked like a monster. With his huge frame, I'm intrigued by his NHL potential and will be following the 2016 Entry Draft closely (come on Edmonton...lol!).

[Zorro]

This kid oooooooooooooooozes talent!! Can you say #brightfuture

[miihaapa]

Laine has arguably the best wrister a Finn has ever had(think Selänne, Kurri) and an excellent one-timer and more importantly the balls to use them both whenever possible

[Rebbod]

Laine is in my farm system, so I hope I'll be a great player

[Nehithaw]

Laine is in my farm system, so I hope I'll be a great player

I too hope that we are drafting you in our leagues a couple years from now. All the best of luck with your hockey endeavours!

[franklin]

Patrik Laine 1. Period Highlights (Liiga 6. Finals Game)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvrw...0#action=share


Laine named Liiga playoff MVP

http://futureconsiderations.ca/laine...a-playoff-mvp/



Patrik Laine All 9 Playoffs Goals Compilation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U8v...ature=youtu.be