Laine assist

[rangerdanger]

His lack of assists will seriously hinder his fantasy value in the majority of leagues, despite his amazing goal scoring. It's definitely something I think he can and will improve on, but I do think he has the skills to produce more evenly down the road. His goal/assist ratio this year is seriously wacky though.

[als_revenge]

Buff got an assist too. These things happen all the time. In Fantrax, our GM's even refer to the "stat fairy" when there are really close match ups...

[FrozenInferno]

His lack of assists will seriously hinder his fantasy value in the majority of leagues, despite his amazing goal scoring. It's definitely something I think he can and will improve on, but I do think he has the skills to produce more evenly down the road. His goal/assist ratio this year is seriously wacky though.

The other scary thing is that just over one third of his points this year came in ONE week. He's goal heavy and inconsistent, both things that should improve as he develops and gets better deployment.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Laine is a project you have to be patient with even if it takes another year or so. When he reaches his final form my hope is he can be a 50 goal, 85pt type of player a lot of years.

[rangerdanger]

The other scary thing is that just over one third of his points this year came in ONE week. He's goal heavy and inconsistent, both things that should improve as he develops and gets better deployment.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Laine is a project you have to be patient with even if it takes another year or so. When he reaches his final form my hope is he can be a 50 goal, 85pt type of player a lot of years.

Yea, I would have to agree with everything you say there. It's unfortunate for fantasy purposes, I thought he would reach Ovechkin level fantasy player, doubted he would be as good as far as the NHL. But he really wasn't quite as mature or ready as many thought including myself. And I do think he's going to be more of an 85 point player eventually than a 95 point player. He's not quite as multi-dimensional as I had thought he would be, at least not yet.

Not to take anything away from him, he's still a great young player with a huge future. Just not the generational type talent I and I think others thought he could be.

[FrozenInferno]

Yea, I would have to agree with everything you say there. It's unfortunate for fantasy purposes, I thought he would reach Ovechkin level fantasy player, doubted he would be as good as far as the NHL. But he really wasn't quite as mature or ready as many thought including myself. And I do think he's going to be more of an 85 point player eventually than a 95 point player. He's not quite as multi-dimensional as I had thought he would be, at least not yet.

Not to take anything away from him, he's still a great young player with a huge future. Just not the generational type talent I and I think others thought he could be.

On the positive side he's barely 20, already has 100+ goals, and is doing it with second line minutes away from the team's elite center at even strength. In what other world is a budding superstar in his third season still getting 15-17 minutes a game on a second line? It's both super frustrating and almost unprecedented for a player of his caliber, but also very promising at the same time. It makes you wonder what he will be capable of when he finally gets top line minutes with Scheifele again.

I say again because for a stretch in his rookie season he was playing with Scheifele and the two absolutely TORE it up, both with Scheifele still not up to his current superstar form and with Laine being as green as they come. Both are now substantially better players than they were then but Maurice is apparently afraid to piss off captain Wheeler and give the once-or-twice-in-a-lifetime goal scorer a rightful spot on the top scoring line. It's beyond aggravating.

For those of us with the patience to wait out Maurice and his annoying decisions I think it'll be worth the wait though. He's a ticking time bomb who just needs the right line and more minutes to really take off.