Well that sucks. And is it wrong of me to just believe this because I've heard Wheeler is a big jerk?
This core had a ton of potential for a few years there
Makes you wonder what could have been if this stuff was going on behind the scenes.
I saw this and found it interesting. I'm not sure how much truth there is to it because it's not coming from one of the main "insiders" but thought I'd share it. Click the link for the full story.
https://novacapsfans.com/2021/01/26/...n-locker-room/
Pekka Jalonen of the Finnish publication Iltalehti (Evening News) revealed his belief why Patrik Laine wished to leave the Winnipeg Jets. It was because of issues with fellow stars on the team.
When Patrik Laine was drafted with the second overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Winnipeg Jets fans were ecstatic. Almost immediately, the then 18-year-old became a fan favorite, as he scored 36 goals in his rookie season. He scored 44 goals in his second season and grew even more popular with the fans.
However, according to the report his relationships with two of the Jets’ other star players were partly to blame for his desire to leave Winnipeg. These players were the team captain and right winger, Blake Wheeler, and the team’s number one center, Mark Scheifele.
According to inside information that ltalehti staffers gathered, Wheeler felt his position as the team’s top right winger was threatened by Laine, whose original position was right wing. He was also not enthusiastic that Laine’s popularity could possibly rival that of Teemu Selanne, who had played with the previous incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets.
Meanwhile, Scheifele made it clear to everyone that he preferred to play with Wheeler than with Laine.
10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, SBennett
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."
Well that sucks. And is it wrong of me to just believe this because I've heard Wheeler is a big jerk?
This core had a ton of potential for a few years there
Makes you wonder what could have been if this stuff was going on behind the scenes.
A player preferring to play with guy X instead of guy Y is so commonplace, it would need to be really, really over the top or for guy Y to be very thin-skinned for this to be a big deal.
Want a Signature? Go to Settings, and you'll find Edit Signature down the list on the left.
File that under "non-story"
WHL - World Hockey League (24 Team - Daily H2H)
Maine Moose 2021-2022
2019 WHL GM of the Year #Supersoft
That bit about Selanne is...very bizarre and sounds extremely made up.
But yeah I gather the tough love Laine got from the veterans did get to him - Wheeler and Byfuglien in particular.
From what have read/heard Laine didn't love his utilization on the team for many years - although last year was an improvement, but at that point I think he had decided he wanted to leave. It was clear the management wasn't going to change the coach or force him to play Laine more.
The Jets have been thinking about moving Laine for a few years - they were apparently completely ready to trade him if they landed Mark Stone. Laine probably knew that, I can see why he would be ready for a change of scenery.
At the end of the day, I think Laine wanted to get paid like a superstar and the Jets weren't and still wouldn't have been willing to go high enough. He will probably get what he wants in Columbus, I would imagine.
12 team H2H Most Cats Wins; Keep 6/winner keeps 7; G A PPP +/- SHP SOG HIT BLK PIM // W SV GAA SV% SHO
3 C, 3 LW, 3 RW, 6D, 2G, 5 bench
C - McDavid, Crosby, Tavares, Hertl
LW - DeBrincat, Boldy, Lafreniere
RW - Meier, Miller, Boeser, Nichushkin
D - Dobson, Karlsson
G - Jarry, Luukkonen
Laine wanted out because he’s a coddled baby. If he had any sense he’d realize he could have helped turn that team into a juggernaut. Wheeler said it himself the year after they went to the conf final he pressured the team to work harder and commit far more and that he was too intense at times. His window is closing it makes sense.. buff probably didn’t want to put his body through that kind of commitment anymore.
The stuff about the Selanne jealousy is so ludicrous and sounds written by a 12 yr old. Laine is NOT Selanne and it’s a huge insult to Selanne...
Blades of Steel
9 Team Full Keeper - Pts Only (G,A,W,SO)
Crosby, Wheeler, Bergeron, Forsberg, Connor, Kopitar, E.Lindholm, Pastrnak, DeBrincat, Fiala
Jones, Klingberg, Hamilton, Theodore, Letang
Saros, Shesterkin
Garland, Vrana, Bjorkstrand, Verhaege, Backstrom, Karlsson, Perunovich, Spurgeon, Pulock, Hellebuyck
I've been trying not to give this rumour much consideration because who really knows about it's validity. Could be true, could be false. I refuse to draw conclusions or judgement one way or another until there is more solid information to discuss.
I mean the Scheifele thing is widely reported and has been reported for multiple years, so that is obviously true.
If you listen to some of the interviews Wheeler has done it's pretty obvious him and Laine didn't really get along.
I think both of these are pretty obviously true. I doubt the Selanne thing has any merit.
Here's how I see it:
1. This is a 'homer' report. Fans in Finland and Sweden are huge - I believe they love their players even more than Canada loves theirs. They can be pretty hardcore! (that's not a bad thing at all)
2. Scheifele saying this is absolutely fine. Right? I mean, if you're the top center on your team and someone asks who you want to play with, is it wrong to answer? I'm assuming he's answering the coach, or just in the privacy of a dressing room.
3. His popularity wasn't going to touch Selanne. Laine has too many holes in his game and the Jets were wise to trade him before other teams caught on. In 2018-19 he was treated the way a star should be treated: anchor his own line, play both ends, produce the big numbers. What did he do? Well, he wasn't good. His own line was so bad that they called it the second line. His defense was very weak. He showed that he wasn't yet a star. If he was a star, his line would have been the top line and Scheifele-Wheeler would have been second line. Is he better than those two or not? So in 2019-20 he was put back with stars, only given offensive roles, and asked to do zero defense. And he was back to flourishing.
Selanne could be out there with Axeman at center and hockeyrobot on the other wing and he would still get 50 goals. Laine needs top linemates to thrive, otherwise he's a 30-goal scorer with defensive deficiencies. With top linemates, he can get 50+ but he needs the players around him and he can't be counted on for defensive zone play.
My .02!
The Best Fantasy Hockey Site
15-Team Keeper, points only, best 12 fwd, 4 dman, 2 G count. Playoffs count.
F - T. Thompson, Thomas, Nylander, Benson, Guentzel, Fiala, Quinn, Mittelstadt, Hagel, Zacha, Kovalenko, Berggren, Brink, Ostlund
G - Vejmelka, L. Thompson, Levi, Comrie, Daws
D - Hronek, Morrissey, Lundkvist, Girard, Brannstrom, Hanifin, Severson, Nikishin, Andrae
I agree with you, and thats why I started the link with my comment about taking it with a grain of salt primarily because I am not familiar with the source. I did find it interesting that both Wheeler and Maurice both have openly admitted that they there were issues that they wish they could have handled differently. Of course they will say that to the media.
10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, SBennett
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."
Laine, at this stage of his career, is a lot like Ovechkin was as a kid.
They are goal-centric... and as a young player, that's going to rub a lot of veteran players the wrong way.
(I really disliked Ovechkin in his first 4-5 years... but Ovechkin really came around as complete player... and I've really respected him since he did.)
I didn't play high-level hockey... but I always hated the point-centric wingers on teams I played with... that's the easiest job in hockey, winger.
The center is responsible for 200' (two-way) play.
Some wingers, like Wheeler, take that shit seriously too.
But a lot of young wingers do not.
And fans do go ga-ga over the highlights.
But... in the lockerroom, you ain't shit unless your complete game is helping teams win games.
Wheeler's worst +/- season in Winnipeg is a -3.
Scheifele's worst full +/- season in Winnipeg is a +2... that's right... (this season's -1 not counting. You can be certain Scheifele takes a LOT of pride in that +/-)
...
Laine's worst +/- season in Winnipeg... is a -24.
[*Notably: Ovechkin also has a -19 and a -35 on his career stats... so it happens... it doesn't define Laine's future, but it sort of defines him now.]
People can poo-poo the +/- for individual shifts... and when sub-par players get gift pluses from playing with two-way gems.
But PLUS guys like Scheifele and Wheeler don't like MINUS guys like Laine and Kovalchuk.
(And this is not a regional-bash, there are plenty of North American wingers I hate, and plenty of European wingers - notably Hossa and Jere Lehtinen, that I have loved)
ALL hockey players, including wingers, need to be two-way players.
When Ovechkin finally got his shit together... that's when Washington actually started to become a serious Stanley Cup threat... and eventually they did it.
But Laine is really, really effin far from being a complete hockey player.
So yeah... I think there's a lot of truth that vets like Scheifele and Wheeler didn't want to play with him.
The Laine's of the world are drags on a guys +/-... and they still get all the glory from casual hockey fans that think they're hot shit from their goals.
#Kovalchuk (The ultimate +/- drag)
Laine + Torts is gonna be REALLLLLLLL interesting.
This is my new favourite hockey storyline of 2021.
(And, FWIW, I think this trade would've gotten done way sooner... except that I'd bet Jarmo has some hesitation on how this experiment with Torts/Laine will go...)
Yeah - This goes one of two ways...Laine gets Torts fired or Torts turns Laine into a much more complete player. I'm favoring the latter.
12 team Yahoo Roto keeper (keep 3)
9 F, 6 D; roster 3 G max
G,A,PPP,SOG,BLKS,HITS - W,SO,SV%,Saves
F: B Tkachuk, Stutzle, Eriksson Ek, Necas, Konecny, Cooley, Boldy, Lehkonen, Tippett
D: Dahlin, Seider, Matheson, Durzi, Addison, Mintyukov
G: Hill, Husso
IR:
Bench: L Hughes, Merzlikins, Terry, Tuch
Anyone here enjoy winning? or love winning? We all have that competitive side?
Anyone here enjoy being successful at work? When your project team accomplishes something significant?
If you are a team player and a leader on a team and you see a guy not pulling his weight continuously are you going to be his best friend and let him off the hook? Or are you going to tell him to pick it up?
As an accountant... we had a couple employees leaving work at 5:00 every day through tax-season. Think the bosses treated these employees with delight and joy?
No... for anyone to put the blame on Wheeler without legit facts is obviously a part-timer that has never played the game and thinks hockey is only about scoring goals and not playing the game.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the root cause reason Laine failed in Winnipeg - Maurice is a shitty ass coach.
12 team Yahoo Roto keeper (keep 3)
9 F, 6 D; roster 3 G max
G,A,PPP,SOG,BLKS,HITS - W,SO,SV%,Saves
F: B Tkachuk, Stutzle, Eriksson Ek, Necas, Konecny, Cooley, Boldy, Lehkonen, Tippett
D: Dahlin, Seider, Matheson, Durzi, Addison, Mintyukov
G: Hill, Husso
IR:
Bench: L Hughes, Merzlikins, Terry, Tuch