Why Patrik Laine Is Struggling To Find His Confidence And Level Up His Game
A Four-Point Plan to Improve Patrik Laine
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine was made a healthy scratch on November 19, 2023. Things have been tough for Laine and for the Blue Jackets alike, who now have $8.7 million in opportunity costs sitting on their books. There are a few areas I want to highlight as to why I think Laine struggles to become the otherworldly player we all know he could be given his obvious toolkit.
Movement vs Stopping
Particularly on first touch Laine is slowing down and becoming an easy target for opponents.
Fishing vs Body Leveraging
Rather than using his body and “playing big,” Laine often fishes with his stick.
Puck Risk Management
Lack of a high-level team strategy and understanding when his team is at risk. Struggles to pick his spots.
Often lacking understanding of when to go 1v1 and forcing the play too often.
Scanning before, during, and after puck touches
A running joke amongst friends is that his lack of awareness leads to him running into teammates, sometimes 3-4 times a game.
Ultimately, Laine has shown very little evolution in his game. In the NHL, that is a death trap given the amount of study opponents do. If you’re not finding new ways to deploy your talents… you’re falling towards being irrelevant.
Movement vs Stopping
Offensive hockey is about movement. As such, defensive hockey is about stopping movement. In the below clip, watch how Johnny Gaudreau is moving before and through his puck touch.
He accelerates during his touch such that the defense as a unit cannot process what is happening fast enough, and eventually the unit yields a wide-open lane to the net.
Laine, meanwhile, is often caught coming to a stop. Once trapped, Laine relies on his quick hands, long reach, and upper body strength.
There are a ton of benefits of accelerating through pickups/first touch, including separation from the defense. This is a big way in which Gaudreau avoids getting pinned into 1v1 battles where he is at a disadvantage.
Gaudreau increases the speed of the game; Laine slows it down. Given offense is about movement and defense is about stopping movement, the advantage goes to Gaudreau.
Another area you’ll notice Laine’s lack of movement is through the offensive rushes where he fails to gain depth. Here is an example where a teammate tries to communicate with him about where he should skate by sending an area pass behind the defense.
Related: Leveraging Hockey IQ
Unsurprisingly, Laine has a ton of success when he is able to gain speed before getting on the puck. Often this is when he is building speed behind and away from the puck to gain a large speed differential to attack the defenders.
Fishing vs Body Leveraging
What is Fishing in Hockey?
Puck Risk Management
Laine shows a lack of understanding and awareness of the team-level picture. Often, his lack of understanding ends up costing his team possession and goals against.
Scanning before, during, and after Puck Touches
I’m serious when I talk about Laine running into teammates. Look for it next time you watch him play. It’s unbelievably rare at the NHL level to see offensive teammates run into each other and Laine does it regularly.
Running into his teammates is merely a symptom of his lack of forethought and scanning. Because he scans infrequently compared to what he should, he’s unable to build a mental map of what is happening before he receives the puck. He’s effectively playing in the present instead of playing in the future.
He often simply notices what is in front of him and struggles to find other layers and players behind him. Scanning allows for decision-making with greater information. The difference is like the difference between a rough sketch and a color painting by Van Gogh. Without scanning, it’s difficult to process the ever-changing environment.
As we touched upon in our scanning series, higher scanning frequency correlates with a higher level of performance.
Final Words
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” - Albert Einstein
Laine has great tools but has shown to make the same mistakes time and time again. There is very little evolution that has been displayed and concerning to all involved. Our four-point Laine improvement plan would involve:
Focusing on keeping movement and accelerating on first touch.
Utilizing position before possession to win more & retain pucks.
Deploying empathy toward his teammates to improve puck risk management
Increasing Laine’s scanning before, during, and after puck touches
Hopefully, Laine can learn new tricks and become a relevant NHL star again.
Further Reading
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