It only took about a week for Patrik Laine to establish himself as one of the best young goal scorers in the NHL last season.
In the Winnipeg Jets standout’s first game, he tallied a goal and an assist. In his fourth, he earned his first hat trick. Of course, by the end of 2016-17, there was no debate, as Laine finished the season with 36 goals and became the first player in history to net three hat tricks before his 19th birthday.
Now preparing for his sophomore follow-up, it would be fair to assume the young star is looking to take the next step offensively, and perhaps flirt with some more goal-scoring records.
Not so, according to Laine. Or at least that’s not the priority.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m going to score 50 goals,” Laine said to NHL.com’s Tim Campbell on Friday. “If the team is not going to make the playoffs and I score 50 goals, I’m not happy. If I’m going to score 10 goals and the team makes the playoffs, of course I will be excited. I’ll be thrilled. That’s what I think.”
The Jets have all the tools to be a dangerous sleeper team next season, boasting a promising offensive group brimming with talented young stars like Laine, Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers.
Luckily for Laine, besting his 36-goal, 64-point effort from last year likely won’t hinder Winnipeg’s chances of making the playoffs this time around. And if the young Finn has a 50-goal campaign in him, it’s fair to assume his teammates would be just fine with seeing him unleash that potential on the rest of the league.
It won’t be easy though, even with that elite skill set, and Laine is well aware.
“I guess everybody knows me and what I can do. I just need to be better,” Laine said. “The opponents will be next to me always and during the power play they will kind of be standing next to me kind of like they do with (Alex Ovechkin). So I will need to find more space and try to do some new tricks on the ice so I can get that space and maybe a couple of goals.”
Limited to just 73 games last season, Laine was on pace to top the 40-goal plateau had he suited up for a full 82 games. With the regular season just a few weeks away, he’ll soon get another chance to hit that mark. And, more importantly, to help Winnipeg try for a long-awaited post-season return.
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