Laine sidesteps Trouba’s dispute with team brass
Chosen second overall this summer, forward takes ice for first time as Jet
It would take a pretty significant event to overshadow the arrival of Patrik Laine to Winnipeg Jets training camp.
The Flying Finn has been the toast of the town since the Jets plucked him second overall in the NHL draft in early summer.
Yet as Laine joined the Jets for his first practice on Monday, the buzz wasn’t so much about the size, skill and personality of the most prized prospect of Jets 2.0 as it was about the unhappy holdout on the blue-line.
So much for being one big, happy family.
Jacob Trouba’s ongoing financial war with the Jets, escalated when he lobbed a very public trade-demand grenade on the weekend, has left shrapnel everywhere.
On Sunday, teammate Mathieu Perreault hit the bull’s-eye by calling his teammate selfish, wondering aloud how many minutes of ice time a guy needs, while Bryan Little’s comment that 60 other players would die to wear the Jets sweater was equally telling.
At the same time, teammates are tossing out the type of player union-friendly comments you’d expect about Trouba’s right to “do what a guy’s gotta do,” as Dustin Byfuglien put it on Monday.
Into this strange mix walked what was supposed to be the 6-foot-4 feel-good story of the season. Welcome to the NHL, kid. “It’s not my deal, so I don’t have to think about that,” Laine told his first training camp media scrum. “Obviously he’s a good player and we would like to keep him here.” A fine bit of stickhandling, that. This whole Trouba thing couldn’t have gone much worse for the Jets, and the hardball being played by GM Kevin Cheveldayoff — despite a trade demand back in May, he has yet to deal the disgruntled Dman — says a lot about the team’s position.
That said, the Jets aren’t the type of organization to keep someone who doesn’t want to be there.
There are no such inklings from Laine, who arrived from a disappointing World Cup appearance eager to settle into his new home.
“Maybe a little bit nervous,” Laine admitted.
“Everything is new, and bigger. I think it’s going to be my home soon — I’m going to feel like that.
“It’s obviously a hockey city, and everybody knows the team. It’s kind of this city’s team.”
Known for some not-so-modest proclamations about how good he was going into the draft, Laine took the humble road on Day 1.
On his goals this season: “Just hard-working every day and hope I can make it to the team.
“That’s my only goal, is making the team and playing in the NHL the whole season. Everything else is a plus.”
It’s not my deal, so I don’t have to think about that. Obviously (Trouba’s) a good player and we would like to keep him here.
On the expectations: “Of course, the city and the team has some kind of expectations for me. But I just want to ignore that ... try to focus on my job, which is playing hockey so that I’m good at it.”
On which linemates might suit him best: “I just want to do what I can do on the ice and show the coaches that I can play hockey. They can think about the lines after the training camp.”
Laine is easily the most hyped prospect the Jets have had.
He’s pencilled in to earn a spot on the second line, next to Bryan Little, although on Monday he was skating alongside Blake Wheeler.
“He’s one of those guys that whenever he gets the puck, there’s a chance something is going to happen,” Wheeler said of Laine. “He’s a pretty unique guy, pretty unique talent ... pretty easy to play with, in terms of what I do out there and what he does. There seemed to be a pretty good fit there.”