ANOTHER SHOT
Star forward Laine looks to improve in Year 2 with Blue Jackets
A lot of adjectives can be used to describe Patrik Laine.
“Boring” isn't one of them.
Entering his second season as a Blue Jacket, sixth in the NHL, the enigmatic Finnish forward remains anything but bland. He's a fashion plate. Wears gold chains that dangle halfway down his chest. Drives a yellow Lamborghini.
As a Winnipeg Jet, Laine once grew a beard so wispy and long that it made him look like a billy goat. He's also not one to settle easily for hockey clichés.
That's not Laine. Cliches are too boring, not to mention disingenuous. Laine prefers to tackle the toughest questions with blunt honesty. And that's how his first press conference of this new
Blue Jackets season reached a point where he let out this beauty:
“I just want to be a better player than I was last year, and it's going to be easier this year because I was pretty (expletive) last year.”
It took mere minutes for that comment to catch fire on social media. What he said leading up to it drew less attention, but was equally informative. Asked if he's motivated by a careerlow 12 goals and 24 points in 46 games last season, perhaps to prove those numbers don't reflect his talent, Laine scoffed. His indignance was indisputable.
Prove what exactly?
That he's still Patrik Laine, bringer of goals, who potted 44 in just his second NHL season? That he's the same guy who's scored 150 times in 351 career games?
“Yeah, I don't think I need to prove anything anymore,” Laine said. “I think I've proved already what I can do in this league. You know, scoring over 40, it's not an everyday thing for a lot of guys in this league. So, I know I've done that already. So, I don't think I'm in that position anymore, where I need to prove anything to anybody.”
Especially not to himself.