Patrik Laine: Prospect Scouting Report

[Laine 1,361]

Player Name: Patrik Laine
RW | 6' 5" | 205 lb. | Age: 18 |  | 

 

Patrik Laine is an 18 year old right wing born in Tampere, Finland. Patrik signed with the Houston Bulls on a 1 year, 1.5 Million dollar contract in S73. In his contract year, Laine put up 27 goals and 32 assists, good for 59 points in 58 games and also threw 118 hits. He is projected to go in the 2nd round of this year's VHL draft. He is often looked at as a sniper-power forward hybrid. Laine has the shot of a great goal scorer and the frame of a big hitting power forward. Laine is also exposed in this year's VHLM Dispersal Draft and can be selected by any VHLM team. Going into next year, Laine is expected to stay in the VHLM and will most likely playing top minutes with a VHLM club.

 

 

STRENGTHS:

 

Shooting: Laine is one of the best snipers in the VHLM, almost averaging 0.47 goals per game as a rookie and tacking 21 of his 27 goals as 5 on 5. His biggest strength is his wrist shot. He can score with his wrist shot from almost anywhere on the ice. His wrist shots are faster and harder then most slapshots. However, his biggest special teams threat is his one timer. He has a cannon of a one timer that can be poison to a team's penalty kill if left open. He can still rip his one timers with 5 on 5 ice as well.

 

Defence: Laine is a great defensive winger. He can use his speed to hustle back down the ice and his big frame to knock opponents off the puck in the defensive and neutral zones. Laine can also use his big frame to block shots that are heading towards his goaltender. He was a big part of Houston's late season surge as he was playing top minutes and rarely was on the ice for a 5 on 5 goal and was also one of the featured players on Houston's penalty kill that was great down the stretch.

 

Puck Handling: Laine is great with the puck. He can deke around almost any defender and is excellent with control of the puck. Laine struggled early in the season with constant turnovers marking his first 29 games but practiced and picked up his deking game down the stretch and was great with the puck the last 29 games of the season. Laine will only get better with this and this is a green light for any team.

 

 

WEAKNESSES:

 

Doesn't use his big frame to his advantage: Despite Laine having a massive 6' 5" frame, he does not hit a lot. This is not to say Laine doesn't hit at all as he recorded 118 hits in 58 games last year, but he doesn't use his big frame as well as he could. This can easily be worked out of Laine's game and can help him to be a better play driver without the puck.

 

Strength: Laine has a big frame but at the moment is not very strong. He has a hard time pinning other players against the board without having the advantage with his frame. He can easily work this out but it was a part of the reason he had more turnovers then takeaways last season.

 

 

PERSONALITY:

 

Laine has a big personality. He is a leader in the locker room and loves interacting with the media and the fans. He puts the team's interests over his own interests most of the time and has publicly said that in a certain situation, he would be willing to take a team friendly contract in order to help his team compete for a championship. He was a bright light in the Houston locker room last season even during terrible losing streaks and can make and keep a locker room alive.

 

 

 

COMPARABLES:

Using NHL players as our comparables, Laine's current comparable is Kaapo Kakko. If Laine puts the time in with his work ethic which we have seen, he has the ability to turn into a superstar. If he does become a superstar, he would be just like Alex Ovechkin.

 

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