The Winnipeg Jets got lucky when the second pick in the 2016 NHL draft fell into their laps, but how good can that pick get?
It didn’t take long for the Winnipeg Jets to realize they struck gold with Patrik Laine. He scored 36 goals in 73 games in his inaugural NHL season, finishing second in the Calder race to the man who was the first overall pick, Auston Matthews.
But that’s just fine. Thirty six goals is a lot. But he followed that up with 44 in year two, when he was just 19. Before he hit his 20s, Laine had accumulated 80 goals. Not a bad start.
Two people seem like they’re attached to Laine: Alex Ovechkin, he of the similar play style and insane goal totals, and Teemu Selanne, the NHL’s top Finnish-born player. Can Laine make either of those sound, well, not crazy?
Hard to say. Probably not. Alex Ovechkin is among the top snipers of all time. Laine scored 36 in his rookie year, Ovechkin scored 52. Ovechkin is averaging over 46 goals a year. Laine has yet to reach that total.
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That even includes the 48 game lockout season, where Ovie had 32 goals. Absurd. More than 50 goals five times, and 65 as a career high. But Ovechkin had zero goals entering his age 20 season. That was his rookie campaign.
Laine’s already at 80. If he puts up 50 this season, and looks like he could broach 100 points, I’ll start giving that some consideration. For now, they have similar games and similar shots, but Ovechkin is the game’s greatest sniper (currently).
The two are forever linked, however, and it’s fun to have an Ovechkin Lite, especially on the Jets. Laine is almost underrated now, due to his poor showing in the playoffs. Laine is so very good. The goals will always be there. Let’s just see how many he can pop off.
The Finnish Flash Revisited
As for Teemu Selanne, they don’t call him the Finnish Flash for nothing. Look, the NHL was different in the early 90s. Scoring was up. I don’t have to tell you that. But I can give you this tidbit: Selanne had 76 goals and 132 poinits, and finished SIXTH in the Hart Trophy race.
He didn’t even receive a first place vote. Mario Lemieux won with 160 points, with 69 nice goals. Injuries plagued Selanne, and he only played three and a half seasons with the Jets. I think if he had returned to Winnipeg when they came back in 2011, it would’ve been my favorite weird hockey thing.
Unfortunately, he didn’t. Selanne, if you didn’t know, played until 2013-2014. I don’t remember that at all. His last two seasons weren’t much to write home about, but he was a 66 point player at age 41. That’s impressive.
Laine has a long way to go, for longevity if nothing else, to reach any of the highs Selanne did. I could see him surpassing the 684 goals he totaled, but Selanne averaged over a point per game in 1400+ career contests.
That is uh, not easy. Especially not in today’s NHL, where scoring is down a bit. But! If you are just comparing greatness to greatness, relative to your peers, Laine might some day go down as one of the league’s best goal scorers. He is just 20, after all. Who could know?
Perhaps the Finnish Splash is writing his own course. He doesn’t need to be Alex Ovechkin, he doesn’t need to be Teemu Selanne. But he does, apparently, need to be great. And we should cherish that while it’s here.