What Could Have Been - The Patrik Laine Story

Patrik Laine was seen to be the face of the Winnipeg Jets for a long time. In this video, we look back at how Laine went from the face of the Jets, to traded in just 4 seasons.

[Eskolol]

Imagine that scoring 63 points in 68 games is considered an "down year" for someone like Laine.

[BKDBut]

This makes it sound like he's dead or out of the league. Lol.

He just turned 24. If he can get the right coach and matures to hustle more, dude can still be one of the elite goal scorers and not have a horrendous + -

[maxrates]

While he's no Selänne yet the fans once again lost a great sniper. He's not a perfect player but he brings fans out of their seats, which is what it's all about.

[nickhigh]

that hatty vs matthews was absolutely electric

[PENS]

Patrik Laine may have faded a little bit but he has one thing that Auston Matthews doesn't, a playoff series win.

[TheRealDarkSide]

Laine's gonna be a great player in this league for a long time no matter who he plays for. Dude can crush it in CBJ - he can do it anywhere.

[rockdrummersrock]

As a CBJ fan this was a great watch. It gave me a lot of background on Laine's early career. Also thanks for being kind in regards to our team. I hope PLD is thriving for you guys as he was my favorite player before the trade. Keep up the good work and awesome content!

[austonboston]

Always wondered what happened in Winnipeg that Laine wanted out.
Was listening to a sports radio show, just last week actually, and what someone that knows said that away from the rink Laine was most happy staying in and playing video games. Apparently, Wheeler & Schiefelie were always on Patrik's case about hanging with them during down time. I mean, if that's the case and your teammate is a talent like Laine, leave him alone & let him be happy so he's recharged for games. A happy Laine will fill the opposition net & make you happy.

[leinadnagrom]

He was bullied out of Winnipeg by Wheeler and Schiefele and Paul Maurice didn't do a thing to stop it.

[crappyeditor]

This is not only the downfall of Laine but of the Jets. Something happened within that organization around the time Dustin Byfuglien "retired". Its clear theres something up, seeing as Paul Maurice quit on the and rumors Scheifele and Wheeler aren't happy.

[LieuFang]

I have some insight on the situation that leads me to believe that the biggest losers here will be Mark Scheifele and Cam Atkinson.

I remember from last year that Tortorella wasn't fired or released, his contract was up and he didn't want to sign another one. In fact he felt that his message had grown stale going into the pandemic break.
So the big thing was Tortorella didn't want to be coach the year Columbus got Laine. Torts had tried to step down from his job after the bubble playoffs, set on retirement. However Nick Foligno, Cam Atkinson, and Seth Jones conspired together to coerce and basically guilt trip Tortorella into returning for the last year of his contract.

Those three were Tortorella's biggest supporters in the locker room, and Jones and Atkinson wielded a lot of power through Tortorella. Similar to Scheifele and Wheeler and their dynamic with Paul Maurice.

There's whispers that Dubois's issues weren't with Tortorella specifically, but with the leadership. Especially Atkinson and Jones. During the lead up to the trade, Atkinson gave false information to major insiders saying that Dubois was just "selfish" and wanted to be a star in "a big market."

After the trade, Atkinson took a near instant dislike to Laine and often made up reasons to the media why Laine was at odds with Tortorella, often leaning into the "lazy Laine" talk. Many of his claims were inadvertently countered by Tortorella who was often perplexed where the media got these narratives, not realizing they came from one of his favourite players.

There are some archived reddit posts from around that time where some Blue Jackets fans claim that Atkinson was telling people in public that management was looking to trade Laine. From this, some infer that Atkinson fed the same rumours to insiders, just like he did with Dubois.

After Foligno was traded, nobody on the team was able to stop Tortorella from leaving. This led to Seth Jones' sudden reversal of an earlier claim that he wanted to sign long term in Columbus, and his new declaration that he wanted to go elsewhere. With most of the leadership gone, Atkinson made statements to fans in public where he suggested he would be the next captain.

However Atkinson had lost all of his allies, and management unceremoniously flipped him to the Flyers for Voracek (who is now a close friend of Laine's). While initially shocking, those in the know have let slip that Atkinson's trade was the result of him being a leak in the locker room, trying to consolidate power, and being toxic to some of his teammates. He notoriously didn't attend Matiss Kivlenieks funeral, doesn't want to talk about his trade, and Columbus has already reassigned his number to a rookie.

I see many similarities between what happened to Atkinson and what's happening to Scheifele now. If Scheifele faces a similar fate to Atkinson this summer, it will be a strange mirror for Laine and Dubois.
Where the former 2nd and 3rd picks from 2016 were not able to defeat toxic power structures on their original teams, the trade has forced the two front offices to confront problems with the leadership that could no longer be ignored.

[rileykazama]

It really sucks how Blake wheeler and Mark scheifele treated him like shit I don't blame him for leaving Winnipeg for that and I wish him the best with the Columbus blue jackets

[Ammar]

You should do more of these for players across the league. Their arent many people summing up players' careers in this fashion on youtube. I know your channel is based on the Jets but these kinds of videos could gain a bit of traction if you appeal to wider bases. The editing is good, the backstory and scrip are good and the clips along with the statistics are good too. If you're able to, would be cool to see more of these. Maybe a bit more of a what could have been outlook. Maybe a look into his production in Columbus, how he could have worked on the first line, contract situations, and personal opinions on the future if he stayed, how the outlook on their playoff picture might have looked if he was still there, etc... The summary is nice, but add a bit to it. Perhaps the "What happened series? "What could have been...." and ect... As a Sens fan, I've always wondered what could have been for the Stones, Hoffman, Karlsson teams, and stuff? Whether you do or not, this video was great. Appreciate the effort. I do think youve got a nice little hole in the NHL Youtube market to fill, if you wanted obviously.

[Luir_mias]

Best center laine played with so far, paul stastny, 44 goals and they went to conference finals. then jets didnt wanna sign stastny and then laine left... also rumors where wheeler and scheifele bullied him

[smorgdonkey]

Laine should have been used like Ovechkin is used. He would pound in all kinds of goals that way. Big Buff was the greatest asset on the team.

[JP-dmgi]

Patrik Laine has grown so much as a human being, he's matured. I like the direction Patrik is going. All the struggles on ice have benefited him in the end, he seems much more humble and balanced.

During last two weeks, he has attended and/or hosted five charity events in Finland to raise money for underprivileged children. And he never made any fuzz about himself, just the contrary.

Pat and Sasha (Barkov) are really good friends and they're both such classy guys.

[xJustDeadly]

I liked it but wish there was more about the “what could have been”. That was more of just a recap of laines career in Winnipeg then a “what could have been” video..

[breakawayx]

Patrik Laine was scoring goals like it was nothing to him. He had the best shot in the NHL hands down. He was scoring like the way Matthews is scoring now....1 goal per game pace and looked like he could put up 70 goals a year. Then something strange happened. I don't know if it was the concussion when he got laid out by Jake McCabe in Buffalo, or another injury....but something happened where it's like his mind changed...his game slowed down, his thinking became foggy, all his decisions were bad, and he couldn't even score anymore. He's still young and he could find his game back and put up 50 a year for the next 10 years, but just recalling what he was like in the beginning....that dude was the scariest goal scorer the NHL had seen. I think a good story can also be made for Jesse Puljujarvi (I thought he was going to be just as good or even better) and Alexander Nylander....how the hell did not become a superstar....this guy was just as good or in some ways better than his brother William Nylander.

[Nasse]

Laine never had a winning center apart from Statsny.

[soyentak]

Best part of this video is seeing Teemu in a jets jersey again