Despite scoring a modest two points in three games since the start of the season, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine described his start to the season in strong terms.
It’s simple, the Finn doesn’t play at all the way he would like.
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“[C’est] “Pretty terrible so far,” Laine said in comments from journalist Jeff Svoboda. I can’t touch the net even if my life depends on it, I can’t play, I can’t win a faceoff. Basically there’s nothing I can do at the moment.
As a reminder, Laine now plays in the center, he who rotated his team’s second trio, completed by Adam Fantilli and Alexandre Texier, during training on Thursday. For a winger like him, adapting isn’t necessarily easy and the stats show it.
The 25-year-old has won just 42.1% of his faceoffs and has a differential of -3. He also only has eight shots on goal in this young season, which isn’t a lot for a top shooter like him.
A sign that things are going badly: His playing time fell from 19:11 in the first game of the year to 14:15 in the Blue Jackets’ last duel against the Detroit Red Wings.
However, Laine is not ready to give up as he has assured that he will roll up his sleeves to get out of this torpor.
“I’m going to keep working, keep building, try to put everything in order and try to get back to the level I need to be at,” he admitted.