When Patrik Laine joined the Montreal Canadiens, images of him standing in the left faceoff circle hammering one-timers ran rampant in my mind.
Few players in the National Hockey League shoot the puck as well as Alex Ovechkin. But when you watch Laine shoot the puck from the spot that has brought Ovechkin within 20 goals of Wayne Gretzky's record, it feels similar. Laine, like Ovechkin. simply overpowers the goaltender with his shot, in the same fashion as Ovie.
But, Laine shared with the Spittin Chiclets crew (Paul Bissonnette, Ryan Whitney and Keith Yandle) that he idolized the great eight growing up. Laine was enamoured by Ovechkin's blend of power and ability to score 60 goals. Ovechkin came into the league, and it was soon recognized that the NHL was going to be changed forever.
(At 2:19:14 the interview with Patrik Laine begins, and at 2:29:40 he discusses Ovechkin)
But way back in 2005-2006, when Ovechkin made his NHL debut, a soon-to-be six-year-old Laine was watching from Finland. Many players say they compare their game/style to a past or present NHL player, and it's a spotty comparison. Laine doesn't play the game as physically as Ovechkin, but his shot in a side-by-side with Ovechkin has some similarities.
Laine touched on growing up, he and his buddy were Washington Capitals fans, his buddy loved Mike Green and Laine loved Ovechkin. Ovie was bodying players, and the Chiclets crew all knew the animal that Ovechkin was, from playing against him. But Laine wanted to shoot the puck like Ovechkin, and judging by his highlight reel of goals during his NHL career, he has been quite successful.
The Tampere, Finland native, has been electric for the Canadiens, and I'm not sure how many goals he will score throughout the rest of his career. But, I would love to see him score the rest of his goals in a Canadiens sweater. Laine currently has 216 goals through 498 NHL games, and 12 of those have come through 18 games with the Habs this season.
If he can get a boost with some of the health that Ovechkin has had throughout his career, he could make some noise on the Canadiens' all-time goals list.
With 36 games to go, how many goals will Laine score?
As mentioned above, Laine has played 18 games for the Canadiens this season, and because of injury troubles, the maximum amount of games he can play is 54. That gives Laine 36 more games to play in the 2024-2025 season. Laine played 56 and 55 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets (2021-22 and 2022-23) and he scored 26 goals and 22 goals.
I would expect that Laine will score more than 10 goals over the next 36 games, so I think that he will reach at least 30 goals. If he does, it will be the third time in his career with 30 goals or more (44, 36 & 30). I think with the growing core in Montreal, and all the youth pushing towards NHL roles, he could establish a new career high in goals next season.
With guys like Lane Hutson, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Ivan Demidov joining the Habs next year, I expect that Laine will have plenty of high-danger scoring chances. A full 82-game season could go a long way in ultimately establishing his goal-scoring capabilities over a full year. I think that he can score 40-plus again, additionally, I think he has 50-goal potential, and it would be beautiful to watch him achieve those numbers with the Habs.
Patty Ice is finding his groove with the Habs, and I expect as the team gets better, he will ignite the Bell Centre crowd many more times over.