The “fantasy” of having Patrik Laine on the Islanders is more of a nightmare to me. His ludicrous multi-goal games simply hide his inconsistency, laziness and other issues any competent GM would avoid at all costs.

Laine has 247 points in 305 NHL games. He’s also a guaranteed 30-goal scorer when healthy. But the young sniper has a tendency to disappear for long periods of time. During the 2018-2019 season, he went through five stretches of five or more games without a goal. He scored only five goals between December 23rd and April 6th 2019.

This past season, Laine had a 10-game goalless drought in October and November. He had another long drought from January 4th to the 19th. Yet hat tricks and multi-goal games masked this glaring inconsistency.

His attitude has been a concern as well. Olli Savikko, one of Laine’s youth coaches, said that if he didn’t meet his objectives, he’d beat himself up. “He was very upset and he would show it, slamming the stick,” he said.

During the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, analysts criticized Laine’s lack of involvement in the forecheck. They also suggested his compete level was not where it should have been at certain times. We already have inconsistent scoring, and the Islanders at their best when they’re winning puck battles and forechecking. Patrik Laine doesn’t play Islanders hockey. He’s a bad fit for the organization.

Speaking of the draft, the Islanders went way off the board to select Alexander Ljungkrantz with the 90th pick. Central Scouting ranked him as the 66th best European skater by Central Scouting, but he was the selected 30th.

His scouting bio is perhaps why. “Ljungkrantz defensive game revolves around his hard work and giving full effort in all situations,” wrote eliteprospects.com. That sounds like someone with Islanders hockey in their DNA. Laine, on the other hand, was a -24 in 2018-2019.

It would be unfair to Laine to say that he didn’t somewhat rebound this season. He had 63 points in 68 games and was +8 after scoring only 50 a season prior. He was in the running for the Maurice Richard trophy two seasons ago as well.

However, I simply don’t think Laine will adapt to our hard-nosed style of defensive play when there are many times where he doesn’t even play offence. If he’s not working hard in the offensive zone, then he can’t even fix our power play.

Taking on Laine’s expensive contract, even for a year, is not worth the risk. That’s especially true during the coronavirus cap crunch. The Islanders would be better off signing an underrated or recently bought out player in free agency.

Nevertheless, the Jets seem intent on trading their star forward. Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff acknowledged that the team was listening to offers for Laine. Insider Darren Dreger previously claimed that the team was going to trade him. The Jets could be looking for a second line center and/or defensive depth. The Jets other RWs under contract include Blake Wheeler, Nikolaj Ehlers and Jack Roslovic.

Ben Baruch

Born and raised on Long Island. Isles fan since 2009. Studying journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park.