The Winnipeg Jets don't know what to do with forward Patrik Laine to get him going again. On Tuesday night in his team's 4-3 shootout win over the Boston Bruins, it was revealed that Laine played just 10:55 of ice time, the second-lowest total of his 205-game NHL career.
This is supposed to be a career year for Laine, the one a player should want to make count seeing that the 20-year-old is a pending restricted free agent, looking for a big pay raise in the summer.
However, the sniper has just four goals and 10 points in his past 27 games, and just nine assists in 50 contests; he is not proving to the Jets that he deserves a hefty contract extension. Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos went a step further, stating that he doesn't see Laine in Winnipeg long term.
"This may be the trickiest contract situation because we look at the RFAs and most of them are already stars on their teams, and I'm not saying that Patrik Laine with his 40 goals a year isn't a star player, his ice time doesn't dictate that... and key situations don't dictate that on the ice. So how are you going to go pay the guy $8-$9 or $10 million dollars a year when you look at all those factors? Cheveldayoff... I see a really short term deal for Laine, and I don't necessarily see him staying in Winnipeg for a very long period of time, there is no way you see Laine signing a six, seven or eight-year deal. Not a chance."
It remains to be seen what GM Kevin Cheveldayoff will decide to offer Laine over the course of the summer, however, the kid has some time to make up and prove to his team he can be an asset for the full 82-game calendar and beyond.
There was a report that Laine was caught playing more than 14 hours of Fortnite online on Saturday, ahead of one of the most disastrous game of his career. There could be a problem there that the team wants to solve before getting serious about a contrat extension. Nonetheless, Kypreos is adamant that a deal would be a short-term one for the Finnish forward.
For now, he needs to focus on getting his offensive talents going.
“It’s patience with him,” head coach Paul Maurice told the Winnipeg Sun. “He’s trying and he’s working his way into being a 20-year-old in the NHL and what’s it is like to be a guy who is expected to score every time he touches the puck. He’s got a contract coming up, he’s playing in Canada – there’s a huge payoff to all of this because he’s learning a lot of stuff right now.”
