TSN Talking Point – Will brighter spotlight help and hinder Laine?
TSN Hockey Analyst Martin Biron was on the latest edition of the Talking Point and Biron states that newly aquired Montreal Canadiens forward Patrik Laine will fare well and thrive under the pressure of playing in a city like Montreal.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
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Martin Biron: “I really believe the bright lights of Montreal are going to help Patrik Laine Now, let’s not forget, we’re talking about one rush one moment in a preseason game, right? And the fan support was awesome, but I think of Patrik Laine and I go back to his draft year, he was thought of to be one of these top prospects, along with Auston Matthews and all that Laine did under the big, bright lights of all the scouts was performed almost two points a game at the World Juniors.
He had seven goals in seven games, over a point a game in the World Championship, playing with man right getting ready for the draft, and he performed extremely well. His first year in the National Hockey Leaguee, had 36 goals in the bright spotlight, and the second year, 44 goals.
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Now the spotlights kind of dimmed a little bit in the last couple of years in Winnipeg, and they weren’t really there in Columbus for Patrik Laine so coming back to Montreal, having that big market, and everybody’s watching them around the National Hockey League.
I really think it’s going to help Patrick finally regain that form, that top goal scorer, and maybe doesn’t score 40 goals, maybe it’s 30, maybe it’s 25 but I still think that we’re going to see the flash and the excitement in Patrik Laine’s game that we haven’t seen in a while now.
So I think this is going to be fun. And, you know, being from Quebec City, I didn’t grow up a Montreal Canadiens fan, but I respected the fan support to the players that really were the underdog that needed, you know, that were really a representation of hard working people in Montreal.
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I remember back in the days of the Guy Carbonneau and Bob Gainey and those guys like they weren’t the top superstars, they weren’t Jean Beliveau, they weren’t Patrick Roy, but they got the support, and I think that Patrik Laine is going to get that support of the underdog coming into the Montreal Canadiens and wanting to give everything he’s got for that organization.
I remember Sheldon Souray getting that support after the wrist surgery, and there’s been so many of those great stories in Montreal, and I think that Patrik Laine with the bright lights and fan support is going to have a fun season.
Will it translate into the big numbers, we don’t know, but I think he’s going to love playing hockey in Montreal and the bright lights are going to be great for him.”