What happened to Patrik Laine's magic?

Patrik Laine entered the NHL as a generational talent to match Auston Matthews but after impressing out of the gate, his career has stalled and the 25-year-old has only two goals and one assist in nine games this season with Columbus.

Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Johnny Gaudreau not having himself a good time there. I think he only had like 2 points through the 9-game losing streak that the Jackets have had to this point. Patrik Laine doesn't play in the last game. It seems like he's not going through an easy time too. What do you do with these two star players on this team that-- fine, maybe your expectations vary compared to the rest of the division. But they are not themselves right now. What do you do with those guys?

- I have one suggestion.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Sure, why not.

- You can stop playing Patrik Laine at center.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Oh, yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Is it-- you know what? I just want to say something here. Like, I think Patrik Laine has shown too much in his career to ever be labeled a bust. I think as a number two overall pick just-- he has just-- especially when he came out the league, he was really good.

- Yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: It's just-- but it has just been so sad and so disheartening to see him be a shell of of himself for the last how many years as a player. He does not have that same dynamic presence that we thought he would have once he burst out the gate. Like, we should be talking about-- I-- I wanted a world where Matthews and Laine would be compared to each other forever, and they would be neck and neck in terms of statisticals.

- Laine was being compared to Ovechkin in his draft year.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: And he was supposed to be like next great goal scorer.

- Yeah, and he was.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: And he's like it.

- But the goals were there, man. They-- they-- I remember I think it was when he-- I think when he was still in Winnipeg. He had like five goals in their-- in their global series, like, in Finland or something. Like, he-- he went off. Like, it was at the point where he was in that status of, like, 30 goals being a down year. Like, that-- that's how good he was.

And I think what Columbus needs to do is figure out why he is not there anymore. Like, aside from just, like, the usage, the-- the-- I don't know, the comfort, but you don't just forget how to score goals. So they need to sit down and have, like, an honest conversation because-- like Laine can't be another-- another player that-- I'm not to say that Columbus has given up on players before, but he's worth not giving up on, if that makes sense.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: No, it does.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah.

- Yeah.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: He just struck me as the guy. But like, when he was like that prospect in that guy. Like, he seemed like a guy who was like a confidence player. Right? He scored in bunches and you know. He would have games where he would go large stretches with disappearing, and then he'd score 4 goals in the game. I think that sort of the magic that's gone. And we're like, that's freaky scoring is gone.

As for what you do with him, like, I don't know. But he does oddly sort of strike me as a guy that maybe, like, it just is a change of environment is needed. Like, he hasn't really played on great teams. Let's call it what it is. And he seems like a type of guy that at the deadline would be coveted by a ton of good teams. It should be like, look, we're finally going to put you in a healthy environment. We'll get you a puck retrieval specialist as one of your wingers. We'll get you, like, a defensively-responsible center who will just feed you at the top of the circle. And that's all you got to do.

But I think any time he's been asked, it'll be like, well, look you're not scoring like a top six forward, you got to play now in a bottom six role, he's just not-- like, he has no interest in doing so--

- Yeah.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: --especially when the results aren't there either. So I don't know what you do. And honestly, like-- the other part of it is, and this is, you know, might be a little bit unfair, but you don't really want to make a toxic environment for Adam Fantilli, who's outscoring both those guys, or Kent Johnson or the rest of the young players in the organization. The really good parts, right? You don't-- you already have sort of a toxic situation with your older players and maybe the 2/3 of the roster that aren't going to be there for the long term.

Really, Columbus's goal is to preserve a healthy environment for Adam Fantilli and the rest of their young core. And you know, this is almost immaterial at this point what Patrik lane and Johnny Gaudreau's feelings are.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah. I'll say this about Johnny Gaudreau too, just-- it doesn't seem like he's-- he's himself either. I think he only has at least he has 7 points at least through this point in the year. But--

- Yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: --something just doesn't seem right with him. Just doesn't have that same level. He's not at that level. Yeah, I just hope they find it because-- Columbus, I get it. They're not supposed to be this great team but at least for those two players up top. Like, I'm I'm just hoping for their sakes. Like, they just figure something out. Because there's-- it's the league's not as fun when those two-- when those two players are not good, you know.

- How much do you-- how much do you put this on the coaching staff? Because for me, it's just like--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: What-- what else are they supposed to do?

- I guess. But like--

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Babcock was your coach like three months ago, I mean, so like--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Like, Pascal Vincent is doing as good as he can in that situation, I would think. Right?

ARUN SRINIVASAN: I think it's more of the GM. I think it's more on Kekalainen than it is on Pascal Vincent.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Yes.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Sure.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: You know.

- Go on, Avry. Go on, Avry.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: He's what-- he's been there what now it feels like 83 years, and he still has only one playoff series win. Like, if this core doesn't win in Columbus now, like, at what point do you put on the GM in Columbus because they've had all their chances now. You have Laine. You got Fantilli. You've got your stars. And if in two or three years Columbus is still spinning their tires as a 81-82 point team, when does he go?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I would-- I mean-- I think off of the Mike Babcock thing. I still thought Jarmo Kekalainen should have been gone right after that.

- Yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: And I would think that if Columbus has a bad year, I think the time would be right to let him go at the end of the year. If you're willing to-- I can understand to a certain point that you don't want any more changes after the Babcock thing. You want some sort of stability. But once that season's over, you need to figure out what's going on with your team going forward. And I think that might mean Kekalainen eating dust, unfortunately.