Quote:
Originally Posted by Split98
I started at page 24, so pardon if this was discussed in depth before then.
Assuming we're drafting that high, is anyone else really hoping we stay clear of Laine?
The stories of his personality issues are pretty terrifying. We have a really good group in Calgary now, and someone like Puljujärvi sounds to be a perfect fit.
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Pretty late to answer to this, but I think this deserves a better answer.
There have indeed been stories about Lainees attitude in Finland, but this was almost purely back in 2014, during the Ivan Hlinka memorial tournament. Finland was down a goal late in the game, and Laine got so upset about not being put on the ice that he gave the head coach the finger and shouted something about killing the coach for not putting him on the ice. He was also possibly looking to attack the head coach, but his team mates stopped him before he could reach him. He did play in the next game, but was sent home after that. (Possibly there was some other minor incident, the coaches comments on the topic are very vague.)
There are however several reasons why this doesn't give me any worry at this point.
1) Laine is the first to admit that he used to have some issues, and openly admits that he brought "his reputation" on himself.
2) Laines problem was mostly his inability to control his desire to win and be the best. Sometimes that boiled over. He's not lazy, and not a dressing room problem. Both Jukka Jalonen (the head coach of the latest U20 gold medal team) and Jussi Tapola (head coach of his current team Tappara) have spoken strongly in favour of his character, and both praise his will to win. The coach he threatened (Mika Marttila) has given some very positive comments about Laines growth since that incident.
3) His reputation for being a "problem player" was earned when he was 16. He has worked with a personal sports psychologist for years (even before 2014), and by all accounts it's been working.
4) Finland is a country where strong personalities are easily frowned upon, especially in sports. (It's an often admitted problem.) It's also a very small country, so it's pretty easy for stuff like this to get blown out of proportion.