Patrik Laine

Early life

Laine began playing hockey at four years old and initially played every position. His primary position was goaltender which was his favourite position and his best at the time. Urged by his father, Laine permanently switched to forward when he was 12. Laine left school at 16 to focus full-time on hockey.

Tappara

Patrik Laine started to play hockey in Ilves at the age of four, but soon changed to local competitor Tappara. Laine made his Liiga debut at the age of 16 with Tappara during the 2014–15 season, logging six games and scoring one point. He spent most of that season, however, on loan with LeKi of Mestis.

He began the 2015–16 season with Tappara, and over a span of 46 games with the club scored 17 goals and 16 assists for a total of 33 points.

Prior to the start of his NHL draft season, Laine was ranked in numerous hockey publications as the fourth-best prospect in the 2016 NHL Draft. Due to strong play with Tappara early in the season and an impressive showing at the 2015 IIHF World U18 Championships where he scored 8 goals in 7 games, Laine's ranking on most draft lists rose from the previous season, when he had been considered a mid-first-round prospect.

After a dominant performance at the 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships where he won a gold medal, was the third-leading scorer with 7 goals, 6 assists, 13 points in 7 games, and was named to the tournament all-star team, Laine began to receive greater attention from scouts and casual observers. By January 2016, Laine had moved up the ranking on most lists to second overall. McKeen's Hockey notably ranked Laine first overall on its January 2016 list. According to hockey analyst Bob McKenzie's mid-season draft report, Laine had become the "clear consensus No. 2 choice" over fellow Finnish prospect Jesse Puljujärvi. This was due to what scouts described as a "'dynamic' element," with one scout elaborating that "Laine maybe is more of a pure goal scorer, a game-breaker with a little higher offensive ceiling."

By February 2016, Laine was considered by some scouts, such as those from McKeen's and those represented in Bob McKenzie's report, to be a potential challenger for first overall at the 2016 NHL Draft, challenging the previous consensus choice, top-ranked prospect Auston Matthews. When asked by McKenzie if Matthews was still the favorite to be selected first overall in the June 2016 draft, several scouts expressed that they "had to think long and hard about it . . . Laine is right there." One scout justified that "in the end, we favoured the centre over the winger but I don’t think it’s a reach at all to see Laine going first overall. A lot of our European scouts who see these guys think Laine is better."

In April 2016, McKenzie reported that Laine had further closed the gap between himself and Matthews, with two of the ten NHL scouts surveyed by McKenzie reporting that they would choose Laine first overall ahead of Matthews. The other scouts in McKenzie's April report, meanwhile, stated that they needed to think "long and hard about their decision" to rank Matthews ahead of Laine. The National Post, meanwhile, published an article with a headline proclaiming Laine to be the "NHL draft's true No. 1."

Laine's 2015–16 regular season campaign with Tappara ended in March 2016 with his team finishing third overall in the Liiga standings and thus qualifying for the subsequent postseason. Laine played a pivotal role in the semifinal series against second-ranked Kärpät, scoring six goals in the seven-game series, including three last-minute goals to tie Games 4, 5, and 6; two of those goals occurred in the final minute of the third period of their respective games, with Laine's Game 6 goal being scored at 19:59 of the third period with one second remaining on the clock. With his last-second tying goal in Game 6, his eighth of the playoffs, Laine broke Liiga's previous goal-scoring record of 7 goals in a single rookie playoff campaign. Laine and Tappara consequently defeated Kärpät and advanced to the 2016 Liiga Finals. Trailing 2–1 in the Liiga Finals series against HIFK, Tappara coach Jussi Tapola moved Laine to the team's first line with Jani Lajunen and leading scorer Kristian Kuusela for Game 4, where Laine recorded a goal and two assists to lead his team to a 2–2 series tie. This was Laine's first ever game on Tappara's top line—for the first part of the 2015–16 campaign he had played with Jere Karjalainen, Veli-Matti Savinainen, and Stephen Dixon, while for the majority of the season he played on the team's second line with Arttu Ilomäki and Jukka Peltola. For the first 15 games of the playoffs, meanwhile, his line featured Jan-Mikael Järvinen at center with Peltola on right wing. Laine scored once more in the series-clinching match, as Tappara defeated HIFK in six games to win the 2016 Liiga championship title. He was consequently awarded the Jari Kurri Trophy as Liiga's 2016 playoff MVP, finishing the postseason with 10 goals, 5 assists, 15 points in 18 games.

Winnipeg Jets

Laine was selected with the second overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets. On 3 July 2016, Laine agreed to his three-year entry-level contract with the Winnipeg Jets, signalling the start to his North American career. On 13 October 2016, Laine made his debut in the NHL when he played in Jets' season-opening game in which Laine got a goal and an assist. On 19 October 2016, Laine got his first hat trick. On 8 November 2016, Laine got his second NHL hat trick. On 7 January 2017, Buffalo Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe hit Laine while he was receiving a pass. Laine received a concussion, missing 8 games. On 14 February 2017, Laine scored his third NHL hat trick. On 21 February 2017, Laine broke the Winnipeg Jets / Atlanta Thrashers franchise record for the most goals in a single season by a rookie, previously held by Ilya Kovalchuk with 29 goals.

International play

In April 2015, Laine participated at the 2015 IIHF World U18 Championships for Finland. Through 7 games in the tournament, Laine scored 8 goals, 3 assists, 11 points to help lead his team to the gold medal match against Team USA and an eventual silver medal finish. He was subsequently named to the 2015 U18 tournament All-Star Team.

Laine subsequently played for Finland at the 2016 World Junior Championships, where they won gold on 5 January 2016. Due to his impressive play throughout the tournament with linemates Jesse Puljujärvi and Sebastian Aho, Laine was named to the tournament All-Star Team. During the tournament, Laine scored 7 goals, 6 assists, 13 points in 7 games.

Following his 2016 Liiga championship, Laine was named to the Team Finland roster at the 2016 IIHF World Championship, becoming the youngest Finnish player to ever play at the tournament. He debuted against Team Belarus, scoring two goals and one assist to become the youngest player in the tournament's history to score three points in a game. He followed this with a second consecutive two-goal, one-assist, three-point game against Team Germany, tallying 6 points in 2 games to become the highest-scoring draft-age player in the tournament's history; the previous record was held by Jaromír Jágr, who at the same age scored 3 goals, 2 assists, 5 points in 10 games at the 1990 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships in Switzerland. In Team Finland's final round robin game against Team Canada, Laine did not score but was considered by analyst Ray Ferraro among others to have had his best game of the tournament. Laine and Team Finland subsequently reached the gold medal game, a rematch against Team Canada, where they were defeated by a score of 2–0. The loss was a huge disappointment for the Finns, who were undefeated before the final, and especially Laine who was seen openly crying on ice after the match. Laine finished the tournament with 7 goals, 5 assists, 12 points in 10 games and led the tournament in goals scored. He achieved the second-highest point total by a U-19 player at a World Championship tournament, behind only Sidney Crosby's tournament total of 16 points at the 2006 IIHF World Championship. At the conclusion of the 2016 IIHF World Championship, Laine was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, was named to the tournament All-Star team, and received the IIHF Directorate Award for the tournament's best forward.

Personal life

Laine's favourite NHL team growing up was the Washington Capitals, particularly liking Alexander Ovechkin. In his spare time Laine likes to play video games.