Rookies take center stage as Jets host Canucks (Mar 26, 2017)
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- With the Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks all but eliminated from the playoff race, Sunday night's game at the MTS Centre looks to be devoid of all suspense except for one thing: Will Patrik Laine score?
The Finnish phenom is tied for the rookie scoring lead at 34 goals and 61 points with Toronto's Auston Matthews. But unless he puts some distance between himself and Matthews, who played seven more games because Laine sustained a concussion earlier this season, it's widely expected that the Maple Leafs center will get the nod for the Calder Trophy when the NHL hands out its year-end awards in June.
The rationale seems to be that because Matthews is a center, he has bigger defensive responsibilities and should, in theory, play more of a 200-foot game, unlike right-winger Laine. Another part of the pro-Matthews argument is that he centers an all-rookie line while Laine has the benefit of playing beside veteran Bryan Little.
The Calder has become such a hot topic of conversation in town that coach Paul Maurice is taking a beating on radio talk shows and on social media for using Laine on the right side of his second power-play unit, not on the first unit's left side where he can unleash his lethal one-timer.
Why the move? Laine requested it so he could develop into more than a one-trick pony. The 18-year-old told the Winnipeg Sun that his defensive game has been the biggest surprise to him this season.
"I haven't been maybe the best defense guy when I was younger. And I didn't maybe defend that much. I've learned how to do that these last couple of years," Laine said.
After posting their second two-game winning streak of the season last week, the Jets lost their last two games.
The Canucks are also a country mile from the playoff line.
They will, however, have highly touted prospect Brock Boeser in the lineup against the Jets and hope the results will be similar to his NHL debut Saturday against the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul -- 20 minutes from where he grew up -- when he scored the winning goal in a 4-2 victory.
The 20-year-old forward, a first-round draft pick in 2015, signed with the Canucks after his University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on Friday in double overtime by Boston University.
His linemates for his first shift? None other than Daniel and Henrik Sedin.
And if the story couldn't get better, Canucks coach Willie Desjardins invited Boeser's parents into the locker room before the game to read out the opening lineup.
"It meant a ton to them," Boeser told the Vancouver Province. "I had tears in my eyes. I'm so thankful for everything they've done."
After the game, the Jets fly to New Jersey to play a game Tuesday postponed earlier this month by a snowstorm.
