Kovacevic: Don't lose sight of Winnipeg's Laine

Paul Maurice, who's been perched behind NHL benches for parts of three decades, framed a few remarks from that perspective Thursday morning at PPG Paints Arena, this shortly after his Jets prepared to face the Penguins by nightfall. He praised Sidney Crosby as a "great ambassador for our game," casually comparing him to Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky "and all the other true greats" in that regard. And he cited them as if they were acquaintances.

So keep that as context for what follows.

"I've never seen anyone shoot the puck like this. Not anyone."

Patrik Laine.



There's been a premature anointment, at least from this perspective, of the Oilers' Connor McDavid and, to a lesser extent, the Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews -- the past two No. 1 overall picks in the NHL Draft -- as heirs apparent to Crosby's crown, at least once he's ready to relinquish it. And there are compelling cases, to be sure, for both, though Matthews' is a perpetual lock to be bloated because he plays in long-starving Toronto, where the number of truly great talents over the past half-century is equal to the number of franchise appearances in the Cup Final.

But hockey, at its core, is about scoring goals. And the greatest of the great, those who have stood tallest, even those who were more prolific in passing, always have risen highest above the pack when shooting the puck.

No one, to repeat, does that like Laine, the No. 2 overall pick in last summer's draft, as he demonstrated again with a hat trick Tuesday night in a 5-2 rout of the Stars up in Winnipeg: