Winnipeg Jets: How does Patrik Laine’s slump affect his next contract?

Patrik Laine is going through a goal drought that no one saw coming. When will it end and how will this affect his contract negotiation with the Winnipeg Jets?

Patrik Laine is a purebred scorer in the NHL. The Winnipeg Jets star is the fourth-youngest player to reach the 100 goal mark. In less than three seasons, Laine already has seven hat tricks, including a five-goal game. His shot haunts the nightmares of goaltenders at one point, it was unstoppable.

And yet, it has been 15 games since Laine last found the back of the net. Since December, he has played 36 games and has only scored four times. Before this slump, he had five multi-goal games, including three hattricks. How did his luck change so fast?

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That’s just it. His puck luck has completely fallen off the wagon. Last season, Laine’s shooting percentage was the eighth-best in the league with a success rate of 18.3%. This season, he’s 157th with a shooting percentage of 12.8%.

However, it’s not like he’s not getting his chances. Last season, Laine averaged 2.9 shots a game and this season, it’s gone up as he’s shooting an average of 3.3 shots a game. He’s getting more shots on net, but they’re not going in.

Last season, the Jets’ powerplay revolved around Laine. He scored 20 powerplay goals, more than double the second-highest Jets’ scorer, Mark Sheifele, who had eight. This season, he started off hot with 11 powerplay goals, but then he cooled off and now the Jets’ powerplay has fallen off as well.

The Jets had an unstoppable powerplay in 2018. But when 2019 rolled around, they started floundering. Now, their powerplay is 18th in the league with a success rate of just 18% as opposed to the 38.7% they had in the first half of the season. Laine can’t find the back of the net and when that happens, the Jets just start passing the puck passively instead of with purpose and it results in no offense.

What he does is not a secret anymore. Laine is where most of the goals come from so the Jets will obviously give the puck to him whenever they get the chance. Goalies know that now so they can easily anticipate the pass and be square to him when he winds up. This affects the Jets at even strength, but especially on the powerplay. Laine isn’t surprising anyone anymore. Teams are getting better and better at defending against his shot.

His scoring slump is not making many headlines because Winnipeg is still the top team in the Central Division, but the Jets desperately need Laine to return to his former self if they want sustained success. They have already started to feel the effects of his slump and they will need him at full power if they want to make a real run in the playoffs.

As for his future with the Jets, this offseason will be when Laine will negotiate his next NHL contract. At the beginning of the season, it seemed obvious that he was going to sign an 8-year contract for a boatload of money, definitely north of 10 million dollars.

He has a proven track record of scoring, but this slump is hurting his value big time and will affect his next contract. With Auston Matthews‘ new 5-year deal, perhaps the Jets will look to sign Laine for less term rather than lock him up for the maximum of 8 years. One thing is for certain. Patrik Laine is a pure goal scoring machine. This slump will not last forever and when he breaks out of it, all of this will just fade into a bad memory.