Center of attention: Laine's first crack at the middle shows promise

Patrik Laine entered Sunday's game against Vegas with 177 assists in his NHL career.
He got No. 178 in the second period Jackets' loss to the Golden Knights, but it's fair to say Laine had never quite had an assist like it.
The Blue Jackets tried the Finnish standout at the center position for the first time in his seven-year NHL career, a move Laine suggested to help the team when pivot Sean Kuraly was lost earlier this month to injury.

Finally, Sunday, the CBJ coaching staff took up Laine on the idea, putting him on the top line between Johnny Gaudreau and Kirill Marchenko. And in the opening moments of the middle frame, Laine won an offensive zone faceoff, and 11 seconds later, the puck was in the net after Marchenko swatted home the rebound of a shot by Erik Gudbranson.

It was the high point of a debut that showed some promise, as Laine didn't look too out of place in his first try at the position.
"It's a tough team to play against in a tough building," said Laine, who later added another assist and finished plus-1. "It's a whole different world playing center, but I feel like I liked it. There's a lot of things I need to work on, especially faceoffs, but I think that's just another skill you can learn and I'm willing to learn. But it could have been a lot worse, at least individually."
Laine finished the game with 17:32 played over 20 shifts, and per Natural Stat Trick, there was a lot to like with his line. Through two periods, with that trio on the ice, the Blue Jackets had a 15-4 edge in shot attempts, a 4-0 edge in high-danger chances and an expected goals share of 93.4 percent. Vegas largely took over territorially on all the CBJ lines in the third, so those numbers finished 15-8, 4-3 and 57.1 percent respectively, but there still was a lot to build on.
The biggest issue, as one might expect, came in the faceoff circle where Laine won just 3 of 17 draws.
"Other than his faceoffs -- that's what we talked about (pregame) -- I thought he was responsible in the D-zone," said associate head coach Pascal Vincent, who ran the CBJ bench with head coach Brad Larsen away from the team because of a death in the family. "He used the middle of the ice to create some speed. Obviously there are some reads in the D-zone that need to be adjusted, but he was pretty responsible. Even with the puck I thought he was responsible, tried to play as a center.
"That's his first crack at it, and he's not feeling 100 percent. For a guy that it's the first time without even practicing too much at that position, I thought it was pretty good."
Laine has become known for his fearsome shot and his ability to fill up the net ever since he had 36 goals as a rookie in 2016-17, and he's two goals shy of 200 goals in his career while playing his first 460 games on the wing. But when he went to the coaching staff with the thought he could try to learn the middle of the ice, the CBJ coaching staff looked at his skill set and thought it was worth a try.
"He's got a big body, first of all," Vincent said. "He can protect the puck. When you look at him tracking, coming back into the D-zone, that's never been an issue. So he's good at that. He's pretty reliable when he does that. We showed him some clips about what it takes to be a center, defending down low in the zone and protecting the puck, making the next play, so there's some reads there.
"Obviously he hasn't worked on his faceoff skills a lot, but recently his percentage is not bad when he's had to take them. … I think he has some skills, and if he moves his feet like he can coming up the ice, making plays -- Patty is not just a shooter. He's also passing the puck really well.
"I think it's something we should look at. He's 6-foot-5. If we can develop him as a good center, that's something that would be really interesting for us."
Laine said the two sides were on the same page from the first time the potential move got brought up, and while he had yet to play the position much in practice leading up to the game in Vegas, he had been studying up with the thought it could happen at some point.
"We've talked about it a little bit, and I've tried to study that position quite a bit," Laine said. "I feel like I have everything it takes. It's another learning process, but at the end of the day, it's not rocket science. It's different reads as a center vs. playing winger, and just a lot more responsibilities, but I want that. I want to be better defensively, offensively, and it's a good chance to take a step forward defensively."
In speaking with Laine, it was clear there's some excitement from the Finland native to keep trying and seeing improvement at the position. It won't be perfect, especially at the start, but Laine clearly seems willing to tackle what it takes to keep getting better.
"We talked about it already that we're going to watch some video tomorrow or the day after and go over those situations and reads and just try to learn," Laine said. "It might not just be my tape, it might be top centers in the league, and try to learn and what do they do in certain situations and faceoffs and all this. It's tough times (for the team), but I'm super excited about this opportunity and willing to learn new tricks."