After signing his second NHL contract and missing much of training camp, Patrik Laine began the season on fire scoring 13 points in the month of October.
The surprising part of that performance wasn't the point production over 12 games, but the fact 10 of those 13 points were assists. The 22-year-old Finn has always been known as a goal scorer yet there he was sitting amongst the NHL leaders in helpers to start the 2019-20 campaign.
Laine had 35 assists when the NHL season came to a pause which was seven more than his previous career best set in his rookie campaign in 2016-17. The Finn played a large portion of the schedule with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, so he was thinking about passing more than shooting at times.
"I've always been a good passer. But the last three years every time I get the puck I'm just thinking shot," said Laine back in December. "And now I'm playing with two elite scorer, so I'll try to find them, too, so they're not gonna hate me out there."
2019-20 Patrik Laine Highlights
Laine has returned to his goal scoring ways since the All-Star break with 11 goals in 19 games after putting up 11 in his first 49 games of the season.
Here are some more impressive numbers put up by Laine in 2019-20
4 - Consecutive 20 goal seasons to start his NHL career.
8 - Laine scored his 8th career hat trick on February 2, 2020 with all three goals coming on the power play.
35 - Laine set career high with 35 assists - his previous career best was 28 from his rookie season in 2016-17.
19:25 - Laine average ice time per game this season is 90 seconds longer than his rookie campaign which was his previous best.
200 - Recorded his 200th career NHL point (assist) on November 14, 2019 in a 4-3 win at Florida.
300 - Played in his 300th career NHL game on February 25, 2020 at Washington.
