Laine star of Global Series for Blue Jackets in home country of Finland

TAMPERE, Finland --Patrik Laine's presence is everywhere in this city.

The Columbus Blue Jackets forward is being used heavily to promote the 2022 NHL Global Series against the Colorado Avalanche, his face all over billboards and television.
Walk into almost any bar in the city and there will be a Laine jersey, often signed, hanging on the wall, be it a Blue Jackets jersey or one from the Winnipeg Jets, his first NHL team. Some bars even have the blue-and-orange jersey from Tappara, the team in Liiga, the top professional league in Finland, that Laine played for before heading to the NHL.
Go to perhaps the most famous wing place in the city, Hook Restaurant, and there is Laine on the menu with Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov, his co-creator of the hat-trick, a dish that includes 33 chicken wings and waffle fries.
"Not everyone has a dish named for them," Laine said with a laugh.
There have been a lot of laughs this week for the 24-year-old, who is reveling in the opportunity to be in his home country during the NHL regular season, a rarity since he was selected by the Jets with the No. 2 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.
"It's exciting times," Laine said. "Definitely a game, or a couple of games, that I've been looking forward to. At the same time it's kind of weird to be here at this time of year since in a normal year you don't get to come back until the season is over. I have been enjoying every moment I have been here. It's fun to see and be here with my teammates, and different teammates this time. So it's been great so far."
It's going to get better. The Blue Jackets' open practice Thursday was a hint of what is to come during the next 48 hours or so.
The fans were excited when Laine took the ice and followed his every movement. Many wore his jersey, from one of his NHL clubs, from Tappara or from Finland's national team.

Laine is a superstar throughout Finland. It has been argued that Hockey Hall of Famer Teemu Selanne is the only player in Finland hockey history with a bigger profile than Laine.
"He's huge, huge here like that," said Jussi Parkkila, the Avalanche goaltending coach and a native of Tampere. "Laine is massive here. When those young kids see him, it's a big thing. Laine is a big idol of many of the young guys."
When Laine came to Helsinki for the 2018 Global Series as a member of the Jets to play the Panthers, he shared the spotlight with countryman Barkov, and it was 90 minutes from his home.
He still stole the show with a hat trick in the first game, a 4-2 Jets victory. He also scored in the second game.
This time around, Laine has center stage to himself.
Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen predicts Laine will be treated like a rock star during his time here.

There are other Finns on the rosters for the Blue Jackets (3-7-0) and Avalanche (4-4-1), who will play games at Nokia Arena on Friday (2 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, ALT, BSOH) and Saturday.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche have forwards Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen, but neither is from Tampere. Parkkila is from Tampere but is in the background as a coach. The Blue Jackets have goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who is from Helsinki, and Kekalainen, who attended university here and played for Tappara and Ilves, the other Liiga team in the city.
But none have the ties to this community, the legacy of success or the outgoing personality of Laine.
In 2015-16, at age 18, he helped deliver Tappara the Liiga title after it had lost in the final each of the previous three seasons. He was named MVP of the playoffs after he had 15 points (10 goals, five assists) in 18 playoff games.
A month later he was drafted by the Jets after the Toronto Maple Leafs took Auston Matthews at No. 1.
In 411 NHL games, Laine has 328 points (177 goals, 151 assists). He has one goal in four games this season, his third with Columbus since being traded there by Winnipeg on Jan. 23, 2021 with forward Jack Roslovic for forward Pierre-Luc Dubois and a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
"He was already a star before he went to the NHL and now add what he's done there and the people follow the NHL so closely here, they look at the scores every morning, " Kekalainen said. "He is a legitimate star here. He's going to have a following there and there's going to be a lot of fans waiting for his autograph after the games and practices. I think it will be really cool for him."
It has been about more than the hockey for Laine.
He will have a bucket full of memories before the puck is dropped Friday.
He has taken his teammates out for dinner, he took part in a visit to the children's hospital that had a huge impact on him emotionally, he spent time with friends and family at a time when he rarely has been afforded that opportunity since turning pro.

On Thursday, before practice, he went to Koulukatu, the famous outdoor rink in the center of town, for a video shoot.
There was no ice, but he still had a smile on his face as he roamed the blacktop, taking shots on goal and doing puck tricks with his stick.
Almost everybody in Tampere has played at that outdoor rink at some point. Laine played there almost daily when he was a teenager, playing in pickup games with players of varying abilities.
"Every game would have kids in it, adults, everything and then we would throw everyone's stick in the middle and somebody would be blindfolded and then they would pull out the sticks and then you would have your teams," Laine said. "It was so much fun. We did that all the time."
After dinner with his family Thursday, it will be game day for Laine, an opportunity to play at the home of the team with whom he first became famous.
It is not the same rink. In 2021, Nokia Arena became the home for both Tappara and rival Ilves.
The Blue Jackets were given the Ilves dressing room for these games, a twist of fate that sat poorly with Laine, who still follows the fortunes of Tappara closely.
"It is tough, I'm not going to lie; I may have stepped on the logo a couple of times," Laine said, tempering his message with the slightest of smiles.
But sitting in the home of his former rival is likely the only thing that will be rough for Laine during the next two days.
He is ready to soak in whatever comes his way and relish it all.
"I wouldn't call this pressure," he said. "I just feel like we are playing and doing our job. I don't think that is a pressure situation really in this life. There are people that actually have pressure in their lives in certain situations.
"I don't feel there is any pressure for us. We just go out there and do what we love and see the result after. You want to play well, whether it is here, in Columbus or anywhere. You still want to perform."