Former Stanley Cup winner lays in on Patrik Laine's disappointing performances - "Bench em"

By Ankit Kumar

Modified Dec 22, 2023 15:23 GMT

Former Stanley Cup champion Mike Commodore shared his thoughts on the performances of Columbus Blue Jackets' player Patrik Laine on social media.

The critique came while discussing benching players during a new episode of Bodog's Clearing the Crease Podcast featuring Commodore and Andrew Raycroft.

Commodore echoed the thoughts of Raycroft by quoting a video clip of the same and weighing in himself on the matter.

"I agree with Razor mostly..if stars are dogging it..bench em..high salary is result of high skill..work ethic and compete separates the good players from the great players..(Crosby)..if a high salary player is dogging it (Laine)..a visit to press box is in order," Commodore tweeted on X.

Former goaltender Raycroft emphasized the effectiveness of benching as a disciplinary measure, albeit with a crucial caveat.

The discussion centered on the recent benching of Patrik Laine by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Raycroft expressed concern about the strategy.

"Benchings work a little bit. Benchings work once," Raycroft said. "So following this stuff in Columbus, this one's bothering me a little bit. You can bench Patrik Laine for the last five minutes of one game, but you better put him out there for 40 minutes the next game. You better put him out there for 40 minutes the next three games."

"And he better play two minutes on every power play the rest of the week after you've benched him to give him to prove a point that way to bench him and then healthy scratch this guy is banana land to me."

"And the same thing with Gaudreau (Johnny Gaudreau). They bench Gaudreau, you have to play him for 20 minutes on the power play the next game. You can't let them off of the ice."

"That's how you get those guys attention, because you've benched them. You PP slap them a little bit, and then you're giving them the keys to the car and giving them the responsibility when you bench them and then healthy scratch them, you're just turning them off. "

Andrew Raycroft's hypothetical scenario and Patrik Laine's performance

The former Bruins goalie expressed his views on being a teammate and witnessing a key player getting benched.

And if I'm a teammate and I'm looking at the coach benching my $8,000,000 - 45 goal score as a goaltender, I'm like, what the hell's going on here? Like, we can't win without that guy," Raycroft said.

Patrik Laine, the Finnish forward with a history of offensive prowess, has faced a challenging start to the 2023-24 NHL season. He has only nine points in 18 games, including six goals and three assists. In the previous season, he recorded 52 points in 55 games, showcasing his scoring ability with 22 goals and 30 assists.

Commodore's candid remarks and Raycroft's insights reflect the ongoing debate within the hockey community on how to handle underperforming star players.