Laine expected to make Team Finland, Caufield appears set to miss out on Team USA
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After playing his first NHL regular-season game in nearly a year Tuesday, Patrik Laine appears set to receive more good news on Wednesday.
TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports that Laine, who scored in his Montreal Canadiens debut in a 2-1 overtime win over the New York Islanders on Tuesday, is expected to be named to Finland's roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
"He was a big part of the last conversation for Team Finland, is what I'm told, and I believe he will be named on Wednesday to Finland's roster," LeBrun said on Insider trading. "And I think the bottom line is they feel that he's got two months to get his game in gear. They believe the upside is worth the gamble. He such a special player when he's playing his best, and they don't have a lot of right-handed shots. So, Patrik Laine, I think, will be on Finland."
Laine posting six goals and nine points while being limited to just 18 games last season, missing time to injury and being in the NHLPA Player Assistance Program. He was traded from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Montreal Canadiens in the summer, but suffered a knee sprain in the preseason, delaying his debut until Tuesday.
“It’s like, I don’t deserve this, not at all,” Laine said of the reception from Canadiens fans after his opening goal of the game. “It’ll be something for sure I’ll remember forever, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, just getting that welcome.
“It was pretty special,” he added. “It’ll be in a very tight competition with my first-ever career goal, this one over here.”
Selected second overall in the 2016 draft, Laine has 205 goals and 389 points in 481 career games. He scored a career-high 44 goals in his second season with the Winnipeg Jets in 2017-18.
Caufield set to be left off Team USA
While Laine appears set to make Team Finland despite his recent results, this season's surge from teammate Cole Caufield does not appear to have been enough to put him on Team USA.
Caufield currently sits tied for third in the NHL with 16 goals this season and has 23 points in 25 games, but TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reports that he and Buffalo Sabres star Tage Thompson both missed the cut for the Americans.
"It sounds like Cole Caufield of the Montreal Canadiens, despite a roaring-hot start, filling the net in Montreal, is going to be left off this roster. Tage Thompson as well in Buffalo has had a strong start and, really, it's an experience- over-young-skill type of thing there.
"Vincent Trocheck, Chris Kreider, Brock Nelson are all players we expect to make [Team USA] at the bottom end of the forward lineup, and it comes at the expense of some of those talented young players."
The 23-year-old Caufield has topped the 20-goal mark in each of the past three seasons and posted a career-high 65 points in 82 games last season.
Thompson, who stands at towering 6-foot-7, has 13 goals and 20 points in 20 games this season. The 27-year-old centre posted 29 goals and 56 points in 71 games last season after a dominant 2022-23 campaign in which he had 47 goals and 47 assists for 94 points in 78 games.
The full rosters for all four teams in the tournament will be revealed later on Wednesday.