Blue Jackets' Patrik Laine discusses healthy scratch vs. Flyers

Laine was benched in the latter stages of a 3-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday. He played just 12:21 on Saturday before getting scratched entirely this past Sunday.

It’s been a difficult season for Laine, who has just three points in nine games. An early season concussion quickly derailed the start of his season, with Laine last playing over 70 games back in 2018-19. Laine had a solid 52-point showing a year ago, marking his first year on a four-year deal worth $8.7M.

The 25-year-old entered the NHL as a scoring sensation. Laine had 36 goals as a rookie in 2016-17 before exploding for 44 goals and 70 points as a sophomore. He fell back to 30 goals and 50 points in 2018-19 but had a nice 63-point effort in 2019-20 – his final season with the Winnipeg Jets.

After just one game with Winnipeg in 2020-21, the Jets moved him to Columbus in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois. He struggled, with his 21 points in 45 games marking the worst production of his career. But a pair of 50-plus point campaigns the past two years helped give fans hope that Laine was going to have a big season for a Blue Jackets team on the rise this year.

Instead, Laine has struggled, Johnny Gaudreau has been quieter than ever and Columbus sits last in the Eastern Conference on the heels of a nine-game losing streak.

Laine could return to the lineup when Columbus welcomes Connor Bedard and Chicago to Ohio on Wednesday. They’ll then have Thanksgiving Thursday off before facing off against New Jersey and Carolina – two contenders in the East – to close out the weekend.