Laine benching reportedly due to off-ice issue
A game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes caused quite the stir Monday night as newly acquired forward Patrik Laine was benched by head coach John Tortorella for the final 26 minutes of the game.
The reason for the benching was thought to be due to a missed assignment on a Hurricanes goal, but according to Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch, that is not the case. Hedger is reporting the reason the 22-year-old forward was benched was due to an incident with one of the Blue Jackets assistant coaches, as Laine is said to have «mouthed off» to him. It's unknown at this point what exactly was said or which coach he said it to, but Tortorella clearly thought it crossed a line and chose to bench his new goal scoring forward.
After the game, Tortorella refused to explain why he benched Laine, however he did mention that it was not due to any missed assignments during the game. While Tortorella has taken some heat this season, first in regards to the handling of Pierre-Luc Dubois and now this, it may be fair to say this one was deserved, depending of course what was said by Laine. Whatever the case, it isn't expected to carry on to next game, and Laine is expected to play. In four games with his new club, he has three goals.
shownhl_47809_shownhl
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Taylor Hall | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brayden Point | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Bryan Rust | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Pavel Zacha | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Quinn Hughes | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Carter Verhaeghe | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Erik Karlsson | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Elias Lindholm | - | 3 | 3 | |
| David Pastrnak | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Tim Stutzle | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Adam Gaudette | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Dylan Holloway | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Brad Marchand | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Aleksander Barkov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sam Bennett | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex DeBrincat | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack Drury | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 23 | 18 | 5 | - | 36 | |
Hurricanes | 22 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 33 | |
Wild | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 32 | |
Devils | 25 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 32 | |
Capitals | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 31 | |
Golden Knights | 23 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 31 | |
Maple Leafs | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Flames | 23 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 28 | |
Panthers | 23 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 27 | |
Kings | 23 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 27 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||