10 Players That Will Definitely Be Upgraded In NHL 18

5. Patrik Laine - Winnipeg Jets

NHL 18 Cover
By Roopeank (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

2016 was an incredible draft year, and Finnish sensation Patrik Laine began the season as the highly decorated second overall pick for the Winnipeg Jets, promising to be a lethal goalscoring threat right off the bat.

On that, he delivered and then some. Laine was a rockstar in his rookie season, notching an amazing 36 goals in 73 games, with three hat tricks. He rattled off highlight-reel plays after highlight-reel plays, including an electrifying OT winner to complete a hat trick. He smashed Ilya Kovalchuk’s record of the combined Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets franchise for rookie goals. Even that one own goal he scored was an unmistakably deadly shot.

In one season, Laine has already proved himself up there with Alex Ovechkin and Vladimir Tarasenko as the most lethal shooters in the league. By virtue of his goalscoring prowess, Laine should be rated as one of Winnipeg’s best players in this year’s game. In most other seasons, he’d have been an easy pick for the Calder trophy winner as rookie of the year.

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Chest thumping James Bond and Haruki Murakami fanatic living in China. Once had a fever dream about riding a rowboat with Davos Seaworth. He hasn't updated this section since Game of Thrones was cool, and boy does it show.