Patrik Laine Benched vs Carolina

It only took four games for John Tortorella to introduce himself to Patrik Laine and now the fun begins. The hard nosed head coach didn't like what he saw from Laine on Monday night as the Blue Jackets took on the Carolina Hurricanes. From roughly the 13 minute mark of the second period, Laine could have untied his skates.

🧐 pic.twitter.com/rqss4OOPH7
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) February 9, 2021

The Blue Jackets went on to win the game but of course, the story was Tortorella's coaching habits and Laine's work ethic. To no surprise some Blue Jackets were asked about it after the game and veteran Cam Atkinson had this to say about playing for Torts:

Here's Cam Atkinson of @BlueJacketsNHL on John Tortorella benching Patrik Laine tonight. #NHL pic.twitter.com/YWSgFrRfLb
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 9, 2021

It certainly felt like this was going to happen sooner or later as heading to Columbus wasn't the ideal set up for Laine in terms of coaching styles. Tortorella demands a ton from his players so if Laine wants to have fun and score goals, he better get used to working his ass off.