Patrik Laine should regret his damning comments about the Blue Jackets

The irony is that the Blue Jackets have four more points than the Canadiens in the standings going into Thursday night action.

Mathieu Olivier and Zach Werenski were questioned about this, and there was no doubt: their former teammate’s comments had disturbed them. It was no coincidence that all Blue Jackets players were hitting Laine hard (on the shoulder) and that the main interested party did not play the last two periods of the game.

Since that afternoon, Patrik Laine is no longer the same.

Before Dec. 23, Laine had scored eight goals and one assist in nine games. We’re talking about a pace of one point per game and nearly one goal per game.

Since then? He has only grabbed four goals and five assists in 17 games. That’s approximately one point every two games and one goal every four games.

Laine is being paid $9.1 million this season and will receive the same amount next year. Most of that money is offered to him to score goals. Four in 17 games isn’t enough to justify such a salary.

He still indicated a few days ago that his confidence was not very high at the moment.

There is a reason why the Canadiens got Patrik Laine at a discount. The team is experiencing it. Laine is a scoring machine who — when not in his zone and not filling the net — isn’t of much use otherwise. Effort, physicality, leadership, defensive play — those are lacking.

Jean Trudel raised the theory this week that Laine didn’t enjoy playing hockey.

It’s clear that when you finish eight games in a row with a neutral or negative differential, playing hockey is less fun — even more so when you are the least used player in a game.