Having made his CHL debut at just 16, Patrik Laine is the CHL’s second youngest goal scorer after his goal for Tappara in the 2014/15 CHL season against Trinec.

Back then, we wrote that if you hadn't heard of Patrik Laine, you soon would - and so it turned out to be!

Born in Tampere and a product of the Tappara junior system, Laine made three CHL appearances and six in the Liiga for Tappara that year, in which he also was Top Scorer and a Tournament All-Star at the World U18 Junior Championships where Finland took a silver medal.

Last season really was the major year in Europe for Laine, who scored 2+2 in Tappara’s eight CHL matches. In the Liiga he notched 33 points in 46 games (17+16) in the regular season, and 10+5 in the play-offs as he was voted Rookie of the Year, and took home the Jari Kurri award for Play-off MVP. Aside from also picking up a Liiga Play-off Champion medal, Laine scored the most goals, assists, and points for a Rookie in the league and also shot seven goals as Team Finland went on to win gold at the U20 World Junior Championships.

That was however not the end of Laine’s success at international level last season. He was part of the Finland side that knocked out Russia and eventually won a silver medal behind Canada at the 2016 World Ice Hockey Championships, being voted tournament MVP, Best Forward, and on to the All-Star team as well.

Drafted second overall in this year’s NHL Entry Draft, Laine has hit the ground running in the NHL with 17 points from his opening 18 matches; including a goal on opening night against Carolina, and two hat-tricks so far this season!