We now know the real reason why Patrik Laine was benched by Torts

BarDown Staff

Hayes: This benching could be a fork in the road for Laine

It looks like we now know the real reason why Patrik Laine was benched on Monday night against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The original belief was the 22-year-old road pine as the result of leaving Brock McGinn open as the result of a shear lack of effort on his end. But on Tuesday, Jackets beat writer Brian Hedger reported otherwise, saying it actually took place as result of Laine mouthing off to one of his coaches on the bench. So it really had nothing to do with his actions on the ice all along.

As John Tortorella said after the game, Patrik Laine was not benched for his play. A source told @DispatchAlerts that Laine 'mouthed off' to a #CBJ assistant coach ->

Tortorella benched Laine for off-ice interaction with assistant https://t.co/QFj43RvXoi via @DispatchAlerts
— Brian Hedger (@BrianHedger) February 10, 2021

Well, that’s news… lesson learned, Patty!

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So maybe Torts isn’t such a hard-@$$ after all? This was still a pretty harsh punishment but it definitely provides some better context for those grilling the head coach for his decision. Y’know Torts, you could have just said that he mouthed off to a coach and saved yourself some heat!

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Patty recorded three goals in his first three games with the Jackets and will look to bounce back on Thursday night against Chicago. We have a feeling he won’t be mouthing off again any time soon…

(H/T Brian Hedger)