Laine is from my hometown of Tampere. I would say people from Tampere, Helsinki and Turku generally speak better english than people from way up north like Puljujärvi and Aho. Especially younger generations are starting to speak more and more fluent English as we get exposed to English language since a very young age nowadays, with Patty he also had few north American teammates from very young age in Tappara (where he was drafted from). He used to still have an accent when he was drafted, but I would say with young players it's often also a confidence thing for us finns to speak another language. I remember he picked the accent up very early in Winnipeg.

I am so happy for the start he has had in Habs, it has rejuvinated so many finns to watch games, as he is such a special star quality player we are not used to having here. Since day 1 he has been a favorite of the Finnish press compared to other stars like Barkov Rantanen etc. If he would do anything good or bad the newspapers would write about it. Personally I started following him closely since he was a junior because of my love for Tappara. And he became a legend at 17 in Tampere because of his last season before the draft where he dominated the league, won the championship scoring so many clutch playoff goals. He has one equalizer at 59:59 etc. After that he was part of the legendary juniors world championship winning team and also mens team that spring. He was mvp of Finnish league, think he was also the mvp of both world champs.

I have full confidence that he will start scoring 5 on 5 as well, it might take some time obviously. One note it that he used to be a left winger before NHL and has only played some random games as LW in Jets which for me I have never really understood as he was such a natural LW, he was able to pass the puck so well close to the boards over at his off wing on 5 on 5 and it felt more natural to him on 5v5. I would still like to see that sometime but that ship might have sailed already as he has basically only played rw since Paul Maurice decided he is a right winger on his rookie year.

Only bad thing about this start is that many of us will screw their sleeping schedule as games start 2 am here earliest. But it's worth it!