Laine benched for “verbally disrespecting” one of Tortorella's assistants

It took exactly 3 games for Laine to get himself in Torts' dog house.

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Published 3 years ago
Laine benched for “verbally disrespecting” one of Tortorella's assistants
Zuma Press

Stop me if you've heard this one before but Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella is under fire after benching one of his star players.

No... I'm not talking about Pierre-Luc Dubois... I'm talking of course about the man he was traded for: Patrik Laine.

Laine, of course, was acquired in a blockbuster trade that involved Dubois after it was alleged that a rift between Dubois and Tortorella fractured his relationship with the team. Now, it appears as though Laine might be Torts' new whipping boy after the Finnish sniper sat for most of the second period and the entirety of the third period in his team's victory over the Carolina Hurricanes earlier this week.

After the game, Tortorella would only say that Laine was benched not because of any particular play on the ice and that the team would deal with the issue "in the room." Again... sound familiar?

Well now, reports have emerged that suggest Laine had a verbal altercation with one of the Blue Jackets' assistant coaches that Tortorella deemed to be disrespectful. As a result, Laine sat out most of the second period and the entire third period.

Blue Jackets insider Aaron Portzline shed some light on the situation in his latest column for The Athletic.

Check out some of these quotes:

Blue Jackets star forward Patrik Laine was benched during Monday’s win over Carolina because he “verbally disrespected” a member of the coaching staff, a source told The Athletic on Tuesday.
It’s unclear which coach had the interaction with Laine or if it was a single interaction or a series of events. Brad Larsen coaches the Blue Jackets’ forwards, while Brad Shaw coaches the defensemen. Those two, along with Tortorella, are on the bench during games. 
The fact that Laine wasn’t benched until late in the second period suggests his punishment was in response to something that happened on the bench during the game, though that could not be confirmed.

For what it's worth, Laine doesn't seem to be wrapped up in who said what or who did what. When speaking with the media earlier today, Laine said the matter has been dealt with and he has moved on.

“We’ve moved on. We’ve talked about it. It’s gonna stay in the room. All good now," said Laine. "Sometimes you say things you don’t want to say. We’ve talked about it and moved on."

Nothing to see here, people. Move along... until the next benching.