Patrik Laine's pre-season was pretty quiet; he won't argue the point.
But 11 goals in his first 14 regular-season games of the NHL career have exploded the theory advanced by some about the 18-year-old Finnish forward needing some seasoning with the AHL's Manitoba Moose before he'd be able to contribute at the big-league level.
He's the No. 1 goal-scorer in the league at the moment.
"Yeah, I don't wanna waste my goals in the pre-season, so I can score now," Laine said almost matter-of-factly a day after completing his second career hat trick in Winnipeg's 8-2 assault on the Dallas Stars Tuesday night.