Leaner, lighter Laine drops 14 pounds over summer

Winnipeg Jets sniper Patrik Laine said he’s shed 14 pounds since last season ended.

A leaner-looking Laine arrived in town earlier this week and has been participating in informal on-ice workouts with many of his teammates at Bell MTS Iceplex.

“I tried to get quicker, more speed, tried to lose some weight so I can get faster. It feels pretty good,” Laine said following Thursday’s skate.

“Obviously it has to feel a little bit different. It feels good out there. Obviously when you lose weight it’s easier to be quicker. I tried to work on those couple first steps during the summer and it feels good.”

Laine, 20, said no crash diet was required — he simply made a few adjustments to his snacking.

“I didn’t eat any s—t food,” he said. “Not a lot of candy, not a lot of sugars.”

Another big change was the number of times Laine hit the ice while training in Finland. Last year, he arrived in training camp and said he’d put on the blades only about a half-dozen times.

“When August started I started to skate a lot. Much more than six times,” Laine said. “That was one of the things I wanted to change, to be on the ice more and be ready when the camp starts.”

And so what might this mean for a player who put up 44 goals in his sophomore season, after an impressive rookie debut of 36?

“I don’t know yet, the season hasn’t started,” said Laine.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg