Tortorella assures he'll coach Laine like every other Blue Jackets player

Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella made it clear he won't change his approach to coaching star players once Patrik Laine joins the club.

"I coached (Pierre) Luc (Dubois) like I coach every other player here, like any other player coming here, and like I'm going to coach (Patrik) Laine when he comes in here," Tortorella told Sportsnet in a recent interview. "The best thing I can do for the player is to be honest with him every day."

Last Saturday, the Blue Jackets made a blockbuster trade that sent a disgruntled Dubois and a 2022 third-round draft pick to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for Laine and Jack Roslovic.

The coach's methods were largely presumed to be why Dubois wanted out of Columbus, who drafted him third overall in 2016. However, the 22-year-old insisted that his former bench boss wasn't the reason for his highly-publicized trade request in the offseason.

Tortorella and Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen have both said they wish to know the reason for Dubois' discontent but are now focused on injecting one of the league's most lethal goal scorers into their lineup.

"We have problems scoring goals. We have the past few years," Tortorella said. "I've had conversations with Patrik, a couple of them yesterday, and he's a very intelligent guy who wants to know who he's playing with and what the power-play setup is."

Since entering the NHL in 2016, Laine ranks 10th among all players - and fourth among right-wingers - in goals with 140 in 306 games.

Laine currently remains in Canada trying to obtain his U.S. work visa, according to The Athletic's Aaron Portzline.

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