Late last month, Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine exited the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program which allows for there to be contact between Laine and Columbus. With a known desire for a change of scenery, the team has granted permission for the winger to talk to other teams as well.
However, there hasn’t been much interest in Laine’s services just yet. GM Don Waddell told Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch earlier this week that at this point, only one team has contacted him to express interest in acquiring his services. Given where we are in the offseason, Waddell isn’t particularly surprised nor does he expect the situation to change in the near future:
At this time of the year, people are less responsive. So, I don’t really know. I think it’s going to play out for a while.
Laine’s situation is well-known at this point. He played in just 18 games last season before being shut down due to shoulder surgery in December; he entered the assistance program a little more than a month after that.
The 26-year-old has been a high-end scoring threat in the past and is only two years removed from recording 56 points in as many games; he came close to the point-per-game mark in an injury-marred 2022-23 campaign as well. However, Laine struggled in his limited action last season, notching just six goals and three assists. Suffice it to say, this isn’t a situation where Columbus could be trading him at peak value.
Further complicating things is his contract, one which carries an AAV of $8.7MM for the next two years while his actual cash payout each year is $9.1MM (though $2MM of that has likely already been paid in the form of a signing bonus for this year). Very few teams have that much cap space to absorb the contract outright. Waddell has indicated his preference would be to make more of a pure ‘hockey trade’ but that might be hard to come by at this point. To that end, the GM acknowledged that some retention might be required to ultimately push a move over the finish line:
We might end up eating some money. If I wanted to eat half, I could’ve traded him by now, but that’s not my first choice.
With rookie camps about six weeks away, executives will likely try to take some time away before getting ready for training camps. Based on the tepid interest thus far, there’s a good chance that’s already the case. As a result, while Laine is now free to speak to potentially interested teams, it looks as if it will take some time for a potential market to materialize.
OK, in that case…Rakell, Acciari and a pair of thirds.
Yeah. We’ve got (a) an inconsistent player, who (b) has now worn out his welcome for his second team, and (c) has an ever growing list of time missed due to injuries, and (d) just had a long stint with the Player Assistance Program, while (e) holding down an All-Star level salary few teams can afford. Rakell, Acciari and a pair of thirds might just be as good a deal as Waddell can get.
if Laine went bust, can you imagine the number of torches and pitchforks that would be out for Dubas?
Dubas has an impossible task as it is. He won’t possibly succeed pushing the team to anything better than a one-and-done in the playoffs, and they probably aren’t capable of that much. But the fanbase and the media are too used to excellence, so they won’t tolerate the long rebuild that’s going to have to happen. He’s screwed no matter what.
I agree with you!
Nha, you are vastly underestimating Dubas. This is precisely the type of situation Pittsburgh brought him in to deal with! It’s impossible for you or I (or anyone else, for that matter) to figure out how he will do that because no one else possesses the type of boy-wonder magic that Dubas does, so don’t try to rationalize it. Just sit back and enjoy the “front office Gretzky” work his magic!
(grins at HockeyDude77) You’re missing the [SARCASM] tag there …
If the Canes were ever going to make this happen, its as good a time as any for them. Shouldnt take more than a couple B/B+ prospects and a 2nd round pick to get 50% retention.
If RBA could get him to buy in, a reunion with Aho has high-end potential.
They would have to take Kotkaniemi.
At this point I’m not sure we could afford to lose the center depth. Plus the FO seems intent on giving him one last try. I expect him to start the ssn at 2C unless he has a disastrous camp.
Columbus retains 1/3 ($2.9m x2) and takes on Brandon Tanev ($3.5m x1). Seattle upgrades next season for net $2.3m, they cross their fingers on season two at $5.8m, and the Blue Jackets get out from under.
The money isn’t the risk, the real risk is Laine himself. The structure isn’t strong enough in Seattle to take him on. Youth and sound players is what’s best for them. Eberle type veterans are key helpers not kuznetzovs Laines and Vranas.
I don’t think it’s fair to put Laine in the malcontent category; by all accounts he’s a good enough teammate, he just needs a Cntrl-Reset on his game. Would give him a shot for a year, but as the article mentions, there’s not really a destination for that kind of contract in the short term. His best bet is to try to rebuild his value as a CBJ then get moved at the deadline.
If by “structure” you mean “culture” then I think you make a good point.
I’ve always wondered what he went into PA for. It has been pretty well known around the league for years that Laine is a very strange dude and a tough fit in any locker room. That might be an understatement lol.
The guy has not been any type of “impact player” in 5 years. A y team acquiring him will be lucky to get 45 games of sub par performance – and the GM acquiring him would be laughed out of the league
116 points i last 129 games id say thats pretty good wouldn’t you?
+/- ? Hits?
Plus minus has gone the way of the dodo bird most useless stat around, go check out players that have gone from good teams to bad teams and look at their plus minus difference such a useless stat. Very few skilled forwards have high hit numbers they are not there to throw hits
All I know is a competent GM would not take him – UNLESS – the deal was unbelievably weighted towards the acquiring team, with most salary retained by CBJ AND there was not a “no trade” clause and the cost to outright release him was existent. Otherwise, the guy definitely appears to be poison with declining skillets.
He only has 2 years left any team that is going for him aren’t worried about releasing him for 2 years