Trade rumors continue to swirl around Columbus Blue Jackets sniper Patrik Laine, who was cleared by the NHL/NHLPA Player's Assistance Program earlier this summer. The 26-year-old has requested a move out of Ohio, and potential suitors now have the green light to inquire about the former 44-goal scorer. Multiple teams are reportedly interested in the Finnish forward's services, including the Minnesota Wild.
“If there’s a team to kick the tires, I think Minnesota [makes sense] because they need that star power,” NHL Network analyst Mike Rupp told The Athletic's Aaron Portzline and Michael Russo earlier this week. “They need somebody else that can help carry the workload as far as putting up big numbers.”
The insider continued: “The problem I have with Laine is it depends on what kind of team you are. Everything that Minnesota has established themselves to be as far as their identity, working hard and lunch pail, he’s not that. The thing that’s kept Minnesota competitive is everybody’s kind of pulling the same way and there’s no freelancers. I think he would be a freelancer. It could work, but it could be really bad, too.”
A Laine trade to the Wild would certainly be complicated; the winger is making $8.7 million in each of the next two seasons, and Minnesota currently has just over $1.5 million in available cap space.
It would need to either be a hockey trade that sends roster players back to Columbus, or Jackets general manager Don Waddell would need to retain salary on the former No. 2 overall pick.
“We might end up eating some money,” Waddell told The Columbus Dispatch recently. “If I wanted to eat half, I could’ve traded him by now, but that’s not my first choice.”
Patrik Laine could thrive with a change of scenery
Whether it's Minnesota or elsewhere, it's clear that Laine badly needs a change of scenery. He played just 18 games in 2023-24 before injuring his shoulder, a surgery he is still recovering from. He had chipped in just six goals and nine points at the time of the ailment.
“Waddell has said he wants to make a ‘hockey trade,’ but I think most assume he’s going to be taking money back, either in the form of retained salary or an undesirable player with a hefty contract,” said Portzline. “The question he must ask himself is how ugly (if ugly at all) this may get if Laine isn’t traded and comes to camp. What’s it worth to avoid that? I think he’d go half if the right player is coming back (with the right term).”
Laine is a potential bounce back candidate if he can come back healthy and with a new supporting cast — this is a former point-per-game player, after all. He scored 56 points in 56 games with Columbus in 2021-22, and followed it up with 52 points in 55 contests the next year.
His best season came as a sophomore with the Winnipeg Jets in 2017-18, where he amassed 44 goals and 70 points over a full 82-game slate, establishing himself as a true star in the NHL.
Could Laine get back to that level? That's a question that's impossible to answer right now, but it's looking more and more likely that one franchise will try to answer it in 2024-25 and beyond.
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