NHL'er Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 (edited) Quote https://www.tsn.ca/trade-bait-winnipeg-jets-sniper-patrik-laine-on-the-board-1.1517697 Trade Bait: Finnish sniper Laine on the board A marksman may be on the market. One of the NHL’s true snipers, Patrik Laine, is expected to be in play this offseason as the Winnipeg Jets explore avenues to fill holes on their blueline and down the middle. The mere mention of Laine joining TSN’s first Trade Bait board of the fall is enough to trigger wounds that still haven’t healed for Winnipeggers of a certain generation from the 1996 trade of the Finnish Flash, Teemu Selanne. One of the great goal scorers of all time, Selanne collected 147 goals in three and a half seasons as a Jet. The Jets’ 2.0 version of the Flash, fellow Finn Laine has 138 goals through four seasons, tied for seventh most across the NHL since he entered the league as an 18-year-old. By no means is Laine a lock to be traded. Free agency will be one road for the Jets to attempt to fill the crater left by Dustin Byfuglien, Tyler Myers, Jacob Trouba and Ben Chiarot on the backend since last offseason. That will be a challenge for Winnipeg, even with money to spend, and only a few true standouts ever make it to market. That leaves Laine (or fellow winger Nikolaj Ehlers, also on the Trade Bait board) as perhaps the most logical deductions from a Winnipeg trade chip perspective because the Jets are unlikely to move Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler or Kyle Connor – who scored 10 more goals than Laine this season. Ehlers is more versatile than Laine in the lineup, and though he’s two years older, he is signed to a reasonable $6 million annual contract through the 2024-25 season. Laine, 22, is set to enter the final year of his bridge deal at $6.75 million. He is going to be due a payday – whether it’s a seven-figure or eight-figure AAV might depend on this season – and the Jets may or may not be the team to give it to him. Laine’s season-by-season goal totals stand at 36, 44, 30 and 33 (pro-rated total over 79 games for 2019-20). He has not been quite as electrifying since that 44-goal season, but it isn’t often that a sniper of Laine’s ilk becomes available. The Jets would need to make it count. Selanne was dealt for defenceman Oleg Tverdovsky and forward Chad Kilger, who was the No. 4 overall pick from the previous draft. Selanne went on to post five more seasons of at least 50 goals. A team like the Carolina Hurricanes, with an embarrassment of riches on the backend, would make for an interesting trade partner. Up front, the Hurricanes could make an all-Finn line of Laine with World Junior-winning teammate Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen. Jaccob Slavin is the only player close to an untouchable on Carolina’s backend. Dougie Hamilton (No. 20) makes the Trade Bait board because he is also due an extension, heading into the final year of his $5.75 million contract. He could follow the trend of the past two offseasons, when the Canes dealt Elias Lindholm and Justin Faulk before skating into the last season of their deals when it became clear negotiations were not on the same page. Elsewhere, three prominent goaltenders – Stanley Cup winners Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury, plus Maple Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen – can be added to the pile of goalies up for grabs on the free agent market. This off-season will be like a game of Musical Crease instead of Musical Chairs. Coyotes defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (No. 4) was due a $4 million signing bonus from Arizona on Tuesday, as confirmed by TSN’s David Alter, and so any team potentially acquiring the Yotes’ captain will have their bill lightened. Vince Dunn is one option for the Blues to move if they can come to terms with their captain, Alex Pietrangelo. Also, Alex Killorn is representative of one of the pieces that the Lightning will be forced to move this offseason because of the frozen salary cap. Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Yanni Gourde are also possibilities, but Killorn is the only player with a limited no-trade clause. The other three have full no-trades, even though those clauses rarely block a deal. With 24 teams in tinkering mode, last week was one of the busiest in months for NHL GMs working the phones. Get your pens out fellow armchair GMs. Edited September 2, 2020 by -Vintage Canuck- Tag changed to [Speculation]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post peaches5 Posted September 1, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted September 1, 2020 Tylers Myers for Laine, lol! 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
24K PureCool Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Lol I'll do Erickson for Laine. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 2 minutes ago, 24K PureCool said: Lol I'll do Erickson for Laine. Add Stecher as a sweetner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herberts Vasiljevs Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 (edited) Interesting to see how this one plays out. Laine only has one more year on his contract too. Carolina would be a fun fit because they have so many Finns - and I have a soft spot for Finns, because (in my best Ben Shapiro voice) I have a fiancee, who is Finnish, by the way! Edited September 1, 2020 by Herberts Vasiljevs 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlanB Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Sounds like speculation bordering on pure fabrication versus a 'report'. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush17 Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Laine has lost his finish. Time to refinish the Jets hardwood forward group. so corny. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 19 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said: Add Stecher as a sweetner? Don't forget about a 2nd round pick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naslund.is.king Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 whats the equivalent of Raymond,Ballard and a 2nd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dekey Pete Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 4 minutes ago, naslund.is.king said: whats the equivalent of Raymond,Ballard and a 2nd Eriksson, Benn and a 2nd? 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyCuddles Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 49 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said: Add Stecher as a sweetner? They could use the added toughness of Ferland as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Heffy Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Montreal would love him to play with Kotkaneemi but the price might be too steep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnews Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Ehlers for Pesce. Sign Edmundson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCNate Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Too bad we don't have the pieces to get this done. Laine is a consistent 30 goal scorer, putting him in our top 6 would be lights out. A package of futures would work well ie. Podkolzin/Hoglander, 2021 1st and 1 of DiPietro/Woo/Joulevi type prospects, but we would also need to be sending a ton of dead weight to make the contracts work. Can't see the Jets taking that on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebreh Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 honestly... i would kick tires on him if i were JB. Laine is a classic case of needing a change of scenery. Perhaps playing on a bigger market like ours would light the fire in him again. He still has that lethal shot that Brock seems to have lost... at worst he's a consistent 30 goal scorer and at his peak he was flirting with 50. I don't know what it would take to get him though.. Hog and Pod are untouchables for me though. maybe Boeser (so he can be closer to family) + Virtanen + Stecher? lol i dunno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekker Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 No thanks. To inconsistent for my liking. Kind of player that puts up big points in games you are winning 7 to 2. Then you can't find him in the close checking games. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxfanabroad Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 8 minutes ago, rekker said: No thanks. To inconsistent for my liking. Kind of player that puts up big points in games you are winning 7 to 2. Then you can't find him in the close checking games. Agreed. From 1st interview, seemed this guy's a head-case. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down by the River Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 18 minutes ago, rekker said: No thanks. To inconsistent for my liking. Kind of player that puts up big points in games you are winning 7 to 2. Then you can't find him in the close checking games. Came here to say this. He relies too much on others to get him the puck. He might have 2 goals in a game but had the puck on his stick for a total of 17 seconds. He'd basically be a rental for the Canucks because they won't be able to fit him + Pettersson/Hughes under the cap. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM_ Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Laine for OEL. Because Kessel needs a buddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoKnows Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Consistent 30 goal scorer, had a bounce back season. It would take a lot to get him from Winnipeg though. Brock is a good start, but it's the additional pieces that would kill us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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