We were talking about Laine because of his performance tonight and the fact that there wasn't anything to talk about in the Jackets game until partway through the 3rd period.
As for "nobody does it," even if we accept that as true that doesn't mean nobody should do it. It's taken as fact that a malcontent will destroy team chemistry and that players will avoid signing for the team if they follow that path. But there's very little actual evidence to support that in the league. In fact, I would argue that honoring one player's trade demands only makes it more likely that another one will make a similar demand in the future. They say "hey it worked for Anderson so I'll try it." Then the next says "Hey it worked for Dubois so I'll try it." Then the next says "Hey it worked for Laine so I'll try it." Pretty soon you have even guys like Jiricek on their ELC making demands. Instead, what you should have done is with the first guy sit him down and say "No. If you want to play in the NHL, it will be with us. If you don't want to play in the NHL, good luck in whatever other career path you want."
