It's not actually a new story. Portzline's memory is poor but he was basically trying to rehash his own reporting from the 2021 offseason. He reported a leadership meeting where there were voices calling for Laine's ouster. The Blue Jackets leadership group in that period was often credited as one of the best high accountability groups in the league.
"leadership group in that period was often credited as one of the best high accountability groups in the league" is one of the most subjective "titles" in hockey, and frequently gets proven to be wrong once more information comes out.
Thats not to discount issues or that Laine may have been the issue, but you also can't get nuance from this kind of story.
And again, one of Montreal's veteran leaders was with Columbus when they traded for Laine, and their new AHL coach was in Columbus afterwards (and was alleged his decision to bench him was the reason Laine wanted out of Columbus). Montreal didn't make this trade with their eyes closed, they likely know more than you or I.
After that report came out many pro Laine fans turned on the former favorite Cam Atkinson, speculating that he was the one feeding Portzline and not liking Laine. Shortly after that Atkinson was traded, feeding further speculation that it was Atkinson's doing, or speculation that Jarmo was choosing Laine over his leadership group. We don't know if that was really the choice, though Jarmo did effectively gut the leadership group and tried to build around Laine. And we don't know how extensive the anti-Laine sentiment was among the old leadership group. Some have speculated that Jones was not a fan of Laine, he decided to leave the team not long after the meeting. But there isn't anything else to go on there, he surely had plenty of reasons for moving on.
The only players that left the team that offseason were Atkinson and Jones, and it feels very revisionist to say that Jones wouldn't re-sign because of Laine.
I also don't think its ever been a good idea to build around Laine, but how exactly did Columbus even try to do that? They never had a proven top-6 caliber center with playmaking chops his entire time in Columbus. They also basically focused on him being a trigger man and didn't play a more complementary style to his skill-set.
And lets actually look at that leadership group:
-Jones: Was incredibly overrated and Columbus is better off in trading him and not re-signing him
-Atkinson: Basically had one season afterwards where he was a decent top-6 winger
-Werenski: Still a Jacket, they didn't "choose" Laine over him
-Was still a Jacket the next season and then was traded as rental at the deadline. Had a career year at 34 in Nashville, but not a player you build around at his age.
Good teams need a lot of different elements.
The team went from four straight playoff appearances and two straight seasons with post-season series victories, to (with Laine) four straight failed seasons. Going from high accountability to low accountability was a huge reason for that.
I'd argue that clear lack of center depth, having a lot of key guys be in their early to mid 30s, having a bad d-core mix and inconsistent/at times questionable goaltending was an issue.
Its also a frame of reference thing for different fanbases. Under Montreal's previous management they were an ultra high accountability team. And it showed in the effort they put in when they play. It didn't fix the talent issues and lead to a culture of hiding or lying about the extent of injuries which handcuffed management and basically lead to 2-3 players retiring.