Blake Wheeler was an elite set up man for him. You don’t need to be a center to pass the puck from the right wing to the left. Byfuglien was also a pretty damn good player. Not only as a passer but a real threat to cover when he is on the PP giving Laine more room.
But Laine is getting the one timer spot on the left wing. Caufield is no longer the primary shooter.
We’ll see what happens. Laine needs to come back and actually play good. If he is, then Caufield could go in the bumper position, whatever, not the end of the world
If the problem was games played the BJs had Laine for 2 more years to fix that and rehab his value. The primary value the BJs get in this trade is getting Laine off the team.
The primary benefit is the added cap space since Laine didn't want to be there.
Blind swing and a miss. That’s just logically false. They have almost $25 in cap space.
They have more cap space now due to unfortunate circumstances but the only reason Habs got him is because they were the only ones willing to eat the entire contract. No idea why they wanted the cap space.
It's speculation at this point but after the team had 2 buyouts and then fired 3 coaches (Babcock, Larsen, Vincent) who were under contract, ownership may have told Waddell that he isn't permitted to spend money on someone who isn't with the team anymore, meaning no retention.
From reports, it sounds like Columbus had other options with a better return, but those deals required Cbus to retain so much and that Columbus took the deal with the Habs because they retained nothing, so you're likely correct.
