Not to mention that, rightly or wrongly, there's long been questions about his commitment and consistency (obviously less so on the offensive end) and he's also now going through player assistance (which I applaud him for seeking out) in addition to the injury question marks. It would floor me to have bought out Duchene and dumped Johansen just to turn around and trade for Laine a season later.
Wouldn't think Nyquist would be much interest due to his age in CBus. Personally see him as a major deadline piece if things go sideways. If he manages to have anywhere near the season he had last year, we should be able to get quite the returnWhat I find personally annoying is that up until last season's results I would have had the perfect answer for a Laine trade right about now. Fabbro + Nyquist. Done. But then Nyquist had to go on that ludicrously insane career year of career years and so obviously there's no way that would even remotely fly. Harrumph.
He's capable, he's not hopeless defensively, and he was an alternate captain while he was here. We need Skilled Mentors up here.
Makes sense then. Just never thought he would be interest to a younger team but I guess he would fill much the same role there as he does here.
Pretty much exactly. Which is why I was earlier describing Nashville as not really having Skilled Mentors to spare - they're needed there as well as here.
Yeah it definitely depends on what else we are able to do. While I too would prefer Reinhart or someone of that ilk I don't think we are really that appealing of a destination for the top free agents as things stand. So if we get through free agency and have a bunch of cap space left over (which is in my opinion fairly likely) then I think he'd be someone to consider. The cap hit is high but it's not long so if it doesn't work out and the acquisition cost is fairly low there isn't too much risk really.
We have room for LOTS of UFAs. I would be trying for 2 of the top D out there, say $6M each to Pesce and Zadorov. That's the biggest need. Then I'd also be pursuing Reinhart/Guentzel (but without serious hope), and the next tier down of UFA forwards in Marchessault, Tarasenko, Teravainen, Lindholm, and Stephenson, then a few in the next tier down from that - which might be where Zucker would come in. *THEN* if enough of that failed that I still had $10M of Cap available... ok, then I'd take Laine, Plan D.
I get the impression you're still thinking of Laine as a near-valueless cap dump. I'm not saying he's someone the Preds should push hard for, but it's still exasperating to see considering that he's been fantastic the last two healthy seasons.
Sorry but no one is going to give you anything of value for a guy that costs 9 million a season, has a ton of question marks about his commitment to playing, health, and just hit the players assistance program. If he was making 4.5, yeah people will take that gamble, but there are a whole host of guys you can give 9 million too that is likely to give you more production and don't come with those concerns.
Nichushkin is a better player on a better AAV contract and nobody is giving up anything to take him on, granted he is on double-secret probation now and there's presumably a much bigger risk. Laine also has a 10 team M-NTC, so by the time you eliminate the teams that won't take a flier on him, the ones that can't afford his cap hit, and the ones he puts in his NTC, the trade partner list is going to be pretty small.
Yes that is exactly what I would consider him.
Those question marks literally do not exist. Seriously. They don't exist. If anything, he tries too hard.
That one's legit.
More production than a point per game?
This is an unfair characterization.
He also had far more term left on his contract and wasn't anywhere near point-per-game on his way out; that was the blocking issue. Laine's only got two years left and is thus within experimental reach. I don't think it's a good idea for the Predators - no good reason to pay to take on that risk - but he's not valueless.
I like the defense. I think pesce and zadarov is exactly who we should target. I like the forward group minus Laine. Big if but if stamkos does test free agency I’d rather throw that much at him rather than Laine. Stammer actually can play center and he’s only missed 5 games total the last 3 years.
Laine has actually improved at this department over the years. I mean, he wanted to transition to center to have more impact on the game. Granted, that experiment went to heck but it shows how he has grown as a player and as a person, too.
Not the narrative around the league and a PPG only means something if you can actually play in the games. I have no desire to pay 9 million for a 50pt player because he can't stay in the lineup.
I think it would make sense to promote Taylor into that spot. I don't know how many cooks is too many, Richards has already been an NHL head coach and has a huge amount of experience, even though he's not "Brunette's Guy" like MacKenzie is. I don't know how many coaches you really need, but lots of teams seem to go with 4 these days.
I just think Laine has too many "risk factors" associated with him. I'd rather have a guy I know I can count on like Marchessault.
There's always next summer, eh?I don't really expect any of those big name guys like Marner, Rantanen, and Draisatl to hit free agency next summer. But I would hate to have to pass one up if they did just because we gambled on Laine. Of course, you could say this about any big expenditures we make on free agents too, But if we spend all our Cap this year, plus have Nyquist and Johansen coming off the books next year and another Cap riser, we'd potentially be right hovering on the edge of being able to chase a big name like them, such that even the few extra million Laine represents could jeopardize that. It probably won't ever be possible to sign guys like that anyway, of course. Or maybe you could argue that Laine could be LTIRed by then, so we'd have lots of room?
