Item No. 2: Summer of Laine
One of the major stories of this offseason for the Blue Jackets will be their contract talks with forward
Patrik Laine, who became a foundational part of the club this season after looking like a square peg in 2020-21.
The early indications are good. Laine has left no mystery how he feels about signing an extension with the Blue Jackets. He’s privately told those close to him the same thing he’s expressed publicly on numerous occasions.
“I don’t think it should be an issue,” Laine said of a possible contract. “They have expressed that they want me here. I’ve said the same thing. So you know, the feeling is mutual. Just figure out the term and the money and all that and I think we should be fine.
“We have a great group of guys, guys I got to be really close with, and I’m excited about the youth we have and the opportunities we’re going to have in a couple of years. I definitely want to be a part of it and playing here, playing in front of these great fans. I love the city. I love everything about being here. So it’s that simple.”
The Blue Jackets haven’t hidden their desire to keep Laine around, either.
They bit the bullet last summer and extended a $7.5 million qualifying offer to Laine to maintain his rights via restricted free agency. Laine didn’t produce like a $7.5 million player last season, but no way GM Jarmo Kekalainen was going to surrender his rights to the player.
Remember, Kekalainen has known Laine for many years, even before the 2016 NHL draft, when Laine went No. 2 overall to Winnipeg. Kekalainen was wise to be patient, applying what he knew about Laine to the situation at hand.
“Even with the best hockey players in this league … it’s amazing what confidence means to them,” Kekalainen said. “And I think he was very low on confidence a year ago, in that season, for many different reasons. This year, when the ball started rolling in the right direction and he got more and more confident, you could see what the other end of the potential is, and it is great.
“So, I think he’s expressed he wants to stay here. We’ve said we want him to stay. Now, it’s just finding the common ground.
There is so much optimism around the Blue Jackets these days after a better-than-expected season and a wave of high-end talent joining the roster. There would be no better way to keep that going than to get Laine’s name on a long-term deal.
The Jackets have developed quite a reputation for contract drama through the years (
Sergei Bobrovsky,
Ryan Johansen,
Josh Anderson, etc.), but maybe
Zach Werenski’s tidy, well-executed extension last summer was the first indication that things have changed.
Ideally, the Blue Jackets would like to get Laine’s deal wrapped up quickly. They still own his rights as a restricted free agent for one more season, but it would behoove all parties if a deal could be struck without each side starting to exercise its leverage.
