Laine never was that player. When healthy and engaged he's an elite goal scorer that can be a handful physically. He's not a line driver and is a black hole defensively. His physical and mental health challenges aren't a plus either. I sense he doesn't necessarily crave the limelight which makes a desire to leave a situation like Columbus interesting. If he's a healthy I think you can count on him for at least 35 goals which has value.
Just take back Kotkaniemi or Kuznetsov and the Canes could take him on at full cap.
Bad idea for Pittsburgh I think. They're done as contenders, may as well plan for the future and Laine is not a guy to build around once Crosby and Malkin leave.
Seattle can afford him without retention and are looking to add to their scoring. I would even be willing to give up a mid-to-late round pick for him.
If Waddell could dump all of Laine’s $8.7M over the next 2 yrs for 1 yr of Kuznetsov at $3.9M, you say “ no chance”? I highly doubt that, especially with Friedman suggesting they’ll need to retain or add a sweetener to move Laine.
I'm not arguing for a Laine acquisition, but Crosby has 1 year left on his deal, so I would think Pittsburgh is committed to icing a competitive team for at least the '25 season...
brother, you're the one who came into this very busy thread of people saying they want the player with a trade proposal of your own
brother, you just put barclay goodrow in your trade proposal
That may well be true, but Dubas and the Pens ownership don't see it that way. They want to continue to put pieces around Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Karlsson to compete while no longer giving up high picks and prospects to do it. They're going to work angles to bring in UFAs and cheap reclamation projects on short term deals while making room for those few prospects the Pens do have in the system to come up.
This is such a textbook perfect example of Trade Negging I'm inclined to save this post as future reference material for the concept.
How would he know what Columbus is thinking? Waddell himself said he hasn't even talked to Laine or anyone in his camp yet. Columbus doesn't even know what they want at this point. Waddell has JUST finished/in the middle of having his amateur/pro scout meetings. I'm sure they are coming up with a plan, but right now I take everything the analysts are saying considering their talking about information that's months old that involved a different person in charge. Elvis asked for a trade and rescinded it during the season. Who knows what's going on behind the scenes.
I wonder if Rielly Smith would work. 1 year left at 5MM. Very vanilla 40 or 50 point guy that wouldn't be an embarrassment in the top 6 and could probably bring back a decent pick at the trade deadline. If Columbus is looking to just move off the contract this would be a pretty clean escape.
It would, but I think we're trying to do a little better than just Remove The Contract.
8.7 million for a guy that is a one dimensional goal scorer who only plays when he wants and doesnt play both ways. Dont even need to get started about the kind of teammate he appears to be, plus he is a risk to be in player assistance program literally right now. He has scored 62 goals since 2020. No team that is serious about winning is dedicating 10% of their cap to a player like that.
