Rumor: The All Encompassing Patrik Laine Thread (it’s happening!!)

[Sorinth]

One thing I was thinking about today. Remember when Scott Gomez was on that crazy goal-less streak? There was a restaurant in Montreal that marketed a promo prosmising free drinks on the night he scored his first goal. They had signs everywhere '78 games and counting' or something like that. It used to get posted here all the time. I remember all of us having a good laugh. I'm sure it was tough on him though. I don't think something like that would happen in Columbus. Do you?

Nobody is saying that it's impossible to play in Montreal or that you can't have success here. Many players have. But there's a lot of scrutiny and it's not for everyone. It's simply something that mgmt will take into consideration when they look at acquiring players. It can be a very unforgiving place.

Thought it was a website, and sure maybe not Columbus but I could very much see fans of Boston, Philly, Toronto doing similar things and booing/crapping all over a Gomez during his worst.

I mean you don't think Vegas or NYR can be a very unforgiving place, one day your a key player and the next your getting shipped out so they can go after the next big name. Probably feels like your walking on egg shells and will have your life upended at any moment by a GM whose getting lauded for going for it. I'm sure that's a lot of pressure and not something that every player will like.

The point isn't that MTL is not a tough place to play, it can very much be, but many places can be very tough places to play, MTL is not unique in that respect.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Thought it was a website, and sure maybe not Columbus but I could very much see fans of Boston, Philly, Toronto doing similar things and booing/crapping all over a Gomez during his worst.

I mean you don't think Vegas or NYR can be a very unforgiving place, one day your a key player and the next your getting shipped out so they can go after the next big name. Probably feels like your walking on egg shells and will have your life upended at any moment by a GM whose getting lauded for going for it. I'm sure that's a lot of pressure and not something that every player will like.

The point isn't that MTL is not a tough place to play, it can very much be, but many places can be very tough places to play, MTL is not unique in that respect.

I didn’t say it was unique. I said it was a hard place to play. Toronto is similar. Not quite as bad in some ways but worse in others.

 

[Destopcorner]

Don't underestimate the Armia effect on Patrick as a fellow countryman and ex teammate. Army had a wonderful turnaround season and his attitude was a big part of it, he was smiling and everywhere on the ice. Could be a great mentor and friend to learn how to enjoy our jungle.

 

[salbutera]

Thought it was a website, and sure maybe not Columbus but I could very much see fans of Boston, Philly, Toronto doing similar things and booing/crapping all over a Gomez during his worst.

I mean you don't think Vegas or NYR can be a very unforgiving place, one day your a key player and the next your getting shipped out so they can go after the next big name. Probably feels like your walking on egg shells and will have your life upended at any moment by a GM whose getting lauded for going for it. I'm sure that's a lot of pressure and not something that every player will like.

The point isn't that MTL is not a tough place to play, it can very much be, but many places can be very tough places to play, MTL is not unique in that respect.

I live in Bos / NYR territory - my kids play hockey in NYR territory, trust me there’s nowhere near the attention on NHL players. MSL was coaching in my kids present program, Matt Moulson presently does as does Chara for Boston Jr Eagles and no one cares - Zegras shows up time & again for kids practices as does Zibanejad and Kreider occasionally .. again barely noticed.

Bruins & NYR practice rinks rarely even have any fans.

As Stamkos stated openly, fans pack the arena, cheer the team on, but once you leave the rink can get VIP access to restaurants & events due to being a TBay player but its total anonymity going to the movies or beach

 

[calder candidate]

I still don’t understand the push back on Laine, not one is willing to trade away the farm, I haven’t seen a trade offer that would include significant pieces. if KH make an offer you have to give him the benefit that he has done the homework and he isn’t getting a into a bidding war.

We need top 6 talent. Who will play with Dach or if we split CC, Suzuki, Slaf will we have enough fire power…
Laine can score 30 in a bad season, he top 100 (85) all time in goal per game, he is top 15/16 among active player shooting % and goal per game. He is entering is prime, he is 6’5’’ (I don’t care that he doesn’t use it, it still the reach and harder to move him than to CC) regardless of all the other stuff the guy can play offence, what did KH say when we traded for Dach, we will be playing offence, where is the offence? We aren’t paying to acquire 2OA, 40goal Laine, to be the face of the franchise, we would be paying for a guy coming off PAP and injuries filled seasons making 8.7M$ who requested a trade, who will be ask to be supporting cast to Suzuki, CC, Slaf and Dach.

We pride our self on have some of the best staff, we have the perfect mentor in Armia, our leadership group is young and inclusive, the media / fan is still an issue but I actually think the situation has improved, and more importantly we have the cap space, which give us an edge on a lot of teams and this isn’t setting us back in the rebuild even if it doesn’t work.
2x2nd, or other pick, Harris, kapanen, Farrell, Struble, Tuch, Kidney, Trudeau even Mesar there is none of these guy that have the potential impact that Laine could have.
The risk isn’t zero but if you are given more or less 2x 2nd and Farrell, what is the risk? Laine isn’t coming in to be the franchise player he won’t have those expectations anymore, if he just need to be close to 30 goal playing middle 6 and PP he will be a god in this city if it doesn’t it probably won’t end well but considering what will be traded I think the risk reward is still extremely good.

 

[calder candidate]

All true.

And Montreal is still a hard market to play in when you’re struggling.

A lot of it come down to expectations if Drouin was joining the team today where expectations would be middle 6 offensive winger everyone would be thrilled to get 50pts / .5ppg out of him…

 

[Wateredgarden]

One thing I was thinking about today. Remember when Scott Gomez was on that crazy goal-less streak? There was a restaurant in Montreal that marketed a promo prosmising free drinks on the night he scored his first goal. They had signs everywhere '78 games and counting' or something like that. It used to get posted here all the time. I remember all of us having a good laugh. I'm sure it was tough on him though. I don't think something like that would happen in Columbus. Do you?

Nobody is saying that it's impossible to play in Montreal or that you can't have success here. Many players have. But there's a lot of scrutiny and it's not for everyone. It's simply something that mgmt will take into consideration when they look at acquiring players. It can be a very unforgiving place.

Gomez wouldn't have had it that hard if we didn't trade him for McDonagh and wasnt paid almost Crosby money.

 

[River Meadow]

DO. NOT. TRADE. A. 1ST. ROUND. PICK. FOR. LAINE.

Barron/Harris/Struble/etc, fine.

But NO to our 1st round picks.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Gomez wouldn't have had it that hard if we didn't trade him for McDonagh and wasnt paid almost Crosby money.

Gomez went an entire year without scoring a goal at a 7.3m caphit and still didn’t get ragged on all that bad. I mean, many never liked him, but many remember the run with cammy. Success buys a fair bit of forgiveness in Montreal
Imo.

 

[ReHabs]

DO. NOT. TRADE. A. 1ST. ROUND. PICK. FOR. LAINE.

Barron/Harris/Struble/etc, fine.

But NO to our 1st round picks.

The Habs traded a 1st round pick (and a high 2nd round pick) for a player with this statline

 

[ReHabs]

Gomez went an entire year without scoring a goal at a 7.3m caphit and still didn’t get ragged on all that bad. I mean, many never liked him, but many remember the run with cammy. Success buys a fair bit of forgiveness in Montreal
Imo.

Gomez and Anderson both had counters for the last time they scored a goal. It was more fun than mean and let's be honest, they were paid far too much and had too much TOI to be so bad at scoring. In the case of Drouin and Anderson the media was firmly rooting for them and was in their corner. Gomez less so but that had to do with the Gauthier-era meltdown too. Unless I've missed something, Gomez doesn't seem to hold any grudge or bad feelings about his time as a Hab or in Montreal.

In every other city they would get as much or more razzing from the local hockey media and fans. It is without question.

The schtick where Montreal is a uniquely bad place to play is laughable in the context of acquiring a player under contract who'll have to certainly give his approval to be traded here and maybe even have preliminary chats with our management. It's only brought up to kick dust in the air because certain commentators cannot find coherent arguments against his acquisition. Otherwise I'd agree Montreal is not an easy market for shy players -- who would possibly disagree? Is Laine a shy player though?

Remember some days ago it was bad to acquire Laine because he would get in the way of Joshua Roy's development. When that was laughed out the room, in came in the "Laine would crumble in Montreal just like Drouin and Bill Durnan" BS argument.

 

[vokiel]

DO. NOT. TRADE. A. 1ST. ROUND. PICK. FOR. LAINE.

Barron/Harris/Struble/etc, fine.

But NO to our 1st round picks.

So you hated the Dach trade I guess?

 

[WeThreeKings]

So you hated the Dach trade I guess?

That made sense because Dach was undervalued with sky high potential. Laine hasn't been effective since his ELC, consistently gets worse and now has a massive contract and mental health issues.

 

[26Mats]

That made sense because Dach was undervalued with sky high potential. Laine hasn't been effective since his ELC, consistently gets worse and now has a massive contract and mental health issues.

There's no doubt in my mind that IF highes has any interest in what Laine could bring to the team on the ice, he would only acquire him with retention.

The retention would ja e to be at least 1.2M for him to fit within the team salary structure, maybe far more.

 

[vokiel]

That made sense because Dach was undervalued with sky high potential. Laine hasn't been effective since his ELC, consistently gets worse and now has a massive contract and mental health issues.

Consistently gets close to PPG.. Don't know what you're talking about, aside from injuries, which is also Dach's problem.

And we paid a 13th OA for Dach... Acquiring Dach looks like a dumber trade to me.

 

[ReHabs]

"Laine hasn't been effective since his ELC, consistently gets worse and now has a massive contract and mental health issues."

Obviously certain people simply won't let facts get in the way of narrative... Since his ELC Laine has had 3 of 5 seasons near PPG playing for a terrible bad-vibes team. The fifth season being where he had a clavicle injury and shut down the season for mental health and to reset.

He underperformed/underproduced relative to his cap hit -- that's why he's available in the first place. If he was producing like Kaprizov he wouldn't be available and we wouldn't be talking about him!

 

[Lshap]

I live in Bos / NYR territory - my kids play hockey in NYR territory, trust me there’s nowhere near the attention on NHL players. MSL was coaching in my kids present program, Matt Moulson presently does as does Chara for Boston Jr Eagles and no one cares - Zegras shows up time & again for kids practices as does Zibanejad and Kreider occasionally .. again barely noticed.

Bruins & NYR practice rinks rarely even have any fans.

As Stamkos stated openly, fans pack the arena, cheer the team on, but once you leave the rink can get VIP access to restaurants & events due to being a TBay player but its total anonymity going to the movies or beach

I think the market pressure in Montreal is way overblown. Yes, players are better known here than elsewhere. Fans talk about them, media interview them, sponsors hire them, but very little translates to real-life pressure when a player is at a restaurant or walking on the street. "Well-known" is not the same as "Mobbed".

Purely anecdotal, but I've crossed paths with many big name Habs – Lafleur, Gainey, Carbonneau, Robinson, Pacioretty – and never seen anyone do anything more intrusive than nod and smile at them. Usually they're given no attention whatsoever. My friend's son is friends with Suzuki and Caufield – she showed me pics of them hugging her at a party; she calls them "Sweet kids".

I think Montreal players can live their life, eat, shop, stroll, date, without much celebrity pressure. Hockey fans aren't nearly as hysterical as movie star or rock fans. The pressure isn't face-to-face; it's mostly from their social media footprint. Drouin was criticized mercilessly in articles, podcasts, and sites like this one. Gomez had a Goal-Drought website. In that respect Montreal is more obsessive than most other NHL markets. It must be weird for a young player to know people are talking about him online, but with a little experience it's easy to avoid the chatter. Don't read Quebec journals, don't tune into TSN 690, avoid HFBoards, and life is almost normal. Most of the noise is in french, which non-francophone players won't understand anyway.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Gomez went an entire year without scoring a goal at a 7.3m caphit and still didn’t get ragged on all that bad. I mean, many never liked him, but many remember the run with cammy. Success buys a fair bit of forgiveness in Montreal
Imo.

I remember the “Why was he on the power play?” meme’s like they were yesterday when Gomez scored the goal that broke that streak. He got ragged on a lot during that time. Luckily, the team was also a trainwreck at that time so not all the focus was on him.

 

[Benstheman]

No 1st pick is going the other way for Laine, unless Cbj retain a good amount of $$$ or they take Andersson back in the deal.

Habs don't need Cbj to retain and Cbj don't want to retain either.

Cbj want a player that can help them now. So my guess would be the following options :

Dvorak + 2nd + Harris/Barron/Mesar
or
Andersson + Florida 1st + Harris /Barron/Mesar

 

[WeThreeKings]

Consistently gets close to PPG.. Don't know what you're talking about, aside from injuries, which is also Dach's problem.

And we paid a 13th OA for Dach... Acquiring Dach looks like a dumber trade to me.

Acquiring an undervalued 6'4 center with untapped potential is a dumber trade than acquiring a guy who hasn't matched his initial outputs in the league, will be on their third team and just came out of a mental health assistance program while on a contract near 9m a year?

One was a value play with a lot of upside, this would be a reclamation project, and it only makes sense if it was insanely cheap.

 

[salbutera]

Consistently gets close to PPG.. Don't know what you're talking about, aside from injuries, which is also Dach's problem.

And we paid a 13th OA for Dach... Acquiring Dach looks like a dumber trade to me.

Cap $ have more meaning in trades nowadays than actual talent - supply & demand… there are very limited # of teams able to absorb even 3/4 of Laine’s AAV, which limits market demand this limiting CBJs return.

Waddell letting it be known publicly CBJs not looking for a top-6 but rather a player able to “contribute” to the team shows how low the bar has reached for a very good 0.88PPG 26-yr old elite sniper w size who doesn’t hesitate to use it in puck retrieval / protection situations

 

[Habs Halifax]

There's no doubt in my mind that IF highes has any interest in what Laine could bring to the team on the ice, he would only acquire him with retention.

The retention would ja e to be at least 1.2M for him to fit within the team salary structure, maybe far more.

The retention part does not hurt the Habs so we do have leverage. The 2 year term is exactly where we have cap room. So if we want to take the entire contract without sending a contract back (or with no retention), we can. Ideally, I think our plan A is to have Price on LTIR after the season starts. So if we add Laine, can we fit it in without Price on LTIR until after the season starts? I'm pretty sure that is what Hughes prefers. Might only need $1.2M retention like you said.

The biggest issue is what futures we have to spare.

 

[Habs Halifax]

No 1st pick is going the other way for Laine, unless Cbj retain a good amount of $$$ or they take Andersson back in the deal.

Habs don't need Cbj to retain and Cbj don't want to retain either.

Cbj want a player that can help them now. So my guess would be the following options :

Dvorak + 2nd + Harris/Barron/Mesar
or
Andersson + Florida 1st + Harris /Barron/Mesar

This is where my mind is at as well. Well explained on the different angles we can take in trade talks. I'm sure the Jackets understand what is important to Hughes and Hughes understands what is important to the Jackets.

I've been playing catch up... Are these rumors true?

1) Laine visits Montreal. Did he meet with the Habs? Anything come from that?

2) Waddell said there was only one team that has contacted them about Laine?

I think the market pressure in Montreal is way overblown. Yes, players are better known here than elsewhere. Fans talk about them, media interview them, sponsors hire them, but very little translates to real-life pressure when a player is at a restaurant or walking on the street. "Well-known" is not the same as "Mobbed".

Purely anecdotal, but I've crossed paths with many big name Habs – Lafleur, Gainey, Carbonneau, Robinson, Pacioretty – and never seen anyone do anything more intrusive than nod and smile at them. Usually they're given no attention whatsoever. My friend's son is friends with Suzuki and Caufield – she showed me pics of them hugging her at a party; she calls them "Sweet kids".

I think Montreal players can live their life, eat, shop, stroll, date, without much celebrity pressure. Hockey fans aren't nearly as hysterical as movie star or rock fans. The pressure isn't face-to-face; it's mostly from their social media footprint. Drouin was criticized mercilessly in articles, podcasts, and sites like this one. Gomez had a Goal-Drought website. In that respect Montreal is more obsessive than most other NHL markets. It must be weird for a young player to know people are talking about him online, but with a little experience it's easy to avoid the chatter. Don't read Quebec journals, don't tune into TSN 690, avoid HFBoards, and life is almost normal. Most of the noise is in french, which non-francophone players won't understand anyway.

Agreed. Circumstance also plays a factor.

With Drouin, we traded a big young piece to acquire and we brought him to Montreal on an island by himself and also started him at center. What could go wrong eh?

 

[Prettyisland]

Not being willing to take the gamble on a player is one thing but saying that this KID can’t turn it around is just short sighted. His shot is world class.. you just can’t deny it

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

That made sense because Dach was undervalued with sky high potential. Laine hasn't been effective since his ELC, consistently gets worse and now has a massive contract and mental health issues.

Laine has that same potentiel and wont cost a high first like Kirby did as for the mental issues the kid lost his father it hurt him more then most but he was man enough to ask for help and go to the program im fine with that i actually respect it obviously it depends on the price but if he pans out the reward is high he would instantly become our best winger even maybe player nobody can deny his talent he just needs to clear his head and get back to hockey its definitely a risk but one i would be willing to take for the right price