Report: Patrik Laine Wants A "Fresh Start" Away From Columbus

According to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, Patrik Laine and his camp have told the Columbus Blue Jackets that he wants a fresh start, and wants traded out of Columbus.

LeBrun says, "His agent has had conversations with the Blue Jackets about it, and both sides are gonna work together to try to get that done. He wants a fresh start. Hasn't been a good time in Columbus." 

Laine entered the player assistance program in January and remains in the program. So nothing can happen until he comes out of the program. 

Laine has two years left on his contract with a $8.7 million dollar cap hit. According to PuckPedia, He also has a 10 team no-trade list. 

Laine's played 174 games for  Columbus and has scored 64 goals and accumulated 138 points. 

This past season, Laine dealt with a variety of injuries including, a concussion and a broken collarbone. He then went into the player assistance program in January. In February, he responded to a podcast who mocked his mental health, and made a joke about suicide. 

Last week new GM Don Waddell told Frank Seravalli that he was going to have a conversation with Laine and his agent about how everything is going. We can assume that info was passed along to Waddell at that time. 

Trading Laine won't be easy, but his caliber of player is rare to find, so someone will want to pull the trigger on a trade.