After once rejecting a trade to the State of Hockey, the former second-overall pick could find a low-risk, high-reward home in Minnesota to revive his scoring touch.
The Minnesota Wild have reportedly emerged as a potential landing spot for one of the biggest names remaining on the NHL free-agent market.
According to the Montreal Gazette’s Herb Zurkowsky, the Wild are one of five teams that have been linked to unrestricted free-agent forward Patrik Laine.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers were also mentioned as potential destinations.
For Minnesota, the connection is particularly interesting because this isn't the first time the Wild have pursued Laine.
The Wild previously had interest in acquiring Laine when he was a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets. But the Wild never acquired Laine because he rejected a trade to come to Minnesota.
Now, two years later, Laine is an unrestricted free agent and the Wild are once again being connected to the former No. 2 overall pick.
Laine's most recent season was almost entirely lost to injury. A core-muscle injury that required surgery in late October limited him to five games and one assist. He returned to practice in late January but was never activated, finishing the regular season and playoffs on injured reserve.
That extended stay on injured reserve could actually make Laine a more intriguing free-agent option for Minnesota.
Because Laine has played more than 400 NHL games and spent more than 100 days on injured reserve last season, he is eligible to sign a one-year contract that includes performance bonuses.
That gives interested teams the ability to limit some of the financial risk associated with signing a player who essentially missed an entire season. Which is good considering Laine's injury history.
Instead of committing significant guaranteed money to Laine, a team could potentially sign him to a relatively inexpensive base salary with additional money available through performance bonuses tied to benchmarks such as games played, goals or points.
That type of contract could make plenty of sense for the Wild.
Minnesota has already made several changes to its forward group this offseason, but Laine would give the club another potential scoring weapon without necessarily requiring a significant financial commitment.
The 28-year-old has proven throughout his career that he can score when healthy.
Laine was selected second overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2016 NHL Draft and scored 36 goals as a rookie. One year later, he scored a career-high 44 goals and finished with 70 points in 82 games.
The 6-foot-4 forward had 140 goals and 250 points in his first 306 games and tormented the Wild in his first four years in the league with the Jets.
In his career with the Jets, Laine had ten goals and four assists for 14 points in 17 games played against the Wild, and had two goals and two assists in five playoff games against Minnesota.
He has reached the 20-goal mark seven times during his NHL career.
There is certainly risk after Laine missed almost all of last season, but that's also part of what could make the situation appealing for Minnesota. A bonus-heavy, one-year contract would give the Wild an opportunity to bet on Laine's upside while limiting the downside if injuries continue to be an issue.
During the 2024-25 season, Laine scored 20 goals in 52 games with the Montreal Canadiens. He scored 15 of those goals on the power play. That is a 30-goal pace in an 82-game season.
Without Mats Zuccarello on the team, the Wild will have to find his power play replacement. The top unit will be Matt Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Quinn Hughes. The fifth and final spot on that unit remains to be seen.
Adding Laine's heavy right-shot to an all lefty unit could be intriguing. And unlike the last time Minnesota pursued him, the Wild wouldn't need to trade assets to acquire him or convince Laine to waive a no-trade clause.
They would simply need Laine to say yes.
Whether the reported interest turns into a contract remains to be seen, but the Wild's previous pursuit of Laine makes Minnesota's name appear on his list of potential destinations particularly noteworthy.
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