The Montreal Canadiens are trying to trade Patrik Laine, and that's no secret, but they've now given the player permission to speak to other teams through his agent to facilitate a deal.
It’s no secret that there is no room for sniper Patrik Laine with the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs have a surplus of healthy players and even had to scratch Zach Bolduc to make room for Alex Newhook. There’s been plenty of rumours about Montreal shopping the big Finn around, but so far, they’ve been unable to find a deal that made sense.
Still, according to Pierre Lebrun on RDS last night, the Habs’ brass and the Laine clan are in constant communication, and the player’s agent has been permitted to speak directly to other teams in the hope of finding a deal to get his client out of his predicament.
While the situation is far from ideal for Laine and sad to an extent, it just goes to show how far the Canadiens have come in their rebuild that they can’t fit him in their lineup, especially since Kent Hughes said just last season that the team wouldn’t have made the playoffs without his 20 goals.
The Habs have progressed a lot since then, however, with Ivan Demidov’s arrival, Oliver Kapanen’s emergence, and Juraj Slafkovsky taking yet another step in his development, the Canadiens’ top six has not looked so good in many years. While no one has really seized the opportunity to play alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, this is not a spot that Laine could skate in, as that line often gets the toughest matchups, and his defensive play is just not up to that challenge.
His style of play doesn’t fit the bottom six either, and the Canadiens seem to have found some chemistry with Josh Anderson, Phillip Danault, and Brendan Gallagher. On the other line, the returning Newhook has speed that Laine can’t compete with, and Alexandre Texier has proven to be much more efficient playing without the puck than the right winger. As for Jake Evans, he plays down the middle, a position that Laine has never played in, and he’s a key cog in the Canadiens’ penalty kill.
For Laine to be traded, his agent or the Habs need to find a team that can afford to carry a power-play specialist. A side that overuses its top lines and won’t give him much ice time at even strength, or a team that’s heading for the playoffs but struggles on the power play. The Colorado Avalanche are currently dead last when it comes to power play efficiency in the league, with a 15.1% success rate, and they did clear some cap space when they traded Samuel Girard to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Brett Kulak. They currently have over $9 million in cap space, but would Laine fit in their system? Chances are, they’ll be looking to load up for the playoffs, but a Laine that’s only played five games this season wouldn’t be their first option.
That might just be it; he may be a plan C or D for some teams, meaning he’ll have to be patient, and when the dominoes start falling in the run-up to the deadline, teams that weren’t able to land their primary target may come knocking. The Los Angeles Kings may have to circle back; who knows? With all of their salary retention spot available, the Canadiens will no doubt be happy to retain some salary in the deal, but it’s unlikely they’ll be willing to add a sweetener to it; after all, they don’t need to trade Laine; they’d just like to do it to do right by the player.
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