Patrik Laine landed with the Montreal Canadiens after refusing to head to Minnesota.

A lot of articles have been written about Patrik Laine since he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens almost three weeks ago. There has been rumours that there weren't a lot of teams interested in him and we now know which team wanted to land the big Finn. 

Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin confirmed in an interview with La Velle E. Neal III of the Minnesota Star Tribune that he tried to get Laine from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Even though he had a huge cap hit, Guerin was willing to find a way to make it work and it seemed like he was making good progress until the negotiations fell through. 

No, it wasn't because the Canadiens' offer was so much better, but rather because the right winger did not want to join the Wild. The exact reason why is not known, at least for now, but one thing is for sure, Habs fans are happy with the way things turned out.

With 31 days left before the start of the regular season, the excitement in Montreal is palpable and Laine's arrival is a big part of said excitement. In a poll recently ran on X, Canadiens' fans are almost evenly split when it comes to what they are most looking forward to this season. 

The poll shows that 31.5% are most looking forward to (finally) seeing Dach's second season. 31% voted for Slafkovsky's third season and 29.5 % voted for Patrik Laine with the remaining 8% looking forward to the blueline battle. It shows just how excited about having an attacking team the fans are. What about you? What would you have voted for?

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