The Montreal Canadiens might have acquired forward Patrik Laine for a bargain, but they weren’t the only team eyeing him on the trade market.
Speaking on BPM Sports a week after the Canadiens shipped defenseman Jordan Harris to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Laine and a second-round pick, NHL insider Renaud Lavoie shared that other teams were also on the hunt for the skilled winger.
“Yes, there were other teams interested. Laine asked for a trade, as most people know,” Lavoie said on Le Club du Matin on Monday morning. “[Laine] apparently refused an offer [from another team] before the Canadiens’ one came in.”
While Lavoie didn’t name the other team, he pointed out that the 26-year-old had 10 different destinations on his no-trade list, allowing him some control over where he ended up. Montreal wasn’t one of them.
“It’s a place he wanted to play,” Lavoie added, hinting at Laine’s excitement to don the Canadiens’ sweater.
Another reason Columbus accepted Montreal’s seemingly underwhelming offer is that the Canadiens gave the Blue Jackets some major cap relief by taking on Laine’s $8.7 million cap hit for the next two seasons.
As a result, the native Finlander has become Montreal’s highest-paid active player.
Laine entered the NHL/NHL Players’ Association Player Assistance Program in January and has seen a dip in offensive production in recent years. He played just 18 games with Columbus last season, tallying six goals and nine points.
The 6-foot-5 sniper has topped the 50-point mark six times in his career. His most productive stretch came in 2017-18 with the Winnipeg Jets, where he notched 44 goals and 70 points in his second NHL season.
So, which version of Laine will Canadiens fans see this fall? So far, he’s got his sights set on a return to top form.
“I don’t want to come back as a 30-goal scorer. I want to come back as a 40- to 50-[goal scorer],” Laine told reporters last week. “I’ve done that previously, and it’s not by accident, but it’s not just all about that. I want to come in and do whatever it takes to contribute to the team and make the team win.”