Let’s say this right up front: The obstacles the New York Rangers would face in acquiring Columbus Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine are considerable, if not insurmountable. Furthermore, there’s some serious doubt as to whether they should even attempt to do so.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft is something of a question mark at this point, coming off serious injury, having spent time in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program to address mental health issues and being in possession of a bloated contract that would be very difficult, if not impossible, for the Rangers (or any team) to fit under their salary cap. Despite all of that, Rangers general manager Chris Drury should look into whether the possibility of trading for him exists.
That’s because on paper, Laine represents a perfect fit for what the Rangers’ lineup needs now and in the future. Just 26 years old, he scored 80 goals over his first two seasons and has recorded 26 or more in five seasons. The 6-foot-5, 205-pound right wing remains an elite talent, a finisher who would slot into the club’s top six on the right side and in theory, end the three-year merry-go-round of players that have failed to fill the void left by the trade of Pavel Buchnevich three years ago.
Would Laine join Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, the long-time duo who teamed with Buchnevich and have yet to find another effective long-term commitment to make them a trio again? Or would he bring his goal-scoring skills to the line with elite passer Artemi Panarin and center Vincent Trocheck, which would allow rising youngster Alexis Lafreniere to join Kreider and Zibanejad, with whom he’s played effectively in limited action?
Rangers Would Face Major Struggle in Making Laine’s Contract Work
Again, on paper at least, the possibilities are tantalizing.
This theoretical acquisition looks even better when considering the possibility that such a move could revive Laine’s career. Drafted by the Winnipeg Jets one spot behind Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews, Laine is in need of a career reset, with the relationships with his first team as well as his current one having withered. Laine requested a trade from Columbus in June, sparking a continuous simmer of rumors about when or if he might be headed elsewhere.
The biggest hurdle is, of course, the contract. Laine has two years remaining on a four-year, $34.8 million deal he signed with the Blue Jackets in July 2022. His $8.7 million cap hit is the kind that’s all but immovable in today’s NHL, even with salary retention.
The perennially cap-strapped Rangers are likely to start the season with less than $1 million in space, and they face a financial reckoning next summer, when star goaltender Igor Shesterkin can become an unrestricted free agent and Lafreniere and young defenseman K’Andre Miller will be due long-term contracts. That means the club certainly can’t afford to add any significant salary on top of what’s already committed now.
What it does from the standpoint of a concrete trade proposal is bring the Rangers back to Jacob Trouba.
The Blueshirts are sure to be shedding Trouba’s contract by next summer at the latest via trade or buyout, after their clumsy attempts to do so this summer resulted in a low-level standoff and led to the captain remaining in a Rangers sweater. Any realistic trade with the Blue Jackets would probably require Columbus to take Trouba’s full contract, which essentially mirrors Laine’s with two years remaining at $8 million per.
Sending Trouba to the Jackets might not even be possible even if they were willing to take him. The defenseman deftly leveraged his 15-team no-trade clause to kill a potential trade to the Detroit Red Wings in June, determined to stay put while his wife, a doctor, completes her residency at a New York City hospital. The other 14 teams on Trouba’s no-trade list aren’t known, but there’s probably a good possibility that the Blue Jackets, who have missed the playoffs for four straight seasons, are on it.
What if they’re not, though? Trouba was perfectly within his contractual rights to block a trade; the Rangers would similarly be within their rights to trade him to Columbus, regardless of his wife’s career status. That’s simply the reality of life in major professional sports – harsh or not, such a move would be completely legal and fair for Drury to undertake.
Why might the Blue Jackets be willing to take on the full remainder of Trouba’s deal? Because Laine’s trade market might not exactly be boiling. His struggles with physical and mental health, coupled with his unwieldy salary-cap charge and issues at his first two NHL stops, unquestionably depresses the market for him. Columbus may have no choice but to accept a bad contract coming back the other way if they want to extract any value for an unhappy player who seems to be at the end of the line in Ohio’s capital city.
Related: Rangers’ Trouba Mess Could Have Big Impact on Season
“Obviously, I don’t know Patrik, I wasn’t here last year,” new Columbus general manager Don Waddell said Aug. 17. “He went into the (player assistance) program 28 games into the year, and he’s been very vocal about it, way before I got here, that he does not want to play for the Blue Jackets. There was a lot of things that went on in the locker room and he just doesn’t want it.”
What that means for a potential return is uncertain, and it’s not known what Columbus is asking for in a trade. The club might demand more in having to take on Trouba’s contract, or the Rangers could seek to limit the assets going the other way, given what seems to be tame demand for Laine’s services amidst the baggage that appears to have made clubs wary of acquiring him.
Change of Scenery, Personal Situation Could Lift Laine to Resurgence
Those supposedly negative factors, however, are what could make Laine work for a team like the Rangers. If Laine has recovered from the broken clavicle that kept him out for all but 18 games last season, and if he’s got his mental health in order after seeking and receiving help, the Blueshirts could be getting an undervalued asset rather than a distressed one. Making the contract fit is likely a pipe dream, as we stated at the beginning of this exercise, but at least trying to do so would be worthwhile.
Why? Because these Rangers don’t just need a top-six right wing who can score; they require the kind of player who can upgrade a very-good-but-not-great roster that has fallen in the Eastern Conference Final in two of the past three seasons. There has to be significant concern that this veteran-heavy group has gone as far as it can go, and without an infusion of top-tier talent, might take a step back this season as its Stanley Cup window starts to close.
The club largely lacks high-end, rising players up front outside of Lafreniere, and didn’t make a big move in free agency or the trade market this summer. Without major personnel changes, how does this team get better than it was in 2023-24, when it posted its best season ever and won the Presidents Trophy but was outclassed by the eventual champion Florida Panthers in the East Final?
Laine is the kind of player that potentially changes that equation – one that generally is not often available in trade or as a free agent. Perhaps a move to a more competitive organization and the bright lights of Broadway invigorates him and, with his life and health finally in a better place, results in a return to the production level he achieved at the beginning of his career as a top-two draft pick. Laine becoming “The Finnisher” again would make the Rangers’ top six infinitely deeper and more dangerous – maybe enough so to finally overcome the Panthers and other top contenders in the conference.
While his cap hit is huge, his contract also represents a short-term commitment, giving the Blueshirts the chance to be free of that financial obligation in a relatively short period of time. Should Laine’s career find new life in the Big Apple, the Rangers could look to extend him as he’ll have just turned 28 when he reaches unrestricted free agency.
Such an acquisition, as unlikely as it might be to come to fruition, is tinged with some desperation, and it would likely require the Rangers to move Trouba’s full salary and the cap hits of several other veterans for it to happen. That, however, is probably where the Blueshirts are right now. Acting boldly, perhaps taking on more risk than they’d like, might be what’s necessary to get over the championship hump with this group. Players like Laine are so difficult to obtain; that’s why it is worthwhile for Drury to thoroughly investigate whether doing so is remotely feasible for his team, and if it’s a good idea.
Trading for Laine hardly seems the sure bet that the Panthers undertook in obtaining Matthew Tkachuk from the Calgary Flames two seasons ago. Nevertheless, it would be a bold gamble that might pay off handsomely. For a team beyond eager to end its 31-year Cup drought, a potentially rejuvenated Laine could end up being the missing piece.
