I don't think so.

Doubt they trade that pick honestly, doesn’t make sense for a rebuilding team, they’ll take the younger #2 overall every time. Anyway are you just assuming Little is done? I know he couldn’t play in the qualifiers but I haven’t heard anything about it being career ending

Agreed, doubt they even consider this but if they did I’m taking this trade as wpg. I’d take 2OA and the 2nd for Laine.

Also, littles injury is potentially career ending, he’s suffering from vertigo and concussions which are very hard to move past. He’s had multiple head injuries in the last 2 years. He needs to look at quality of life, I’d love to have him playing, but I want him to be healthy.

Why is Byfield making 4.5 mil?

Bonuses

No chance that LA would consider it and no chance the Jets would consider it.

Ooh ok

Lol Chevy should be fired instantly if he didn’t accept that

I think you can get 4th or 5th but not sure about top 3.

It's not a bad concept if LA really likes Laine as the guy they'd want to build around. He'd always have a great center feeding him pucks, first with Kopi, followed by one of Turcotte or Vilardi. WPG has the winger depth to absorb losing Laine as well.

But I think LA would only be interested if it was the 2OA for Laine straight up. Don't think they'd want to add a 2nd and 3rd too.

Which is fair. I just saw they had so many picks and so many good center prospects in Turcotte and Vilardi but also Akil Thomas and Rasmus Kupari. They don't really need another C prospect, they need a high end scoring winger, which Laine is. I don't think the 2nd and 3rd round picks are that material but that's what I'd be asking for since Laine is a proven 30+ goal scorer and a 2OA pick himself, where whoever is drafted this year still has the potential to bust. Given that extra risk I thought the extra picks were warranted. Maybe not both, but you see where I'm coming from.

It only works if Byfield or Stutzle slip to 4 or 5. Otherwise that's a no go from my perspective. I thought the Kings would value the now player due to their aging stars. I don't think Detroit or Ottawa would have the same drive to compete next year if possible.

But why not?

LA has a lot of high end C prospects so don't really need a Stutzle or Byfield but have some aging stars in Kopitar, Doughty, Quick, etc. They address their biggest area of need in adding a scoring RW with an elite player that can play on their top line right now to supplement their current talent. As Kopitar ages Turcotte or Vilardi or Thomas or Kupari could replace him. None of those players will score goals like Laine can.

Winnipeg has surplus high end wingers with Laine, Wheeler, Connor and Ehlers, but also has Roslovic, Copp, Vesalainen, Harkins, Appleton as depth and could probably grab Quinn at 10OA to replace Laine long term. We fill a hole at 2C with a long term solution that eventually could push Schief down to 2C as he ages. We retain our stable of elite wingers under team control long term. As Samberg and Heinola start making inroads into the NHL on D we're off and running. I think the Jets would and should consider this too.

But you don't know for sure, so maybe?

Because GM's in most cases are incredibly cautious. LA won't want to give up a shot at a franchise player and the Jets, or any other team for that matter, aren't going to give up the 5th best teen goal scorer in hockey history for a few magic beans.

It makes sense to fans, because fans overvalue picks and can only see a high draft pick absolutely, positively hitting their absolute maximum potential and performing at that level from their 1st NHL game onward. Most GM's look at it realistically where most picks won't hit their absolute maximum and they've just thrown away 3 or 4 years of development on a young player only to have to start all over again.

I get where you're coming from but it's not like they're trading it for some guy that is 24 or 25 years old. Laine just turned 22 back in April so most players his age are just entering the league at this point.

As was pointed out in another post, after Little's media availability yesterday it doesn't really sound likely that he'll ever play again. He hasn't ruled it out yet but unless the risk of an additional injury causing catastrophic harm goes away he's going to sit out. He sounds hopeful that additional time may help heal things further and said he isn't suffering any cognitive issues right now, which is what was so frustrating for him. He felt fine, started practicing and was fine and then just had to have this one last scan done at the Mayo Clinic and he would have been back but that scan showed something (which he didn't explain) where everybody immediately realized that he couldn't return at this time so he was shut down for the remainder of the year. My interpretation of his responses were that he really dodged a bullet in some ways in that it could have been much worse and he won't be returning until the risk is significantly less than what it is now. It isn't worth the risk to anyone to have him potentially die out on the ice or suffer long term cognitive issues if he takes one more hit the wrong way.

Maybe in a year he's able to come back, but it looks and feels more likely that he goes the path of Pronger, Savard, Horton, etc and just rides out the rest of his contract on LTIR. If he was able to return you'd just have to send Byfield down to make the cap work.

I guess that's what I'm saying is LA goes from a chance at a franchise player to actually having a franchise player and the Jets take on a bunch of risk which is why I added the extra picks. However, they do get a shot at a franchise player as well that could be a great complement behind Scheif at a position of need. There is definitely risk here but I felt like it could be a win-win. Even if you consider the expansion draft, suddenly we protect Scheif, Wheels, Connor, Ehlers, Roslovic, Copp + Lowry (if extended) or Harkins/Appleton and LA has the forward spots to protect Laine easily.

I do agree that it's probably unlikely to occur, but I think the idea behind it could work for everyone. If I was the GM for the Jets this is a move I would make and if I was the GM for the Kings I'd also be interested in this. Maybe I'd try to only send one pick or get a prospect back too but I'd have the draft capital to give up with multiple picks in the 2nd and 3rd round and maybe this trade gets me back to the playoffs next year and saves my job.