Carolina declines.

Don’t think they would. They need to shake things up and with Aho paired again with Laine it would not only increase productivity in that line, but the other lines as well, plus it would give the Canes PP a Hugh boost

This wouldn't work. Patrick Laine is NOT a Rod BrindAmour type player. Rowdy Roddy would have him curled up in the fetal position in the corner.

Laine isn’t worth that much right now, especially when Necas is outproducing Laine by a rather wide margin.

Necas is due a big raise after this season, and he’s arbitration eligible so that might scare Carolina into wanting to do something with him before it gets to that point. Laine with 40% retained would probably be less than Necas’s next contract, but there always seems to be some drama surrounding him, so I don’t know if Carolina would want to risk that happening there, even at a bargain cap hit. As far as reuniting Laine with Sebastian Aho goes, how did that work out for Jesse Puljujarvi?

What about Columbus? The draft pick is a nice sweetener, but 40% of Laine’s salary is a lot to retain for three years, especially since they’ll probably end up paying Necas more than what they’ll be saving by getting rid of Laine. On the other hand, if they think Laine’s going to walk at the end of his contract, the chance to sign Necas to a long-term extension might be appealing, though I’m not sure NHL GMs think that far ahead.

Laine's best years was under Paul Maurice in Winnipeg, A Very Similar Rod Brind'Amour style. Laine, already works our with Aho in the offseason, and would be a great addition, and I don't think he would have a problem working under Rods Tutelage.

He isn't the turnover machine Necas is either

Yeah, the more I think about this, the more I like it for Carolina. I think they may be in a "sell high" position on Necas. But I still think the 3 years of salary retention would scare Columbus off. Is there a trade that would work with less or no retention? I was thinking maybe Orlov instead of Necas – 2 years of overpaid Orlov for 3 years of overpaid Laine – with no retention on Laine and Columbus still gets the draft pick, but Columbus isn’t going to need another defenseman once their injured guys come back.