I say no. They're still old

I say no. Patrik Laine is probably not a piece that makes a team better anymore but we’ll see how he looks coming back from this last injury.

Two locker room cancers for one another, Yeah that trade makes no sense especially for a young Columbus team. You don't trade a young Patrik Laine for an aging Evgeny Kusnetsov.

Imagine writing off Laine at 25 years old. The only question about him is if he can provide enough value to make his contract worthwhile currently as a part of the Jackets. He absolutely would make nearly every team better when playing within a coherent system with other top 6 caliber players. I've never seen people go so hard against a player after a poor 18 game stretch like you all have against Laine. It's ridiculous at this point.

Listen I love him as much as anyone and I want it to make sense for us in columbus but his hands are non-existent, the shot is less accurate than ever and weaker than ever, and his decision making has left a lot to be desired. It doesn’t look great right now.

The question was “does this make a playoff team” and the answer right now is no but I did say we’d have to see how he looks returning from this latest injury.

It is silly but laine his always been a target since his matthews comp days. He made a joke of the leafs after his 5 goal game and the media ran with that narrative ever since. His injuries have slowed him down but my god he has to figure out how to get out of his own way. I get why ppl don’t like him but I don’t get the irrational hatred. He’s not bad defensively, he’s just 6’6” and can’t move like a guy like danforth so people think he’s lazy.
I’ve definitely soured on him but the overcorrect on him is mind blowing.

I agree I’ve soured on him but let’s not kid ourselves. Laine brought himself back to fast. He wasn’t himself after the cheap headshot by the Calgary scrub. I hope he returns to last years forum and the data shows he should. He stated the year of decent until the injury. Let’s have hope he rebounds.

His max shot speed is in top 7% of the league, his average shot speed is in the top 10% of the league, his shooting percentage is in the top 17% of the league. If you're going to shovel BS don't use things that are statistically tracked.

When I say accuracy, I mean not missing the net, which he’s fallen from 31% last season to 37% this season. He’s down 3 mph on his hardest shot which is admittedly small sample due to him being hurt a bunch and also being so bad that the offense doesn’t produce shot attempts with him on the ice (54 attempts per 60 min, second worst only to Kent Johnson among CBJ forwards this season).

I have data and eye test both for this take. I’m not just being a blind hater. I do still believe in him but I don’t think the bounce back is gonna be quick or immediate and definitely not something that a team that wants to be a playoff team right now can stomach. The CBJ can. Aging Washington cannot. Hence my original post.

The only legitimate thing to not like about him these days is how injury prone he has become. He has worked damn hard to become a more well rounded player in Columbus and his advanced stats show that. Haters are just gonna hate I suppose.

Very true, and all props to him. I have some major issues with some things he hasn’t changed since getting here like zone entry’s and such but to say he’s a horrible player is asinine.
His warts are big but he’s definitely working to improve which people don’t want to see sadly. They see only the immobile tank he was his rookie year.

He had 18 shot attempts per 60 in 2021-22, 20.5 in 22-23, and 19.5 this year. He had 9.5 on goal per 60 in 21-22, 10.5 in 22-23, and 9 this year. Again, 18 games is the sample size here that includes a stretch of awful play by the entire team and a stretch where he was still recovering from a significant concussion, but he's still right within range of his performance over the previous two seasons.

Getting rid of Kuzy for winger Kuzy does not make this a playoff team

Jackets decline. They aren’t trading laine for a worse/older player on a worse contract. Not to mention kuz is worse on defense and has attitude issues. He can’t win faceoffs either. Kuz has negative value with his contract and laine has positive value even if it’s small. Would rather hope he can avoid injuries as he’s been a PPG player when healthy