That is a terrible return for Laine, especially with retained salary. Jackets easily decline

I don't think it makes any sense for CBJ to trade Laine at the lowest of lows.

The retention is irrelevant. It pushes him from a contract no one ever takes to one where people probably don’t want him at.

I’d be pissed if Boston gave ANY asset for him at that dollar figure. I’d rather sign Elias Lindholm or Jake DeBrusk and give up nothing

it makes no sense to trade him if thats what it takes. We will just hold on to him and hope he can recover his value or find his fit in our lineup. People on this site also said no one would take Peeke without retained salary or we would have to pay to dump him, then yall gave us a 3rd.

Sweeney decided that the development situation was minimizing Peeke’s value and he paid to get him. That’s a completely different financial play than Laine. Peeke doesn’t prevent Sweeney from pursuing a Free Agent that better fits our needs. Laine would at this dollar figure.

I agree that Columbus should keep him because there are good teams that have cap room this year and you likely won’t get a better player in free agency,

Thats not what im saying. Im saying everyone on here was so sure Peeke had no value, but he did. It shows that people on here have no idea the values of players, so saying that no one would ever take Laine at his contract isnt worth much.

Values are relative to a team. If Boston wants to pay for Elias Lindholm, they can secure him without giving up anything or they can resign Jake DeBrusk.

Laine should have value for a team that can’t recruit a top free agent and has cap room, but how many of those exist. I believe Laine will have more value to Columbus than other teams

Im fairly positive that most people on cap friendly don’t know the intricacies of actual value. I know I wouldn’t forego free agent options for Patrick Laine. That’s not an indictment or anything more than an opinion.

"a contract no one ever takes"
This is how you described Laine's contract. That is exactly how Peeke's contract was described before the TDL

I described it with the context of retention, but you are right I don’t believe anyone would take Patrick Laine at 3 years with an AAV of 8.7M dollars with the free agent forwards that are available and frankly I don’t view Peeke as a comparable because it’s a different class of player at that dollar figure.

Laine trades are nonsensical. If your team had tons of cap space, no current playoff aspirations, and a dire need for high-end talent on the wings, would you trade the 25-year-old 40-goal-scorer you have in your back pocket for peanuts because his value is at an all-time low due to insanely bad luck and some personal hardship?

No. No you wouldn't. That would be ridiculous.

You'd let him try to rebound next season, or the season after that, once his feet are back under him.