Don Waddell Hopes a Hockey Trade Can Happen When He Moves Patrik Laine
Outside of some restricted free agents that have not signed this offseason, the big rumors surround Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine. With Laine out of the NHL-NHLPA Players Assistance Program, the chatter has picked up about when Columbus could potentially move him.
NHL News: Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators, and the Buffalo Sabres
Columbus has a new general manager in Don Waddell. Waddell has made it clear that he wants to move Laine in a hockey trade. The last thing he wants to do is retain his salary because this trade would have been done already if that was the case.
Aaron Portzline of The Athletic joined Jamie Hersch and Stu Grimson on NHL Network to discuss the Columbus Blue Jackets on an NHL Tonight Season Outlook segment. Portzline was about where things stand regarding a Patrik Laine trade and what Waddell is looking for.
** NHLRumors.com transcriptions
Stu Grimson: “And we get the sense from the Blue Jackets perspective, Don Waddell’s perspective they’re looking to make a hockey trade from all indications and in saying that not necessarily a transaction that’s involving a lot of picks and prospects coming back the other way but an established NHL player do you get the same sense?”
Aaron Portzline: “I think that’s what Waddel wants to do. Certainly, he’d like to trade Laine and his $8.7 million salary. Obviously, some of that’s going to come back to him in the form of a player. I think what he’s hoping to avoid is retaining some of that salary. Really having to bend over to move Laine and he thinks he can.
There are teams that are that have continued to check in on the Blue Jackets regarding Laine for the weeks now that they’ve been waiting for him to be cleared. So it’s out there. I still think you’d like to help this lineup with a veteran player in return if he can. A player that he thinks can help them. But we’ll see.
NHL Rumors: Do the Montreal Canadiens Have Any Kind of Interest in Patrik Laine?
You know, a lot of the time in the offseason when teams make these kinds of moves has passed, so I think it’s fair to say it’s probably a more limited group than it would have been a month and a half ago but all it takes is one team, so they’ll continue to work to that end.”