Around the League 23: No, seriously, how will it work in 2021?

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

Skillset and defensive attitude disagree

Laine's problem with Winnipeg, IIRC, was that he was blocked from the top line by Connor and Wheeler, two guys the Scheifele liked to play with. I don't see the same blockage at the top in Columbus. I also think that Laine's young enough to learn to play 200 feet, since defensive games don't tend to peak until your late 20s and he's, again, still only 22.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

This trade should have little bearing on the Canes, outside of killing a potential Laine deal for at least some time. Columbus is an average-ish team with limited upside; the Jackets need to add another offensive star to Jones, Werenski and Laine, but don't have the assets outside of the core group to get that. They'll spin their wheels as a fringe team while the clock ticks down on that core group. Jones is only under contract for another season after this one. Werenski and Laine can become UFAs as early as 2023. A rebuild could be imminent.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

This trade should have little bearing on the Canes, outside of killing a potential Laine deal for at least some time. Columbus is an average-ish team with limited upside; the Jackets need to add another offensive star to Jones, Werenski and Laine, but don't have the assets outside of the core group to get that. They'll spin their wheels as a fringe team while the clock ticks down on that core group. Jones is only under contract for another season after this one. Werenski and Laine can become UFAs as early as 2023. A rebuild could be imminent.

I don't agree with this viewpoint. IMO, Werenski and Jones are both going to be long-term Jackets. Columbus is also very good at scouting and have a burgeoning young top-6 player in the works in Texier, who also can play center and has been doing so in recent games to decent levels of success. If Texier takes the next step in a couple of years, he could be that missing offensive piece next to Jones/Laine/Bjorkstrand/Werenski. Domi is also a good role player that chips in offensively quite a bit.

 

[bleedgreen]

Hot take. I bet Torts has no real issues with Laine and it goes great for him in Cbus. Torts will even be complimentary at times.

 

[HisIceness]

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

I don't agree with this viewpoint. IMO, Werenski and Jones are both going to be long-term Jackets. Columbus is also very good at scouting and have a burgeoning young top-6 player in the works in Texier, who also can play center and has been doing so in recent games to decent levels of success. If Texier takes the next step in a couple of years, he could be that missing offensive piece next to Jones/Laine/Bjorkstrand/Werenski. Domi is also a good role player that chips in offensively quite a bit.

Columbus has a good core but isn’t going to get the players needed in UFA and their farm is bottom 10.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Jones, Domi, etc end up leaving in 2 years. Laine could have that power if he chooses to not sign an extension and use arbitration this upcoming offseason.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

Columbus has a good core but isn’t going to get the players needed in UFA and their farm is bottom 10.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Jones, Domi, etc end up leaving in 2 years. Laine could have that power if he chooses to not sign an extension and use arbitration this upcoming offseason.

I don't see Jones/Werenski leaving. Their farm system is bottom-ten mainly because they lack defensive prospects that aren't, in my view, extreme long-shot boom-or-busts. They will, as a consequence of that, probably want to make the core defense, aka. Werenski/Jones/Gavrikov/Peeke, the future long-termers of the team while they work hard on building up that prospect group via development of their current guys and in these next drafts. Domi, however, might leave if Texier and Foudy are deemed to be the 1-2 center punch moving forward.

 

[DougieSmash]

I don't see Jones/Werenski leaving. Their farm system is bottom-ten mainly because they lack defensive prospects. They will, as a consequence of that, probably want to make the core defense, aka. Werenski/Jones/Gavrikov/Peeke, the future long-termers of the team while they work hard on building up that prospect group via development of their current guys and in these next drafts. Domi, however, might leave if Texier and Foudy are deemed to be the 1-2 center punch moving forward.

No one thought that Dubois will leave one year ago.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

I don't see Jones/Werenski leaving. Their farm system is bottom-ten mainly because they lack defensive prospects. They will, as a consequence of that, probably want to make the core defense, aka. Werenski/Jones/Gavrikov/Peeke, the future long-termers of the team while they work hard on building up that prospect group via development of their current guys and in these next drafts. Domi, however, might leave if Texier and Foudy are deemed to be the 1-2 center punch moving forward.

They are bottom 10 because they oversold their hand knowing Bobrovsky and Panarin were leaving. Instead of realizing they didn’t have the team to make it work they went out and sold the farm. Columbus should have quite the opposite and tried to sell Bread and Bob.

Columbus is a bottom 5-10 market and team. The only thing keeping them relevant is Torts shutdown system and plenty of aging vets in UFA who don’t really care where they go. As soon as talent comes around Torts runs them wrong and they leave for greener pastures.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

They are bottom 10 because they oversold their hand knowing Bobrovsky and Panarin were leaving. Instead of realizing they didn’t have the team to make it work they went out and sold the farm. Columbus should have quite the opposite and tried to sell Bread and Bob.

I don't think that they oversold their hand. The entire reason they did that, IMO, was to boost the shot that Panarin would want to extend instead of leave, while also getting some insurance of another potential star in Duchene that might have been easier to extend. In the end, all of them left. Team occasionally make bets to potentially get a better future for themselves and it doesn't work out because free agents are fickle and maybe don't like your team. It happens.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

I don't think that they oversold their hand. The entire reason they did that, IMO, was to boost the shot that Panarin would want to extend instead of leave, while also getting some insurance of another potential star in Duchene that might have been easier to extend. In the end, all of them left. Team occasionally make bets to potentially get a better future for themselves and it doesn't work out because free agents are fickle and maybe don't like your team. It happens.

If a guy makes it clear that he isn’t signing, trying to prove him wrong by leveraging your future isnt the right move.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

If a guy makes it clear that he isn’t signing, trying to prove him wrong by leveraging your future isnt the right move.

Maybe. I don't think that they leveraged their future success all that much. It just happened to be that all of their core young players (Bemstrom, Texier, Gavrikov, Foudy) were NHL roster players or NHL-ready players. With the dearth of decent picks in the draft after the big buy, their scouting group was still skilled enough to find Voronkov with a 5th round pick, a prospect that, in a personal re-draft, likely would go in the mid-2nd round. The one mistake that Jarmo made in that deadline, IMO, was not making sure that someone like Duchene would extend on the spot before dealing a 1st for him. If Jarmo dealt that 1st for a signed Duchene (or another signed star), we would look at that deadline way differently than we do now.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

I don't agree with this viewpoint. IMO, Werenski and Jones are both going to be long-term Jackets. Columbus is also very good at scouting and have a burgeoning young top-6 player in the works in Texier, who also can play center and has been doing so in recent games to decent levels of success. If Texier takes the next step in a couple of years, he could be that missing offensive piece next to Jones/Laine/Bjorkstrand/Werenski. Domi is also a good role player that chips in offensively quite a bit.

Texier would be exceeding his upside if he became a center of that caliber. That's an even bigger if than both Jones and Werenski re-signing long-term in the absence of progress in the playoffs.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

Texier would be exceeding his upside if he became a center of that caliber. That's an even bigger if than both Jones and Werenski re-signing long-term in the absence of progress in the playoffs.

Sure, I agree, it's a huge if. That is the very if that Torts and Jarmo are betting on, however, based on the comments made before the season and before the big deal. We'll see if that #1C Texier gamble pays off for them. Columbus is a team, however, that has gambled big for years now on their own scouting evaluations, most notably with Korpisalo and Merzlikins and most recently with picking Chinakhov 2-to-3 rounds before he was expected to be picked. I just hate betting against these guys.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

I think those underestimating Columbus will eat their words by the end of the year. They're a tough team to play against, and in a shortened season, that's enough to cause havoc in the standings.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

I think those underestimating Columbus will eat their words by the end of the year. They're a tough team to play against, and in a shortened season, that's enough to cause havoc in the standings.

I 100% agree. Yes, they've struggled to start the year, but with a rapidly growing team cancer that was metastasizing and destroying the morale of the players, that is no surprise at all. I would not be shocked if they start streaking again starting with the next game.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I think Laine definitely signs with Columbus. He wanted a big role and a big contract. I think he'll easily get both now. Torts will keep Columbus competitive but I agree with their having limited upside as a team currently.

 

[HisIceness]

 

[Chrispy]

So who plays first: Laine, Roslovic, or the Carolina Hurricanes?

 

[HisIceness]

So who plays first: Laine, Roslovic, or the Carolina Hurricanes?

Roslovic is already in Columbus I thought I heard.

Laine has to get a visa and then quarantine

 

[sabremike]

Hot take. I bet Torts has no real issues with Laine and it goes great for him in Cbus. Torts will even be complimentary at times.

The two ending up as a real life Little and Large best buddies act is what we all deserve.

 

[Tryamw]

So who plays first: Laine, Roslovic, or the Carolina Hurricanes?

Chris Pronger?

 

[Socks]

Portzline is a reliable source on Blue Jackets stuff, and if it's true that Laine is willing to extend sooner rather than later, this trade makes a ton of sense for Columbus even if Laine isn't a center like PLD was. They do have loads of cap and a desire to finally have a long-term franchise player, and if Laine is the beneficiary of that, good for both him and the team.

Ehhhh... sometimes.

 

[HisIceness]

So the more I think about it the more I like it for the Jackets for a few reasons.

Laine isn't bringing "baggage" with him. While he wasn't exactly committed to Winnipeg, he didn't really do anything to force their hand and his now-former teammates are sending their best to him.

Roslovic is a local kid, not that they acquired him because of that but it's certainly an added bonus.

Laine will help make the Jackets more of a must watch because of his style of play. Think about this, the Jackets have been a playoff team something like 5 of the last 7 years but are they a team the average NHL fan sits down to watch? Not really. This changes that. Also taps into the the Finnish market.

I can't guarantee it, but I think Laine sticks around. Unfortunate for us because I swear he always scores and adds an assist or two against us but Jarmo did good work here all things considered

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As for the Jets. They get a player at a more premium position as someone else points out and now have great depth down the middle. 3rd round pick isn't bad either. It sounds like PLD is looking forward to a fresh start.

I think in time PLD will realize that he didn't handle this well. But what's done is done.

 

[dogbazinho]

I think its about as good a you could hope for in both circumstances.