If we trade Laine it better make us a Stanley Cup Champion, because anything else is going to make us look foolish, not only for trading him, but making the organization look like it can't keep it's players happy.
There is a lot of grumbling from Jets players and for a small market in Canada, that's not going to help us attract talent at all. I don't, by any means, want to infer that we need to cater to everyone's needs, but we've moaned about Maurice's roster decisions and his lack of creativity in line makeup, for the entire length of time he's been here.
Man, I'd hate to watch Laine turn into the 6'5" powerhouse that lights up the league for a decade...... on another team.
It's impossible to keep everyone happy but at the end of the day I think if people are perceived to have been treated fairly with what is perceived to be equal opportunity based on merit a lot of these issues don't materialize.
I think Maurices roster building views and the whole notion of a seniority based hierarchy is a dying philosophy in this league.
But I think Laine in this case is overreacting. The right move is to work your ass off this summer and make it so Maurice can't give the role back to Wheeler.