Could the Leafs be looking at Patrik Laine?
A report from The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta on Tuesday confirmed that the Leafs and Blue Jackets have been actively scouting one another. Pagnotta suggested that the Leafs could be looking at Max Domi, who is a pending UFA. But could the Leafs take a bigger swing than expected and go after pending RFA Patrik Laine?
If the Leafs are serious about acquiring an upgrade on the wing in their top six, Laine would certainly be that. Of course, it would require the Blue Jackets not only eating some salary, but also taking on the contract of someone like Alexander Kerfoot ($3.5M this season and next).
Surprisingly, goal scoring was the Leafs' biggest issue against the Montreal Canadiens in round one of the 2021 playoffs. We all know of Laine's ability to score, so if teams were forced to choose between putting their best shutdown players against Matthews or Laine, it's sort of a "pick your poison" scenario.
Laine has 36 points in 34 games this season, rebounding nicely from a disappointing 2020-21 season. The 2016 2nd overall pick has scored 14 goals in his last 13 games and appears to be bursting with confidence right now.
We all know that GM Kyle Dubas is a crafty guy who thinks outside the box. He always seems to make the move that nobody saw coming. I think we could certainly classify Laine to the Leafs as outside the box.
I do believe that re-signing Laine is Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen's first choice. However, if for some reason the two sides cannot reach a deal, I don't know if he's going to be thrilled about the potential of Laine going to arbitration and asking for a sizeable pay increase or taking his qualifying offer and walking as a UFA next summer.
Laine's cap hit this season is $7.5M. If the Leafs could somehow get the Jackets and another team to retain salary, they could acquire Laine for just 25% of his cap hit, or $1.875M, and then flip him to another team in the offseason, either as an RFA or in a sign-and-trade, to recoup some of the assets they gave up to acquire him. Even without a third team coming in for double salary retention, if Columbus was willing to retain 50%, Laine's cap hit would be just $3.75M.
Call me crazy, but this feels like something that Kyle Dubas could consider doing if he can do so for the right price. That said, it would certainly require the Leafs' GM to forget what he had stated last week, which was that he hoped to retain all of his top prospects and his 2022 1st round pick.
Would something like Topi Niemela, Roni Hirvonen, Alexander Kerfoot and a 1st round pick in 2023 be enough to get Columbus to retain 50% and ship Laine to Toronto? It's certainly more than Columbus paid to acquire him from Winnipeg. It's a hefty price to pay, but Laine over Kerfoot is certainly a substantial upgrade.
Imagine rolling out a top six of:
Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Nylander-Tavares-Laine
Unlikely? Sure. Impossible? No.
| POLL | ||
MARS 2 | 577 ANSWERS Could the Leafs be looking at Patrik Laine? Would you like to see the Leafs take a run at Patrik Laine? | ||
| Absolutely! | 171 | 29.6 % |
| No way! | 149 | 25.8 % |
| The ask would be too high | 123 | 21.3 % |
| We need defense, not another forward | 134 | 23.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
