With Patrik Laine now officially on the trade block, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet says that the Kraken are a team to watch in talks for the scoring winger (audio link to “32 Thoughts”). It’s not clear how much Seattle general manager Ron Francis has explored a move, but Friedman believes there’s a “real push in that organization to be more aggressive” this summer as the team enters its fourth season of existence.
Few expected scoring to be a major issue for the Kraken this season after their capable death-by-depth offense erupted for 289 goals last year, but their shooting percentage cratered this season en route to finishing 29th in the league in goals. A major hiccup has been the health of top-six winger André Burakovsky, who’s missed nearly half the campaign with injuries in back-to-back years. While he was effective last season when healthy, the same couldn’t be said in 2023-24. His 16 points in 49 games worked out to 0.33 points per game, tied for the lowest of his 10-year NHL career.
Acquiring Laine would add a player with even more exaggerated issues staying healthy over the past couple of years, but he’d immediately become the highest-ceiling scoring option on the roster. The Kraken have been largely comfortable with Jared McCann as their top sniper, averaging 32 goals per season in a Kraken uniform, but Laine’s sparkling career 14.7 shooting percentage is hard to pass up.
It is impossible to ignore Laine’s availability issues over the past three seasons. Injuries limited him to 129 out of 246 games, missing 47.6% of regular-season action during that time. He played just 18 games this season, although he also spent much of the year in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program after dealing with an upper-body injury in the first few months of the campaign.
However, during the two campaigns that he logged 50+ games in Columbus, he was worth his $8.7MM cap hit when in the lineup. The 2016 second-overall pick arguably had the best offensive showings of his career, pacing out for 38 goals and 82 points in 2021-22 and 33 goals and 78 points in 2022-23. Neither would have eclipsed his career high of 44 goals set with the Jets in 2017-18, but they would have both marked a career-best single-season point total.
There’s also breakout potential for Laine if he can stay healthy in a Kraken system that encourages puck possession. While they will have some different schemes next season under head coach Dan Bylsma, Seattle has consistently been a better even-strength puck possession team than Columbus over the past few years, and there’s little reason to see that not continuing without much roster turnover expected this summer. That means more opportunities for Laine to shoot and gives him a half-decent chance of sniffing the 40-goal plateau once again, especially if reunited with a skilled playmaker like former Blue Jackets teammate Oliver Bjorkstrand.
His power-play impact would also be beneficial. Laine led the league in power-play goals with 20 during his breakout sophomore campaign, and he’d help charge up a Kraken man-advantage unit that’s clicked at 18.4% over the past three seasons, 28th in the league during that time.
The Kraken aren’t a team that loves big cap hits, though. Defenseman Vince Dunn is their most expensive player annually at $7.35MM. Laine’s $8.7MM cap hit is worth it for his goal-scoring ability, but it’s hard for a lot of teams to justify absorbing it for a player who hasn’t played 60-plus games since before the pandemic.
But they do need scoring, and as Friedman articulates, their coaching change is indicative of a clear desire to return to postseason play in 2025. They have the financial flexibility to pull off a move with $23.424MM in projected cap space, although they do still need new deals for notable RFA forwards Matthew Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen.
I hope they pass on Laine and continue to be patient.
Isn’t this exactly the kind of player you want? Out on IR all season until becoming healthy for game 1 of the first round. Need to think outside the box.
I’d much rather be here than HFboards. That mod MMC over there is a douche.
The only douches here are some commenters. When you identify them use the Mute button lol.
I got banned from the Boards for telling one of their Karens off.That site is a joke.
Wish Laine all the luck in his comeback but no, don’t want his contract & risk on the Kraken books. The acquisition cost has to be near zero just to entertain this idea. Instead chase Guentzel.
I agree, though I think the appeal with Laine might be that they can convince Columbus to retain and still keep the acquisition cost down. Guentzel might be tough to persuade to sign and likely gets close to 10 million. Seems clear Francis wants to avoid those pricey contracts as long as he can.
The good news is the Kraken actually have an analytics group that recognizes this guy gives everything and more back going the other way. Zero hockey sense is why teams recognize he’s irredeemable and keep trying to unload him. Exactly the sort of guy Francis avoids. It sounds to me like Friedman is doing someone a favor trying to make this sound like a good idea – that’s how insiders stay insiders.
“Forwards want to create offensively. You have to ‘cheat’ a bit if you want to become a goal king. It is not possible if the coaches think differently. But I do as they tell me.”
“I understand the need for a tight system, but all players are different,” Laine said. “I do not even want to be like everyone else. I am who I am and do things my way. Everyone should be given the opportunity to be themselves. Then, of course, you have to play within the team’s system. I think it’s stupid not to use my potential. But then it’s another matter what the coaches think.”
We was given the time to be himself and he’s done nothing with it. Pascal even let his pet play center and it accomplished nothing.
Best contribution Laine gave to CBJ was getting injured.