While Patrik Laine was eventually traded to Montreal, it appears as if that wasn’t the originally planned destination for the winger. La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported earlier this week that the Wild had been in discussions to acquire the 26-year-old with GM Bill Guerin acknowledging to him that he thought he had a chance to get Laine. However, Guerin indicated that Laine didn’t want to go to Minnesota which implies that the Wild were one of the teams on his partial no-trade list. Considering his $8.7MM cap hit and Minnesota’s particularly tight cap situation, it would have been interesting to see how Guerin was going to make it work in terms of fitting in Laine’s contract on their books.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- While the Canucks have been linked to veteran goaltender Kevin Lankinen on the tryout front as they look to get some insurance for training camp, Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston relays that the veteran’s intention is to secure a full contract offer and not go the PTO route. The 29-year-old has been a backup for the last four seasons, posting a respectable 3.05 GAA with a .905 SV% over stints with Chicago and Nashville but with so few teams needing goalie depth at the moment, a guaranteed deal at this point will be hard to come by for Lankinen.
- Marty Walsh, executive director of the NHLPA, told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski that there have not yet been any major discussions pertaining to the next CBA, noting it’s still a bit early to get into those talks. The current agreement is set to expire following the 2025-26 season. This will be Walsh’s first CBA that he works on after taking over for Don Fehr back in 2023. While it was recently noted that there is an uptick in signing bonus money for 2026-27 as insurance against a possible work stoppage, Walsh indicated that it shouldn’t be construed as a sign of possible concern.