Trade Pitch Sees Rangers Acquire Disgruntled $34.8 Million Forward

Patrik Laine has requested a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets and one trade pitch has him being sent to the New York Rangers.

The Rangers are one of the top teams in the NHL and could be a piece or two away from winning the Stanley Cup. So, the website PuckPedia has a new tool called PuckGM that lets users create their own trades and one user proposed a deal that would see the Rangers acquire Laine.

Rangers get:

• Patrik Laine ($4.4 million retained)

Blue Jackets get:

• Kaapo Kakko
• 2025 first-round pick

The proposed deal does make sense for both sides as the Rangers get Laine, who when he is healthy and at his best, is one of the top players in the NHL. New York also moves on from Kakko who is a former second-overall pick but hasn’t panned out, while also dealing their first-round pick.

Laine has two years left on his four-year $34.8 million deal, but in the proposed deal, Columbus is retaining $4.4 million of his $8.7 million deal so New York could afford him. Last season, Laine recorded 6 goals and 3 assists for 9 points in 18 games as he dealt with injuries.

In return for Laine, Columbus gets a first-round pick which is the focal point of the trade package while also acquiring Kakko. The forward is just 23 and perhaps a change of scenery would help the former second-overall pick have success.

Last season, Kakko recorded 13 goals and 6 assists for 19 points in 61 games.

Laine Has Permission to Speak With Other Teams

With Laine requesting a trade from Columbus, Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell spoke to Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers and said the forward has permission to speak to other teams.

“Well he’s still a Blue Jacket today and as we speak, I don’t have anything (newsworthy of) interest, but nothing that I had to make a decision on yet. Just some teams do their homework and trying to talk with Patrick and his agent and he thought about giving full permission to talk to teams. So, but as we are talking, I don’t have anything that on the table that would even make any sense for the Blue Jackets to make that deal,” Waddell said.

The general manager says there hasn’t been a deal that makes sense for the Blue Jackets but he is talking to teams to try and trade Laine.

“I’ve told his representation that we will definitely look at every deal and I’ve given him full permission to talk to teams. So, I’ve been where I’ve had players that wanted to be traded before and just because a player wants to traded, two things have to happen. You have to have a willing partner and you also have to have a deal that we both can accept and agree on. And at this time I don’t have that, so I can’t rule out any possibilities at this point,” Waddell added.

Laine was drafted second overall in the 2016 NHL draft.

Kakko Frustrated With Role With Rangers

Kakko was drafted second overall in 2019 by the Rangers but he hasn’t even given a major role with the Rangers.

Last season, Kakko was a healthy scratch during the regular season and playoffs, and he says he was not happy with his role.

“Of course, everyone wants to play. … I was not happy I [was] not in the lineup, but I still wanted to win. I was hoping the win for the team and keep going and then get back to the lineup at some point, but I can say I was not happy and I think all the guys in this room, like everyone wants to play,” Kakko said.

Kakko has skated in 300 regular season games recording 57 goals and 60 assists for 117 points.