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canadiens acquire patrik laine from columbus for jordan harris

there are some red flags with 26-year-old forward who only played 18 games last season and is coming out of nhl's player assistance program.

by stu cowan, montreal gazette

aug 19 2024
read time 4 minute read
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the canadiens need more forwards who can score goals and now they have acquired one who has shown in the past he can do that.

general manager kent hughes announced monday afternoon that the canadiens have acquired patrik laine and a second-round pick at the 2026 nhl draft from the columbus blue jackets in exchange for defenceman jordan harris.

there are some red flags with laine, who only played 18 games last season with the blue jackets while posting 6-3-9 totals.

the 6-foot-5, 215-pound winger hasn’t played since breaking his left clavicle during a game in mid-december. laine also entered the nhl/nhlpa player assistance program in january and has acknowledged struggling with mental health at times during his eight-year nhl career.

“after careful consideration and discussion with my support network and the team, i have recognized the importance of prioritizing my mental health and well-being,” laine said on instagram after entering the nhl/nhlpa program. “hockey has been my passion and my life, but i have come to realize that in order to perform at my best, i need to take this time to focus on myself.”
the finnish forward has two seasons remaining on his contract with an annual salary-cap hit of us$8.7 million after which he can become an unrestricted free agent. laine becomes the highest-paid player on the canadiens, surpassing captain nick suzuki, who has an annual salary-cap hit of us$7.857 million.

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during a video conference after monday’s trade, hughes said laine’s contract situation wasn’t a concern for him.
“it’s not a contract that we negotiated,” the gm said. “it’s a two-year contract.”
blue jackets gm don waddell gave hughes permission to speak directly with laine before making the trade.
laine was looking for a fresh start with a new team and asked the blue jackets to trade him. waddell, who was hired in may as gm and president of hockey operations for the blue jackets, granted laine his wish.

waddell told brian hedger of the columbus dispatch that other teams who were interested in laine wanted the blue jackets to retain half of his contract in a trade. the canadiens were willing to take all of laine’s contract, hoping he can provide an offensive boost for a team that ranked 26th in the nhl in scoring last season, averaging 2.83 goals per game.

laine scored 36 goals as an 18-year-old rookie with the jets in 2016-17 and followed that up with a career-high 44 goals the next season, followed by a 30-goal season in 2018-19. he hasn’t hit the 30-goal mark since then.

when asked about the red flags concerning laine, hughes said: “i think more than anything, patrik’s comments were that the things that he wanted to or felt he needed to work on weren’t hockey related and that he’s very confident in his ability as a hockey player. one of the other things that he said repeatedly in our conversation was wanting to win and wanting to be part of something. we’re looking for people that want to be part of something and part of what we’re trying to do.”

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the canadiens now have two first-round picks and two second-round picks at the 2025 nhl draft, along with one first-round pick and two second-round picks in 2026.
the 24-year-old harris had 3-11-14 totals in 56 games last season with the canadiens. he was selected by the canadiens in the third round (71st overall) of the 2018 nhl draft. harris has one season remaining on his contract with a salary-cap hit of us$1.4 million after which he can become a restricted free agent.

“we want players that want to be blue jackets and patrik made it clear that he thought a change of scenery was best for him,” waddell said on the blue jackets’ website . “we were able to acquire a good young player in jordan harris while maintaining financial flexibility in this deal, which was very important to us. we wish patrik all the best.”

expect laine to be slotted in on the second line with the canadiens to start next season, along with kirby dach and alex newhook, behind the first line of suzuki between cole caufield and juraj slafkovsky. laine should also be able to help the canadiens’ power play, which ranked 27th in the nhl last season with a 17.5 per cent success rate. seventy of laine’s 204 career goals have come on the power play.

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the jets traded laine to the blue jackets on jan. 23, 2021, along with jack roslovic, in exchange for pierre-luc dubois and a third-round pick at the 2022 nhl draft (centre daniel zhilkin). laine didn’t want to get into details about what went wrong in columbus when he spoke with the media on a video conference after monday’s trade.
“it just wasn’t a great fit for me,” he said. “i feel like the team and myself needed to move on and me as a person needed a fresh start somewhere else. i feel like i’m going to leave it at that. now i’m just more focused on what’s ahead of me instead of what’s in the rear-view mirror. that’s kind of where i’m at with that.”
laine added that he’s “super-excited” about going to montreal.
during his four seasons in columbus, laine scored 64 goals in 174 games. in 480 career nhl games, laine has 204-184-388 totals. his career plus/minus differential is minus-58.
scowan@postmedia.com
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stu cowan, montreal gazette
stu cowan, montreal gazette

i wasn’t good enough at hockey or baseball to make it as a pro athlete, but figured covering sports would be the next-best thing. i’ve been fortunate to be part of the gazette sports department for more than 35 years in a variety of roles, including reporter, assistant sports editor, sports editor and since 2015 sports columnist. it's a great job.

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