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Patrik Laine: the Habs were the only team that didn’t need salary retention

 Emma Wilson
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Patrik Laine: the Habs were the only team that didn’t need salary retention
Credit: Getty Images

It’s done: Kent Hughes has moved.

After weeks of waiting for his next big move, the Canadiens GM has decided to acquire Patrik Laine from the Columbus Blue Jackets. He also gets a second-round pick in 2026 and loses the services of Jordan Harris.

It’s an exclamation point on a summer that wasn’t the most eventful, but will (perhaps) be the one that brought three good offensive players to town. #Demidov #Hage #Laine

In the short term, however, it’s Laine who will have the biggest impact. The GM recognized the need to add offensive talent to his team and wanted to reward his players, who want to aim for the playoffs.

And it’s clear that with a top-6 that could look like this as early as this fall, it will help. I’m not saying the club will make the playoffs, obviously, but the team is progressing.

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Laine – Dach – Newhook/Roy/Anderson (someone waiting for Demidov on the top-6)

It’s starting to look like a top-6 worthy of the NHL – if the guys can stay healthy, that is. And the trios will move throughout the season, as you know.

The deal the GM knitted is one that was made possible in part because of the salary package, which is a weapon of choice. No one else in the NHL could and would accept $8.7 million a year on the cape until 2026. But Kent Hughes did.

Nick Suzuki is no longer the Habs’ highest-paid forward. Kent Hughes doesn’t mind, since he didn’t sign him to the contract, and it’s short term only.

But the fact remains that moving him to the top of the salary scale (aside from Carey Price, of course) sends a message to the boys.

All we can hope is that next summer, Laine’s contract won’t be on the habs’ hands. We know that, in the summer of 2025, Hughes wants to take the club to the next level.

Because if he’s blocking the Habs for something bigger, we’ll be crowning for other reasons…

But hey. That’s not all we have to remember about yesterday’s transaction, made a few weeks before the Habs golf tournament and the start of the Flanelle’s training camp.

What do I take away?

1. The Blue Jackets traded Laine in part because they want to build a club where the guys are proud to play. Laine didn’t want to be there anymore, so he left, as he wanted to.

Laine is mentally and physically fit, which has reassured Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes and Martin St-Louis, who want to build such a culture. But how long before Laine wants to leave Montreal as he did in Columbus? And why did the Jets trade him?

2. If we look at the Habs’ top-6 prospects, there are potentially (if we assume Laine will be there, for the sake of argument) four guys who were drafted in the top-5 of their auction.

Kent Hughes likes to add talent, you say?

  • Juraj Slafkovsky: 1st pick in 2022
  • Patrik Laine: 2nd pick in 2016
  • Kirby Dach: 3rd pick in 2019
  • Ivan Demidov: 5th pick in 2024 (and he slipped)

Hughes didn’t add Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, who are also first-round picks, but they’re still talented pieces. They’re also two guys who lived through the 2021 playoffs.

That’s something.

3. There’s been a lot of negative talk about Laine-and understandably so, since things haven’t been going well for him lately-for months now. But a player who scored 80 goals before the age of 20 in the NHL, the Habs have never produced that.

Let’s put things in perspective: Slaf had 60 POINTS in his first two NHL seasons.

4. Martin St-Louis will have plenty of options to build his numerical advantage. Mike Matheson and Lane Hutson should be the two defensemen, we’ll agree on that this morning.

But what about the forwards?

Suzuki… Caufield… Slafkovsky… Dach… Newhook… Laine… Roy… these are seven exciting pieces that could give the Habs a quality second wave.

And that’s not counting Demidov.

5. Laine is a calculated gamble. Bringing him to Montreal in return for Jordan Harris could, if all goes well in the best of all possible worlds, do what Alex Romanov did to bring Kirby Dach to town. No one regrets the transaction.

Harris isn’t a bad defender and he’s a good guy (who signed in town after the arrival of Kent Hughes, whom he already knew), but he will have made it possible to get Laine.

6. With all that, the Habs also acquired a second-round pick. No, Laine didn’t have a huge market value. #SellHigh #BuyLow

Kent Hughes continues to grow his bank of picks. The transactions of Sean Monahan, Jeff Petry (twice), Casey DeSmith, Jake Allen, Patrik Laine and Johnathan Kovacevic (another one that opens doors on the blue line) bring picks to the Flanelle.

7. I can’t wait to see how he handles the pressure of Montreal. After all, even if he’s happy to be here, even if he didn’t have Montreal on his no-trade list and even if he’s already played in Canada, Montreal is… not the same.

At least, he’s not likely to understand all the tasty puns aimed at him.

8. Asked about this in a press conference, Kent Hughes said he’d probably be able to keep Carey Price off the LTIR in the off-season. That’s good for the salary.

Yes, the Habs are also turning the corner on their mass, which is interesting. #Flexibility

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