![Patrik Laine: the Habs were the only team that didn’t need salary retention](https://cdn.buminteractif.com/2024/08/GettyImages-1848360683.jpg)
It’s done: Kent Hughes has moved.
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
Kent Hughes this summer:
– Drafted Ivan Demidov
– Drafted Michael Hage
– Signed Juraj Slafkovsky 8 yrs/$7.6M AAV
– Signed Arber Xhekaj 2 yrs/$1.3M AAV
– Signed Justin Barron 2 yrs/$1.15M AAV
– Signed Kaiden Guhle 6 yrs/$5.5M AAV
– Traded for Patrik Laine
– Made the hoes mad pic.twitter.com/N04mE60jys– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) August 19, 2024
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.
It was only this weekend that #CBJ – Montreal talks regarding Patrik Laine took root, but they quickly turned serious.#Canadiens were the only team that didn’t require the Blue Jackets to retain a portion of Laine’s salary in a trade.
– Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) August 19, 2024
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.
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.
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.
Patrik Laine goal vs the Habs last year
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) August 20, 2024
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.
- 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.
Question – When was the last time the #CHs had a player in their line-up who scored 80 goals in the #NHL before the age of 20?
Answer: Never
Top scorers in the #NHL before age 20. Laine is 4th all-time #BeautifulRisk pic.twitter.com/xsxguxFVuh
– Stephane Leroux (@StephRDSJunior) August 19, 2024
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.
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.
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.
Jordan Harris bids farewell to the Habs
pic.twitter.com/bpdIUUr3et
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) August 20, 2024
6. With all that, the Habs also acquired a second-round pick. No, Laine didn’t have a huge market value. #SellHigh #BuyLow
The Habs have a lot of draft picks in the next two years after acquiring another 2nd round pick today in the Patrik Laine trade. pic.twitter.com/8gLLMRt5cH
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) August 19, 2024
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.
Coming soon to your Montreal sports media:
A pure wool Finn
When Laine knits in the enclave
Patrik’s groin hurts
St-Louis and Patrik hate each other
Laine-mi Bruins’ number one
It smells like the Cup in Patrik’s mouth: the Laine-hate of the playoffs– Olivier Paradis-Lemieux (@OliParle) August 19, 2024
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.