According to Elliot Friedman Sports NetColumbus Blue Jackets forward Patrick Laine has cleared the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program and is eligible to rejoin the team. Laine has indicated he wants a fresh start elsewhere, putting top-six forwards on the trade market during a slow offseason. With the Buffalo Sabres looking to acquire another scoring winger, Laine's name is sure to come up.
It remains to be seen whether Patrick Laine can contribute to the Sabres, but there are three hurdles to overcome first.
1. Physical Health
First, he's recovering from shoulder surgery. Laine played just 18 games for the Blue Jackets last season, which raises concerns about his durability, as the forward's single-season high was 56 games in his four seasons with Columbus.
2. Mental health
It's no secret that Laine has struggled to find his place in the league since being drafted second overall by the Winnipeg Jets in 2016. He's a productive scorer but has never established himself as a leader or go-to player for the team, and now, at just 26 years old, he's off the market for the second time, unhappy with his spot in Columbus.
3. Contract
Patrick Laine is in the third of four years of his current contract, which carries a cap hit of $8.7 million, according to Packedia. The Sabres have plenty of cap space, but that There isn't much room to pay Laine's full contract, and given the tight cap situation across the NHL, the Blue Jackets would likely need to retain salary in any trade for Laine anyway.
Buffalo is one of the best teams in the league to add to their team, so with a little ingenuity a deal could be made, which would raise the question of whether he's a producer for the team and worth the salary cap hit.
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Rain Comps
When you graph Patrik Laine's stats, it's clear he's an elite shooter, but nothing else really stands out. His block rate soared in limited minutes last season, as did his penalty kills. That puts him in the same league as aggressive, scoring, complementary shooters like Ryan Hartman of the Minnesota Wild and Frank Vatrano of the Anaheim Ducks.
Laine's excellent finishing ability ranks in the 98th percentile, but his playmaking is in the 23rd percentile and his defense is in the 5th percentile. He's considered a power-play specialist, but teams have found him monotonous in that role, dropping him to the 33rd percentile.
Rain Profile
Well, Rain may be good at one thing, but that thing is Really After all, he has 204 league goals in 480 NHL games, just shy of a 35-goal pace in an 82-game season.
The Sabres have a wide variety of players, including play-drivers, playmakers and shooters, so line fit is an issue for Laine. If traded, Laine's projected line would be next to Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn. Let's evaluate what he could bring to that trio.
Player's mindset
Laine is an offensive-minded player no matter how hard he tries. His even-strength defensive impact metrics are among the worst in the league. Instead of trying to improve his defensive play, Laine is solely focused on addressing his issues with scoring.
Laine's offensive impact won't be as big as that of Cozens or Quinn, and he'll rely on them to create opportunities in the zone and create lanes to take shots.
Shooting Mentality
If you chart the shooting philosophies of all three players, you can see how Laine can contribute: Cozens and Quinn are line creators, Laine and Quinn are elite shooters, and there's a certain synergy that comes with combining those three approaches.
Play Driving
Patrick Laine is seeing average minutes in the offensive zone, thanks in large part to his teammates, with Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn being key play-drivers as evidenced by the improved number and quality of shots taken by their teammates when he's at the line.
This means the Sabres can have one reliable player in the top six, but the trade-off is less flexibility in making lineup changes. Think about Jeff Skinner last season, who was split off from Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch. He struggled to gel on the third line with Peyton Krebs, and the Sabres suffered for it.
Physicality
The Buffalo Sabres made adding significant speed and physical strength to their bottom-six forwards a clear focus this offseason, and Laine would go against that emphasis because he offers very little in terms of hitting and offense.
Fitness doesn't necessarily correlate with winning, except for a certain competitive level reached by a player who drags his team into the fight. Fitness can also influence teammates to get excited about the game and get everyone involved.
If Laine is acquired from the Blue Jackets, Cozens would be the only player in that role on the Sabres' second line, which raises concerns he could be dormant at times throughout the season.
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Patrick Lyne verdict
The Sabres already have Jason Zucker, a former 30-goal scorer, on the left wing on their second line, and Patrick Laine would be a younger, but more expensive, replacement. Laine's goal-scoring ability is more consistent than Zucker's and would be an upgrade in that respect.
As for the fit, the Sabres are looking to get leadership roles from their young core, but accountability was a concern last season. Laine had accountability issues as a player and his recent involvement in the player assistance program raised some red flags.
Combine that with durability concerns over the past few seasons and a prohibitively expensive contract, and Laine is probably one of the players the Sabres should stay away from.
