A “toxic environment” reportedly had Patrik Laine seeking a move out of Winnipeg
Over the weekend, the Winnipeg Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets made the first blockbuster deal of 2021.
The teams linked up to deal a pair of disgruntled young stars, as Patrik Laine along with Jack Roslovic got sent to the Blue Jackets while Pierre-Luc Dubois and a third-round pick went to the Jets.
The drama surrounding Dubois and the Blue Jackets was no mystery. There were plenty of reports out of Columbus that indicated the young pivot wasn’t happy playing for head coach John Tortorella, who has a reputation for being tough on his players.
On the other side, Mike McIntyre of The Winnipeg Free Press reported that a fallout between Jets leadership and Laine resulted in the young Finn reaching a point of no return…
Source A made it clear to me that the problem was entirely on Winnipeg’s power brokers — from ownership to general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff to coach Paul Maurice to Wheeler, who runs the dressing room along with alternate captain Scheifele and have repeatedly butted heads with the more laid-back Laine. In his mind, they’ve cultivated a toxic environment that had Laine looking for the quickest exit.
“The issues in Winnipeg right now have to deal more with issues in the dressing room between competing personalities. And when there is a divided room, that gets around the league. And players generally, if they have other options, are going to exercise them until that whole situation gets cleaned up,” he said.
“I’m surprised it’s been allowed to go on this long without people in charge getting in there and cleaning it up. It’s going to have a great impact around the league with people choosing whether to play in Winnipeg or not.”
Now contrast that with what Source B told me, suggesting in no uncertain terms that Laine, and Laine only, was the problem. That a perceived lackadaisical approach towards his career quickly wore thin.
“All of the issues in the room could be solved by trading one guy (Laine),” he said.
It’ll take quite some time to determine who got the best of this deal between the Jets and Blue Jackets. Dubois is undoubtedly a great young player, but the Jets have now moved on from three drafted and developed players (Laine, Roslovic, and defenceman Jacob Trouba) and they also had veteran Dustin Byfuglien mysteriously decide to leave the team in the past year-and-a-half.