Grading the Patrik Laine trade: Canadiens make an incredible bet on pure talent

Mike Gould
Mike Gould
Grading the Patrik Laine trade: Canadiens make an incredible bet on pure talent
Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

The Montreal Canadiens took an enormous swing on Monday morning, pulling the trigger on a deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets that saw them acquire former 40-goal scorer Patrik Laine.

The Blue Jackets had to cough up a 2026 second-round pick just to get the final two years of Laine’s contract, which carries an $8.7 million cap hit, off their payroll — and the only piece they received for the trouble was a relatively unheralded young defenceman in Jordan Harris.

Columbus was always going to end up with a raw deal here as they sought to accommodate Laine’s desires for a change of scenery, but that doesn’t mean they’ll come out unscathed in this extra-special mid-August edition of our Daily Faceoff Trade Grades!

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Receive:

LW Patrik Laine, 26 – $8.7 million cap hit through 2026
2026 second-round pick

For good reason, this trade was immediately met with jubilant responses from fans in Montreal. Laine looked like the heir apparent to Alex Ovechkin when he first entered the NHL with the Winnipeg Jets back in 2016, scoring 80 goals over his first two seasons and helping the team reach the 2018 Western Conference Final. Although his run in Winnipeg ended earlier than many fans expected, Laine is still fondly remembered by many fans in the city as an electrifying goal-scorer and one of the first true stars of the second age of Jets hockey.

Although his first and last seasons in Columbus were forgettable at best, Laine put together a pair of legitimately strong campaigns in the middle of his Blue Jackets tenure. Over the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, the 6’5″ Finn racked up 50 goals and 108 points over 111 games while posting better two-way metrics than fans in Winnipeg ever saw from him. It looked like Laine was on the verge of blossoming into a truly well-rounded power forward before a collarbone injury and a stint in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program limited him to just 18 games in 2023-24.

Now, here we are, with Laine’s request for a trade out of Columbus fulfilled. Fans in Montreal already got to see first-hand in the latter half of last season what it can look like when a top pick starts to show his true potential. Now, the Canadiens will have the option to put Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 pick from 2022, on a line with Laine, the No. 2 pick from 2016. It’s an undeniably attractive prospect, particularly considering how enormously talented (and imposing) both players are.

It’s hard to imagine that Columbus would’ve had to pay a second-round pick to move Laine one or two years ago. Now, the Canadiens get to have their cake and eat it, too. Not only did they add a player with the potential to score 40 goals on a line with Slafkovsky or Nick Suzuki, but they also picked up their 15th pick in the first four rounds of the next two drafts. Between Laine, Suzuki, Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, and Ivan Demidov, the Canadiens already have one of the strongest young forward groups in the NHL, and they also have all the pieces they need to make it even better in the years to come.

Even if Laine doesn’t revert to his top form in Montreal, this trade will hardly derail the Canadiens’ current efforts to build a contender. But if he does reach his old heights — or, better yet, find new ones — Laine could be at the forefront of bringing playoff hockey back to Montreal for the first time since their Stanley Cup Final loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021.

Grade: A+

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

Receive:

D Jordan Harris, 24 – $1.4 million cap hit through 2025

The Blue Jackets are in a state of transition after bringing in Don Waddell to replace Jarmo Kekalainen as general manager back in May. After hiring former Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason as Pascal Vincent’s replacement behind the bench back in July, Waddell made his first major subtraction from the club’s roster on Monday when he sent Laine and his pricey contract to Montreal.

Maybe the Laine deal will open up more room for up-and-coming Blue Jackets forwards Kirill Marchenko, Dmitri Voronkov, Yegor Chinakhov, and Gavin Brindley to establish themselves on the wings. Even so, it still has to hurt to see a player who scored at nearly a point-per-game pace over the preceding two seasons depart for such a meager return after just one lost year — especially compared to the haul the Jets received when they traded Pierre-Luc Dubois in the 2023 offseason.

None of this is intended to besmirch Jordan Harris, who is a perfectly capable young defenseman. At 24 years of age, he may not have the same upside as David Jiricek, Denton Mateychuk, or Corson Ceulemans, but Harris showed he can handle an NHL workload over the last two years and should slot right in as the Blue Jackets’ third-pairing left-handed defender this year. He’s better than many of the borderline NHL players fans in Columbus have had to watch in recent seasons.

Regardless, the Blue Jackets parted ways with the player they selected with the No. 3 overall pick in 2016 to acquire Laine back in 2021. They gave up Pierre-Luc Dubois to get Laine because they envisioned the latter as being part of the solution to the decades-long problems ailing the franchise. Instead, Laine is now the latest in a long line of star players to leave Ohio after a disappointingly short and largely forgettable tenure with the Blue Jackets. Columbus paid to get him and paid to move him.

There’s no way to get around how unfortunate an outcome this is for the Blue Jackets, and the grade below represents that. If there’s one consolation, it’s that Columbus will be able to start anew this season with a seasoned NHL GM, an experienced NHL head coach, and a legitimately terrific collection of prospects. It was in everyone’s best interests for Columbus to move on from Laine and focus on developing the likes of Cayden Lindstrom, Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, and Cole Sillinger into top-tier NHL centers. If even one of those guys can become a legit No. 1 down the middle for 5-10 years, it’ll be a first for the Blue Jackets.

Laine wanted out. His contract is a problem. The Blue Jackets were never going to get much for him. But none of that makes Monday’s trade any less one-sided.

Grade: D

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