Canadiens expected to move Patrik Laine before trade deadline

The start to Patrik Laine’s tenure as a Montreal Canadiens was an electric one, as he scored 12 goals in his first 18 games last season. But since then, he hasn’t been a great fit. He’s scored just eight goals in 39 games since then, and due to health problems, he’s played just five games this season. He hasn’t worked out in Montreal, and with an $8.7 million cap hit, they’d like to move on and use that money to upgrade their top-six forward group.

But is there a market for Laine? David Pagnotta joined Daily Faceoff Live to talk about a potential Laine move, and how it could certainly be possible if the Canadiens retain salary.

David Pagnotta: They’re trying to trade him. He’s actively available right now. Talking to people close to that situation, they expect the trade to happen between now and the trade deadline. I just want to preface it, that’s the expectation. We’ll see if it becomes reality.

But the Habs are in a position where they can retain on this contract. He’s got an $8.7 million cap hit. They can retain up to 50% and still give themselves $5-6 million in cap space if they plan to add somewhere else. They’ve got $1.25 million right now in space. They move him out, even at 50%, it gives them enough room to add, which is what they’re looking to do up front, somebody to play with Suzuki and Caulfield.

At the same time, they’ve got so much depth up front that eventually some guys were going to have to go. The Laine experiment, while it looked decent last season, just hasn’t fully worked out because of his health. If the Canadiens are trying to get somebody to sparkplug that top line even more, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be Laine, they’re listening.

It was reported this week L.A. checked in on him, that’s true. But they seem to be going in a different direction right now. But there are other teams that are poking around, and they want to know, “How much are you willing to retain? And do we take a flyer on this guy?” We’ll see where this ends up. But again, the expectation is that Laine will be wearing another jersey by March 7th.

You can watch the full episode here…