NHL Veterans Reveal They Wanted Patrik Laine Out of Columbus

A few days ago, the Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets engaged in arguably the biggest blockbuster trade of the summer, when Patrik Laine was sent to the Habs along with a second-round pick in exchange for young defenseman Jordan Harris. There was no money retained so the Habs will be on the hook for the full $8.9 million AAV contract for the next two seasons.

One of the top reporters for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Aaron Portzline, dropped a bomb following the trade, as to how just a couple of years ago, many players in leadership roles on the team approached GM Don Waddell and asked if he could please trade both Patrik Laine and Elvis Merzlikins due to their toxic attitudes. Some of the players listed were Cam Atkinson, Seth Jones, Gustav Nyquist, and Zach Werenski.

The plan backfired, as the majority of those players that spoke up were the ones who were traded instead! Cam Atkinson went to Philadelphia, Gustav Nyquist to Minnesota, and Seth Jones got traded to Chicago. Zach Werenski was retained by the team, but he is considered a top defenseman in the game and also one of the higher paid players.

There is an interesting backstory involving Patrik Laine and the game Fortnite. Prior to the start of the 2018 NHL season, Patrik Laine admitted he was addicted to Fortnite.

He would play at all hours of the day and night, and rumors quickly spread that Laine was also playing in between periods in the dressing room! It was no doubt becoming a big distraction for the player, and he finally decided in November 2018 to go on a major Fortnite detox.

As soon as he put down Fortnite, his game drastically improved. In the 12 games following his end to playing the game, Laine scored a staggering 18 goals and one assist. Clearly he was a man on a mission, scoring at will. It definitely appeared that Laine could have been the NHL's greatest goal scorer when he freed himself of distractions.

Patrik Laine has had his fair share of distractions in his career, as well as NHL teams. Laine was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets with the 2nd overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. He went on to play four full seasons with the Jets, and then in his fifth season he played just one game with the team before they traded him to Columbus.

Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic were traded by Winnipeg to the Blue Jackets in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois and a 2022 third-round pick. He then played four seasons with the Blue Jackets but never managed to remain healthy enough to play more than 56 games in any season with that team.

His numbers in Columbus have taken a major tumble and now that he's joining the Montreal Canadiens, he is hoping for a fresh start and to be able to remain healthy physically, but especially mentally as he was recently in the NHLPA's Player Assistance program.

In Laine's 480 career NHL games, he has scored 204 goals and 184 assists for 388 points. He has only ever surpassed 40 goals once in his career, and that was way back in the 2017-18 season. Time will tell if being back in a Canadian market was the right move for Laine.

Source: Hockey-Reference
Patrik Laine Stats