Conflicting Reports on Canadiens’ Patrik Laine’s Blocked Trade

Just a few days after we got solid reports discussing Patrik Laine’s blocked trade to an Eastern Conference team, it’s now the turn for a Western Conference franchise linked to a vetoed move by the former Columbus Blue Jackets forward. According to La Velle E. Neal III of The Minnesota Star Tribune, speaking directly to Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin, Laine blocked a trade to the franchise based in the State of Hockey before his summer trade to the Montreal Canadiens.

The report says that the trade not going through didn’t have to do with the Wild’s offer being worse than the Canadiens’ one, but rather Laine’s unwillingness to join the Wild. Laine, who is entering the third year of a four-year contract carrying an $8.7 million salary, ultimately chose Montreal as his next destination, unlocking the trade that turned him into a Habs player ahead of the 2024-25 season. It’s worth mentioning that Montreal had the salary cap flexibility to absorb Laine’s hefty contract without the Blue Jackets retaining any salary, however, while Minnesota would have struggled to make the deal work financially without making further moves.

What makes this report interesting is that it comes on the heels of BPM Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reporting that Laine indeed blocked a trade, followed by a supposedly blocked move to the Philadelphia Flyers as reported by Maxime Truman. With the Wild and the Flyers offers in the rearview mirror, Laine is now set to join a young and promising core in Montreal, including wunderkind Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield. Laine, a former No. 2 overall pick, is coming off a regular season in which he was limited to playing just 18 games in which he scored 6 goals and 9 total points.