Columbus isn't retaining that much for that long, nor are they looking to move Laine for scraps. They'll hold for now.

Not sure I would trade for Laine to fill a center position, but I suppose he could fill in while Larkin is out. Ideally he's a winger, but its a big risk. Big salary and oft injured. Not sure his heart is in the game anymore. The trade seems reasonable enough given the risk.

Laine is not a centre. He is also not the type of player we want in Detroit. Doesn't make sense for Columbus too do that either.

CBJ would get a heck of a lot more for Laine than this.

After being scratched I believe there is some rumblings he may want out of Columbus. He's been experimenting as a center this season and is going through a really tough stretch in his career. The Wings are currently one of the highest scoring teams in the league and adding him makes them that much more dangerous offensively. I think Laine slots in as a first or second line wing where we can utilize his shot, especially on the powerplay. He is clearly struggling with his role in columbus and a change of scenery may be the best for both parties. I think any thoughts that he doesn't 'fit' what we're going for is overblown personally. They took a chance on Vrana after all. As far as the trade goes I think salary retention is far fetched, but not impossible. Columbus also doesn't have a 2nd round pick. The Wings may be willing to give up the Boston pick in exchange for more retention/contracts.

I think it's clear that Columbus is going to be rebuilding for the foreseeable future. Laine is clearly unhappy and the organization may want out sooner than people think. Detroit is on it's way up and Laine could definitely help them.

I don't know if Vrana had character issues before being traded to Detroit. Even if he did, Capitals might have wanted him out as part of the deal. We produce a lot of offense, what we struggle right now with is defense and Laine doesn't do defense. Experimenting at centre doesn't mean he can play it excel at the position. He's the type of player that you wouldn't want at centre in my opinion. With his character issues, I feel like we wouldn't want that in the locker room. We got Debrincat as a powerplay shooter and with Kane, Raymond and whoever else, we should be good. PP2 gets almost no time to justify it. We need players that are more defensively responsible and take less penalties.

Also I don't think Columbus wants to be rebuilding so if they move Laine, they would likely want a player back now that can help.