Roberston and Puustinen are identical players just use him with Sid and save the pick
I wouldn't hate Laine but another big contract would make things tough
St. Ivany > Dumba and its not even close

Laine will cost you Yager+.

And flipped or not, Smith is not OK-ing a trade to CBJ.

You wouldn’t get a first round pick for him in a trade. What I proposed is reasonable and what you should expect. Teams are done giving away 1sts for cheap. We’ve seen that for over a year now.

Robertson has a better shot, so putting him at LW gives Sid a chance to remake what he had with Jake. I think Puustinen is a 3rd liner. I want to see St. Ivany next season but we need some kind of veteran safety valve.

Cool! Problem is, you are trying to trade for an asset that is not even on the market.

So…why would any team trade a player at their lowest value when they are not even trying to trade them? Add in PIT’s low-end prospect pool, and ya’ll are just swimming in No’s. So, I mean, Yager+ or CBJ just say “OK” and don’t care.

Particularly ironic when our mutual division rival offered a satisfactory trade in a ACGM right after you.

No one is paying you that for Laine.
It would also not surprise me if they moved him out to make way for the mass of younger players they have. Especially with another pick looking like 4OA currently this year.
It's not easy to move 8.7 mil of cap out. CBJ would never retain on that without a serious reason to do so, just for all kind of reasons. Small market team, not wanting to pay guys to play on other teams, future cap issues etc (it is 2 years)... and a large return most likely isn't happening as few teams have the cap space.
So a large return is kind of out of the question there.
To say they wouldn't move him is kind of unrealistic. He doesn't have a future in CBJ and CBJ knows that. In 2 years he hits FA he's not coming back to CBJ and with all the young talent CBJ has there really isn't room for him. It's not like he's some Vet leader who helps the team out. He's not, and never will be that kind of player. And to move him the year after will bring the same level of return. So it's just saving the team money if they did it this year.







Robertson is no Jake, and is every bit the 3rd liner at best that Puustinen is and neither one of them belongs on a line with Sid.
The only thing that will happen is he'll get checked to the ground left and right like Sheary did. We already know Sid being the biggest player on that line isn't the best thing.

What's kind of ironic is you hit the nail on the head here, but came to the wrong conclusion IMO. What we clearly need is top-end talent, at all positions. Laine has shown he can be that, and should be that (he's been nearly a PPG player for Columbus). His value is extremely low right now, and he's not worth the deal.

Your conclusion is "Columbus should move him and save the money now". Columbus needs talent, and has tons of cap space. Even if Laine isn't sticking around when his contract expires, chances are good he bounces back at least enough to be worth something more to a contender at the 2026 TDL, when he could be had half-retained at $4.35M. That should easily return a 1st+. If he doesn't bounce back: his value stays about the same, but now the bad contract is conveniently a year shorter.

Cap-strapped competitive teams move out bad contracts; Columbus isn't that right now. The right conclusion, IMO, is to hold onto him.



See above for why we'd just tell Pittsburgh to f*** off, then. "Reasonable and what you should expect" reads "your player is s***, and your s***ty team should give us your s*** player for cheap", and there's exactly zero reason for Columbus to do that.

Robertson would at least be 2M of useful LTIR space

Robertson would at least be 2M of useful LTIR space

there is no point for CBJ to hold onto him though.
He's just taking up a roster spot from a younger player at this point. He's never going to hit his 8.7 mil worth playing 3rd line minutes. So he has to be a top 2. One of them is going to JG, Another to Marchenko. You got Kent Johnson who probably takes up a 3rd winger spot. You got a top pick coming in this year. I mean where is the room.
On top of it. you move out 8.7 mil in cap space to work on actually bringing in a longer term solution for CBJ. As far as top talent... that's what drafting in the top 5 year after year does. For a team that's rebuilding, what's the point of keeping a player that would help you win games in a rebuilding stage. That's not really the point now. In all reality you are looking at another top 5 pick the year after...and that's fine, again, where to put them.

If you are concerned with "getting value" back, remember guys aren't necessarily brining back the kind of value you think right now. You are more likely to get value on term than player raising their value.
The fact that everyone will know you have to move him next year, doesn't help the value either.
The reality is, there isn't really a spot for him on CBJ. They are better off with the cap space and removing a bad influence out of the locker room before it gets messy next year when he's 1 foot out the door and playing not to get hurt. While opening up space for the younger players. The return between this year and next year, doesn't really see that much of an improvement that a team should really care more about it than the 8.7 mil on the books being opened up. At best you are looking at a late 1st and prospect of ok grade. Which wouldn't even be a top prospect for CBJ most likely. But you'd have to retain to get that, as teams that can move 8.7 mil in, are slim pickings and that isn't changing anytime soon. So the expectations should be tempered. It's not like he can be moved in for 3 mil on an expiring deal. He can't.

I'm saying this as someone who is not a fan of that trade to PIT. I don't see him as a fit on PIT. He doesn't play defense so he could never be on Malkin's line. Nor do I think Crosby would accept that as a line mate. I also don't see them paying 8,7 for a 3rd line player. He isn't a center.

But I'm sure someone would take a flyer on him if the price was right, and if CBJ could get a return on him they should this year.

Not what I’m saying at all. You can’t expect a king’s ransom for a guy who has been trending down since Winnipeg traded him and missed most of the season. A prospect whose stock is rising plus 3 picks (whoever gets Smith in a 3 way deal would be sending a pick) is a very fair return.

If he were to come to Pittsburgh he would have to be in a top 6 role. Toronto has absolutely fumbled his career to this point and that’s especially true now when grunts are playing over him.

Counterpoint again: what does getting a less-valuable winger we have to retain on and flip, a forward prospect, and two picks who won't see the ice for 3+ years do for us if the answers are all in the room? And we're not talking about a team that's bad on purpose right now, and we've had 5 top-15 picks in the last 3 years (soon to be 6 in 4 years). The clear goal is to start winning again, so we'd be keeping a guy that should help us win games now and come out of a rebuilding stage, while also generating healthy internal competition for players that, frankly, still need to earn NHL jobs.

For value, I don't see how an $8.7M contract for a player who played 18 games this year and is in the PAP currently is bringing back anything significant right now, but if you trade your 25-year-old former 40-goal-scorer for peanuts, that's not exactly a good look, or good asset management. Right now he's not worth the contract, so term isn't adding value. He would add more to his trade value if he came back and scored something like 20-25-45 in 60ish games next year, even with a year less term.

The reality is, even if there isn't much of a roster spot for him right now, trading a player like him when 1) you don't need the cap space and 2) his trade value is at its lowest, is not good asset management. It would be much better to put him in a top-6 role and play a guy like Johnson, who's coming off major shoulder surgery, in the AHL until he can beef up and fully heal. With zero pressure to move Laine, Columbus shouldn't be taking any offers on him unless their price is met. Again, it feels like we're looking at the same data and getting drastically different answers for some reason.

So. Again.

This entire trade is premised on the idea of a trade centered around an asset that is not even on the market.

Yes, there are many a beneficial reason to trade Laine, but this entire loss of a trade is premised on the presupposition that he *needs* to be traded.

Not the case, my dude.

Like it said, meet the ask, or move on.

Laine was top-3 in team scoring each of the last two seasons in Columbus, something he only did in Winnipeg in 2016-17 and 2017-18. He had 1.000 points per game in 2021-22 and 0.945 points per game in 2023-23, which are scoring rates he never reached in Winnipeg (even during his 44 goal campaign, at 0.854 points per game). His Corsi for % has held steady or increased in his time in Columbus, while blowing his teammates out of the water.

"Trending down since Winnipeg traded him" is completely ignoring the games he's played when healthy, and plainly just false when you dive into anything beyond his injury history. He's not a playdriver, and the expectation was that he'd come to Columbus to be "the guy", but he's not that and never has been. He's a really great complimentary scorer, and has rounded out his game much more in Columbus. His health/availability to play, especially this year (where he's had a couple really fluky/dirty injuries) is entirely the reason for a bad perception. Giving up on him is a mistake, when he's been a key contributor and elite player when on the ice. Doing so when his trade value is at its lowest would be catastrophic.

"not on the market" how the hell would you even know
Teams are willing to move anyone. Your imaginary market.......

As I said, there is no place for him really in Columbus. He's out the door soon as a UFA. To say a player like that isn't "on the market" is just bogus. The whole front office knows he's not staying and they know they will have to trade him at some point so don't think they aren't listening. To think they don't know that is either stupid or insane. Which means with out a doubt he's "on the market" and that they would listen to offers as that is every GM's /president's job.
So your whole premise as to why a trade wouldn't happen is just debunked.
When you have an expiring asset you move it. That's what CBJ has.
The problem is that asset has an almost 9 mil cap hit, and that's harder to move. As much as you'd like to say they don't need to move him, keeping him doesn't really DO anything for CBJ. They don't need him taking a top 6 role away from the younger players. They also don't need another locker room moment like with Bob and Panarin where everyone knows he's out the door and isn't staying as it just kills the team. So as much as you think they don't "need" to move him, it's pretty clearly in their best interest to if they can find a buyer. Since finding a buyer at almost 9 million is hard to do, the "meet the price" will be a whole lot less than you think.

your comment here says it all.... 40 goal winger... he hasn't hit 40 goals in like 7 years. That's not a 40 goal winger.
You need to start lowering your expectations here.
It's not about needing to move him, or there is pressure to move him or whatever.
I don't know how much clear I can be on this. They need to play the youth, that's how they get better. not playing 13 minutes a night on the 3rd line or even less on the 4th.
This idea you have that CBJ needs Liane to compete is just absurd. This isn't a team that needs to win right now. They are still drafting and building.

They are still looking for hits in their high drafts. None of the guys they have drafted are breaking a bank like Matthews or McDavid did. So they don't have cap constraints that force a "win right now" situation. They need to let them grow, and bring in more young talent. Not worry about Laine winning them games. He adds nothing to the team but a guy who's going to jet.

As for Laine his health isn't the reason for the bad perception. His really bad attitude is. Which is what his problem in WPG was, and knowing he's going to jet out of CBJ it's simply carried over.
He's not the guy he was his first 2 years in the league. Only you are trying to give him that value. Everyone else already knows that. He's not the elite guy you think he is. While he's a decent top 6 guy, CBJ doesn't need to focus on guys who aren't going to be there and should get out of that.

You are over here acting like they are in a position to focus on winning games. While what they need is Johnson to play better and to draft 1-2 more high pick forwards who can turn into good players.

There is no place for him to play that role on PIT. We've done the Sheary thing.... we know how that works. It doesn't. He's too small to be on a line with Sid, and Malkin needs people who can play defense and get the puck because he just can't be bothered with such things, or at least that's the way he plays.
It is what it is. Fact is I don't hold the same opinion that TOR has mismanaged him. They have just come to the same conclusion. TOR needs role players in their top 6. Guys who will do the dirty work, crash the net, get in the corners, etc... it's why a guy like Bertuzzi and McMann fit in there and Robertson does not.
Pit is no different.

Not worth the energy to counter trade-negging.

"Here's a Laine trade."
"That's not a good Laine trade, and he's not available."
"Yes it is and yes he is."
"But another team actually offered us a package that both teams liked."
"No they didn't take this one."