What the f... are you serious with the trade of Taylor Raddysh? Come on

No. The DUMP of Campbell.

The real problem of this team is the Laine trade

I agree that it'll be something a little more, but not much. He's not going to play for CBJ...he chose not to last season and I don't want to simply say mental health is a choice...it's not, but if your CBJ you can't keep him and expect him to play. ALSO, same for an acquiring team. Laine's not going to get a big return if he's going to LTIR if his mental health isn't going well. Hard for an acquiring team to KNOW this is why he went to LTIR and get assurance that it won't happen to them.

***EDIT*** That's ignoring all the other factors like cap hit and poor play.

I'm probably one of the few Hawks fans that's open to taking on Campbell, but it does need to be for "the right price"...which is extremely subjective. I'm curious if Jack Campbell and the 2026 1st and 2027 1st for the DAL 2025 2nd and TOR 2026 2nd. It's moving multiple 1sts...which is optics wise VERY hard to do. It's only 1 round to drop back. It's an "advance" that the DAL pick is 2025, but EDM's are 2026/2027. IDK, But from the Hawks perspective, that would make (13) 1st round picks in 6 years....which is a lot. If you can't build a team with (13) 1sts...we've got bigger problems than cap space.

CBJ can get at least a 2round choice and a prospect for him. that's risky to take him.

His dad unexpectedly died in November and he took a direct headshot in game 5. It's not exactly a mystery about why he might be having some mental health struggles, and also not hard to imagine that it's significantly less a factor next season.

He's a top-6 winger when he's in the lineup (which OP clearly believes given that's where he's playing). He's not going for a 3rd-round pick. Every team in the league should be putting in an offer on a former-40-goal-scorer, PPG player who's only 26 at his absolute lowest trade value. That alone forces his trade value well past a 3rd.



Conditional picks exist. 1st, B-prospect, 3rd that upgrades to a 2nd or 1st on GP/Goals Scored conditions for Laine at ~$2M retained. That's a fair price to pay for a top-6 winger that comes at $6.7M, and it mitigates the risk for both teams.

Everyone puts out trash offers for Laine and just says "he's an overpaid risk!" like there's absolutely zero methods to mitigate risky acquisitions in a trade with conditional picks, or that a team with gobs of cap space might be okay retaining a few million, or that he might actually perform at or better than he did in a dysfunctional Columbus organization where he still scored nearly a point per game. It's lazy and ignores context entirely.

I wish him personally nothing, but the best. I take no issue with him having mental health struggles and the Blackhawks have arguably been the single best team in the NHL for providing the best medical care to its players and they've been doing that for decades. All the way back to sending team doctors to away games so IF a player has an issue...the player's health won't be dependent on a doctor with zero medical history of the player.

The only real thing I disagree with is being obvious things will be better next year. You've only talked about this past year and he's already a change of scenery player. I get it that Paul Maurice has come out and said he could have said something to Wheeler, but everything can't always be someone else's fault. Going to the Finniah papers for BOTH CBJ coaches??? I get the comments about Torts because its Torts. I 100% get that, but also Brad? Like...you don't need to fight every fight. Especially when you should have learned that lesson in WPG while talking smack about the Canucks. When you lash out at others...someone might come Fortnite you. And the whole podcaster thing. That guy...what he did was awful. No ways around that. It was intentional and awful. Unfortunately, that stuff happens and the Podcaster just wanted clicks. That's how he makes money. The moment Laine replied...he gave that podcaster power. Part of mental health is understanding your own actions have consequences. And AGAIN I sincerely hope he finds a situation that supports him and his journey.

I hope you can read through the above to see that I'm 100% trying to give him the benefit of the doubt AND I would welcome him to the Hawks with open arms and support him and his mental health the whole way through. BUT, It's a big risk and not at all obvious to anyone that "things will be better". His history isn't just a blip or a one off thing.

1. Hot take: Brad was the worst coaching decision this organization has made in recent memory, including Babcock. He was a direct and inept Torts understudy that set the team back a decade. Babs was a piece of s***, but at least it was taking a legit shot on a coach with an iota of competence and pedigree. I don't blame Laine at all for fighting both fights there. FWIW, he was complimentary of Vincent this year, and they had a good relationship, as far as we could tell.

2. His response to the podcaster was simply "This is just not okay." That's not giving him power, that's rightfully calling out a bulls*** take that was widely lambasted by more than just him. If he didn't respond, the media would have asked him about it until they got a response anyway.

I get that there's a lot to be concerned about, especially with how frequently he got injured, but if you look at all of the context around his time in Columbus...can you really blame him for wanting out? Even in his past, you can attribute a lot of stupid decisions to being a very young person thrust into the international spotlight before his brain is fully formed. He's clearly grown and matured in Columbus.

Anyway, yes, there's clearly risk, and he's not going to fetch a huge return, but it'll be more than the OP posted here. I appreciate the discussion, too many times people aren't willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and call him "trash", "a negative asset", "a headcase", etc., when the context around his time in Columbus makes it pretty clear to me why he's in the spot he's in, and why he's none of that. Thanks for not being one of those people!