20 Sep 2019 14:02:35
Winnipeg:

Patrick Laine

Carolina:
Martin Necas
Justin Faulk
2020 1st round pick (Toronto's)

OR

Winnipeg:

Patrick Laine


Buffalo:
Rasmus Ristolainen
Casey Middlestadt
Vladimir Sobotka
2020 2nd round pick


If Buff isn't coming back this year, I'm looking at the RHD trade block and only Faulk and Ristolainen stand out. Both teams are tight to the cap ceiling so this might require other pieces the be moved to Winnipeg or elsewhere.

In short, Laine would play top line on Buffalo or Carolina, and Winnipeg would recover on the RHD while obtaining a young center or potential depth winger.

20 Sep 2019 14:26:59
Both proposed trades are panic trades and hurt the Jets long term.

Ristolainen is reasonably young, but is a terrible defenseman. If the Jets wanted a bad defenseman like that, they would have kept Myers. Sabotka is 32, so worthless to the Jets. So taking all that into account Middlestat and a late 1st isn't close enough in value.

Faulk is 27, an upcoming UFA and terrible. So, he doesn't even get into a Laine conversation other that as a throw in. Necas as a 20 year old has 2 points to his name, while Laine had 100 goals to his name at the same age. People need to stop overvaluing Necas.

Even if Big Buf retires, the Jets would be better off just riding out this year and seeing what the young kids have and sign UFA defenseman from the bunker crop next season if necessary.

Overall, 2 poorly thought out panic proposals that do nothing to help the Jets.

20 Sep 2019 15:03:28
Niku, Poolman and Stanley will finally get a chance to play this year so it would be in the Jets best interest to see how they will do before making ill advised trades for any overpaid 5/ 6 d-men or potential UFA's. Giving the kids a chance has to be a better option then trading Laine or Connor in deals that won't make the Jets much better for the returns posted here.

20 Sep 2019 15:15:41
I was hoping you'd reply Marcus because I'd love to discuss this with you :) so touching on everything you wrote, would you mind explaining your rationale on the following:
- In what ways is Ristolainen a bad defenseman?
- Why does Sobotka's age make him worthless? At the very least he's a 1 year depth winger for the Jets and gone as a UFA next summer, but he'd plug a hole from the departure of Laine.
- You can't subtract pieces from a trade and call them worthless by your standards when they're specifically included to make this trade cap compliant.

20 Sep 2019 15:23:38
Moreover:
- Can you give your rationale for why Faulk is terrible? From what I remember Anaheim has been pushing hard to acquire him, can't be that terrible but maybe you know something we don't.
- Necas has yet to have a full season in the NHL, he has 2 points in 8 games which is a small sample size. Your argument that 2 points to his name would make more sense if that was his output over an 82 game season, but as a young 1st round pick he hasn't yet been deployed in a top 9 role on the Hurricanes because as i'm sure you're aware; Carolina has Aho, Staal, and now Dzingel to play down the middle.

Overall, the Carolina trade has 2 1st overalls (1 drafted and 1 pick) and a proven RHD coming back to Winnipeg in exchange for 1 player. there's no devaluing of Laine in my proposals, but I'm well aware the Jets are built to contend NOW and losing their top goal scorer to contract dispute while seeing their top RHD leave would not only ruin this season of cup contention, it would likely cause blowback to upper management (Maurice could be fired if the team doesn't perform. )

I'm confused, as a Jets fan do you call this season a contending season or do you call it a sit and hold out season?

20 Sep 2019 16:21:00
Both of those offers are too much for Laine. And DrwDave just clowned memarcusjoe lmao.

20 Sep 2019 16:49:33
Okay Dave, you replied in a rational manner and genuinely seem to want to have an honest discussion on this.   You've asked a lot of questions, but here goes.

Ristolainen - every report you read on him and most of his advanced stats paint him as a bad defenseman.   There's a reason Buffalo has been trying to trade him for 6 months and haven't been able to.

Sabotka - Is worthless to the Jets.   He's 32 and we have at least 4 centers better than him and 5 wingers (without Laine) better than him.   If he needs to be moved for cap, that is Buffalo's problem not Winnipeg's.   A 32 year old upcoming UFA has no business being in a deal for a 21 year old elite winger.

Faulk - is an upcoming UFA and is not very good defensively.   As an upcoming UFA, he holds no value to the Jets in a Laine trade.

Necas and Middlestadt - are only one year younger than Laine and have shown nothing to give any indication that they can even match Laine's worst, injury plagued year.

So, you're asking the Jets to trade Laine, a proven 30 goal scorer, even in his worst, injury plagued season, with 40 goal or more potential, who they have absolutely no intention of trading, for players they don't need and players that need to improve by leaps and bounds to even come close to Laine's worst season.  

In other words you want the Jets to assume all the risk that these players will reach their maximum potential in the next few years and that Laine at 21 its a finished product and will never improve.   Even though at this stage Laine is light years ahead of the 2 prospects in your trade.

This season will likely be a wait and see season for the Jets.   Winnipeg was the second or third youngest teamlast season and plan on getting even younger this season.

20 Sep 2019 18:08:14
@Marcus I appreciate where you're coming from, Laine went 2nd overall and would have been #1 if Matthews wasn't in that draft class. His value hasn't decreased at all in my opinion, but there comes a point when management has to assess if he is worth negotiating his contract demands and if his persona will affect locker room chemistry as this contract negotiation goes on.

His trade value is high but a trade scenario involving Laine won't net what he's 'worth' because the other 30 teams are considering what it will cost to sign him and determining if they can make it work with their present and future cap. That being said, Winnipeg holds his rights and could easily let him sit in Europe til he comes back to planet Earth with his contract expectation.

In Ristolainen and Faulk there are defensive deficiencies however, they naturally slot into Winnipegs top 4 on the right where after Byfuglien there is no other top4 candidate on the current roster. If the Jets are working on another push for Stanley, the RHD is a present need and their best trade chip is Laine.

If Faulk is involved in the trade, we have to consider that he would be waiving his NMC to be traded to the Jets and likely with a contract offer on the table once he's acquired, thereby making him a RHD of 'value' because I didn't position this trade as one where the Jets don't try and resign him after the season.

If Ristolainen is involved, he comes with defensive lapses but is a younger option that will further develop under the jets coaching staff and will look more promising at 26/ 27 when most defensemen hit their peak development. Mind you, the reason they've been shopping him for the last 6 months has nothing to do with his development, its a positional strength of the Sabres thanks to the Miller signing and the Montour trade. Risto is now their best trade chip as much as Faulk is Carolinas best trade chip. Either player would get top 4 minutes and contribute as a top 4 defenseman on the Jets or any other organization, but they're relegated to less as their current team holds lots of RHD talent.

20 Sep 2019 18:42:39
@Dave, I understand what you're saying, but you're starting from a wrong assumption.

Right now, the only facts we have is that the Jets have said they have no intention of trading Laine and Laine has said he wants to stay in Winnipeg. The Jets aren't pressed for cap (even less so if Buf retires) and don't have to worry about contract rights for 4 years with Laine. Laine's agent also said recently that they do not intend on letting this drag into the season and want to have the contract settled before then.

Risto and Faulk may very well help, but trading a 21 year old that was the 3rd best teen goal scorer in hockey history for them would be very short sighted. Players like Risto and Faulk can be acquired for much less. They just don't hold anywhere close to that value. Guys on this site might do it, but they are all very biased, don't know the Jets lineup at all and are heavily influenced by recency bias and hatred toward the Jets.

You can say "but they're top 4D, just what the Jets asked for". However, you also have to acknowledge the Jets didn't say any top 4D would do. They want young team controlled players in any trade they consider. As I said the Jets plans are to become even younger as a team, so those players hold no interest unless they come at a bargain basement price.

It comes down to this: no one can make the Jets trade Laine and they're under no pressure to move him. So, if you want him you have to offer at least equal value and even then the Jets likely turn it down unless the trade makes us better as a team.

20 Sep 2019 20:29:36
I love that Myers is a bad defenseman now, bahaha!

21 Sep 2019 02:26:34
Massive Over payment on both.

21 Sep 2019 14:23:56
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: It is believed that Dustin Byfuglien‘s ankle hasn’t healed as much as they had hoped. The Winnipeg Jets would have traded Jacob Trouba anyways, but they would have planned differently with regards to Byfuglien. There will be trade rumors involving Justin Faulk and Rasmus Ristolainen.

The Jets were interested in Ben Hutton but had to wait and the Los Angeles Kings were ready to sign him.

Trading Patrik Laine for a defenseman would be a hard trade for the Jets to win. Laine will be looking for more than $6 million on any two-three year deal.