21 Oct 2020 15:59:23
Laine has been spotted working out with Barkov in Finland. Doesn’t mean much on its own, but Panthers are apparently a team in on Laine.

With Hoffman and Dadanov leaving in Free Agency they have the money and need for a scorin winger.

FLA - Laine

WPG - RHD Mackenzie Weegar
C/ W Owen Tippett
2021 1st Rd Pick
2022 2nd Rd pick

Weegar is a good 2 way Dman that can play right away, won’t be expensive. Tippett has a ton of potential and can be the long term solution to the 2nd line centre hole when Statsny leaves again.

21 Oct 2020 16:09:50
Laine is a serious talent. An offer like this gets you nothing but dial tone.

21 Oct 2020 16:15:52
I can see the Jets maybe having an interest in Weegar, but at 26 and just okay and listed as an LD, not likely for Laine. Tippet is meh. He's only a year younger than Laine and has done nothing.

If this was the best offer out there, I think Chevy just keeps Laine and looks around again next summer if need be.

21 Oct 2020 17:32:02
Florida might be better waiting to see if they can offer sheet him next year.

They're under orders to save the owner money though, from the last I heard.

21 Oct 2020 17:58:07
Stop with the second pairing d-men, 3rd line forwards and future picks for Laine. Chevy wants a top line forward, or a top pairing d-man back for Laine. The Jets won't be trading Laine for a quantity of easily replaced players.

21 Oct 2020 18:03:34
Yeah, the old offer sheet gag. There's a couple problems with it though, besides offer sheets almost never being used.

1. If Laine wants out of Winnipeg, he won't sign one and risk Winnipeg matching.

2. Winnipeg matches anything that isn't in the 4 firsts compensation range.

It would likely just be cheaper, asset wise, to try and negotiate a fair trade.

21 Oct 2020 20:56:45
Not an old gag, offer sheet him 8mil, 1 year. He'll still be rfa after and will need 8mil qualifying offer to stay rfa. If wpg wants to pay, they can.

I don't believe laine wants out of the peg, just wants to play with the best centre on his team.

21 Oct 2020 21:53:07
So you're saying a pointless market value offer sheet that would be matched? What would you be accomplishing?

If Laine will sign at $8 mil the Jets will gladly sign him long term.

21 Oct 2020 22:20:12
You do what Calgary did to the Avalanche for O’Reillys offer sheet.

They gave him a 2yr $10M. A $5M AAV which was fine, Avs matched. But CAL staggered the salary at $3.5 and $6.5M. So the Qualifying offer, is based on the final year, was going to be near $7M afterwards. As soon as O’Reilly signed that he probably knew he wasn’t going to be in Colorado long term. .

So you sign Laine for 2yrs $17M ($8.5M cap hit) it’s still within the limit to only give up a 1st, 2nd and 3rd but you make the salary $6.5 in year 1 and $10.5M in year 2. (Or some other combo) . That then forces his QO to be in the $11M range after and puts Jets in a tougher spot than just matching 1 yr @ $8M.

21 Oct 2020 23:01:32
Except that Laine would be UFA after the second season anyways, so there is no QO.

So the offering team would be either signing Laine to a market value contract for the Jets for 2 years, or screwing themselves by giving up some good picks by only having Laine for 2 years and walking him to UFA.

22 Oct 2020 13:23:00
They would be making it a 2 year contract for Laine to sign and they would get Laine for a 1st 2nd and 3rd. OR Jets match and that allows Laine to walk right into UFA which the jets would not want, you always want to buy up some UFA years.

It would also mean that after they match it, they’re not allowed to trade him for 1 calendar year from that date, so they would only be able to trade him with 1 year of team control instead of 2-3 like they have now and next off season.

1 year of team control vs 2-3 years definitely affects the return you will get for him, so YES doing what I suggested puts the Jets in a tougher spot than they otherwise would be.

22 Oct 2020 18:59:41
Other than it being stupid for the offering team to do that. Because as you said you always want to buy up some UFA years, but this offer sheet has the offering team give up a 1st, 2nd and 3rd, getting Laine for two years and then letting him walk as a UFA. Not many teams are going to give up those picks, pay a good salary and them have nothing to show for it in two years. I don't think you would find one team that would do something so futile.

So I guess, if Chiarelli becomes a GM again, or you find some other brain dead GM, this might have a 1 in one million shot of happening. But outside of that, probably not.

However, continue to fantasize about an offer sheet, we all know how common they are. I mean look how many offer sheets Tampa had faced this hear with the situation they're in.

22 Oct 2020 21:54:48
I’m not fantasizing about it. Someone else mentioned an offer sheet and I’m just saying it is possible to use one to make things slightly less comfortable for the Jets

Never said I think it will happen, never said I think it should happen. But they do exist and, while not popular, Laines friend and world Junior linemate Sebastian Aho signed one last off season. So despite your certainty, it is possible.

I’ve said all along, I believe they trade him (for less than you believe he’s worth) before an offer sheet is possible next off season.