The Pro's and Con's of pursuing Laine:
Pro's as a player
Proven Goal Scorer
6' 5" RH RW
Was actually a plus player his first two years
Produced at every level coming up and made the NHL right away, and won't turn 22 until after the next regular season.
If his shooting percentage held steady to his 1st two years he would have scored well over 40 goals last year.
Even after a bad regular 2019 his playoff was 3G/1A in 6 games, pretty much his career regular season stats.
Con's as a player
Had a horrible time last year with consistency
Bad +/- last year
Will likely be expensive to sign
Shooting percentage fell off last year but number of shots on goal was the same as the previous year.
Questions on how well he plays defense but was it a one-year thing more than a trend? Lots of pure goal scorers have that reputation throughout NHL history.
On balance, it's hard to NOT want him, AS a player. Cost versus benefit is not as easy to calculate for us as for many other teams. He certainly fills a NEED, but at what cost? Will he be the next Mike Gartner? Tony McKegney? A consistent 30-goal scorer who rarely won anything? Brett Hull had that rep for awhile, so did Ovie. But finally they both won their Cups too. I don't need to remind everyone of why Mike Bossy fell to #15 in the draft.
Did his pending RFA (having witnessed the player he was compared EQUALLY to in Austin Matthews sign that monster deal) get into his head and did he start to 'squeeze the stick tighter' as the saying goes in the sport? Maybe so. That doesn't excuse sloppy defense. Paul Maurice was not exactly known for his player development at any of his NHL stops, has he? More of a high-control type like Hitchcock who doesn't always communicate very well. And he's NEVER been hired/appointed to coach a Canadian National team as head coach. I think you have to throw out some of last year in that context.
So it comes down to, 'how much do you pay him and how much do you need to trade for him'. That's the defining point more than 'do we want him playing for us?'.
Of all the proposals on this thread the one that might a) hurt the most to many of our fans and b) be the most attractive to Winnipeg, is the Pulock swap.
If Dobson shows well right away that makes this a little more attractive to consider. As a HOCKEY TRADE. It will hurt financially THIS YEAR but Pulock, if he continues his ascendancy to #1 RD, will cost probably at least $6 million per year, starting in 2020-21, and that might be low-balling it. And having Boychuck take up a LOT of cap space on the defense to be pretty much the 2nd/3rd liner that will likely not play all the games has to be factored in.
Of course, we have no idea what Winnipeg is asking anyhow. But if you are committed to Pulock as your #1 then Dobson SHOULD be looked at as a big time chip since he hasn't proven anything yet. If this was Laine for Dobson and Bailey (who also becomes expendable now that Eberle is also signed for a RW) you now cut $5 million out of our cap hit, depending on any other pieces.
It's not impossible to craft a deal but how much do you sign him for? The last few signings (today's Werenski deal was even more eye-opening than Gardner) have shown a trend down and maybe if we can do a similar thing where he gets 3 years and something like $7-8 million per while he's gaining flexibility in the future? I think you HAVE TO DO THIS if the cost is Bailey and Dobson.
So, that's my two cents.