Major character concerns emerge for Patrik Laine after reporter shares veterans demanded he get traded

Earlier this week, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens brokered a blockbuster trade sending Finnish winger Patrik Laine to Quebec along with a second-round pick in exchange for Jordan Harris, a young NHL defenseman.

Following the trade, top Columbus Blue Jackets reporter Aaron Portzline dropped some major news pertaining to Laine claiming that a few years ago, the Blue Jackets leadership group at the time (Cam Atkinson, Seth Jones, Gustav Nyquist, and Zach Werenski) had told management that they needed to get rid of both Laine and goaltender Elvis Merzlikins.

Instead of this, the Blue Jackets decided to get rid of most of that group trading Atkinson to Philadelphia, Nyquist to Minnesota, and Jones to Chicago. They did keep Werenski but he is one of the highest-paid defensemen in the NHL and likely would have been a bit cheaper if there was more locker-room chemistry.

Now, Laine is in Montreal after requesting a trade away from Columbus and will look to have a fresh start with the Canadiens and return to his original self where he was scoring 40 goals a year consistently.

Laine, originally drafted in 2016 2nd overall by the Winnipeg Jets, instantly made an impact at the NHL level. In his rookie year with the Jets as an 18-year-old Laine scored 36 goals and 64 points in 73 games. Then he followed this up with a superb sophomore season where he scored 44 goals and 70 points. Of his 44 goals, 20 of them came on the powerplay that year.

Then a few seasons later, at the start of the 2020-21 season, Laine was packaged with Jack Roslovic by Winnipeg to Columbus in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois and a 2022 third-round pick. During his first year with Columbus, Laine struggled scoring only 21 points in 45 games. However, Laine bounced back in his next two seasons with Columbus scoring 108 points in 111 total games, 48 of which were goals. The next year Laine entered the Player Assistance Program and only played 18 games. That takes us to this offseason where the Blue Jackets got rid of Laine at his request.

Source for Patrik Laine's statistics: Hockey Reference
Patrik Laine's profile