You just agreed with me that he needs a playmaker and is unable to generate his own offence.

Let's do a critical thinking exercise.

Laine is a franchise player because....... Please fill that in. I am genuinely interested to hear this nonsense.
- TheUltimateJet

In addition if I have to get a first line Center to play with Laine to get him going, it's going to cost the Jets 18 million minimum. That is due to us having to pay that Center market rates.

You just agreed with me that he needs a playmaker and is unable to generate his own offence.

Let's do a critical thinking exercise.

Laine is a franchise player because....... Please fill that in. I am genuinely interested to hear this nonsense.
- TheUltimateJet

Because in the last 3-years he has scored more goals than 99% of the league & he’s done that before the age of 22. Welcome to the new age of salaries, 9mil does not mean you’re a franchise player. Btw, KC doesn’t create or drive play either lol. Clearly you have reading comprehension issues & you’re no longer worth the time having a conversation with because you just think you know everything, yet all of your trade proposals give the impression you’re on meth. Peace.

Because in the last 3-years he has scored more goals than 99% of the league & he’s done that before the age of 22. Welcome to the new age of salaries, 9mil does not mean you’re a franchise player. Btw, KC doesn’t create or drive play either lol. Clearly you have reading comprehension issues & you’re no longer worth the time having a conversation with because you just think you know everything, yet all of your trade proposals give the impression you’re on meth. Peace.
- foxbat

The fact that you cannot complete the sentence that Laine is a franchise player because...... And choose to hurl insults at me instead shows more about your character than anything else.

Enjoy cyber bullying.

How is that an overpay? Would you honestly say that Lowry, Ehlers and a first is worth more than Mark Scheifele? Ehlers not Lowry have ever averaged a ppg or have the ability to carry their own lines. Something that Aho does.

The Jets should have offered him the offer sheet!
- TheUltimateJet

Ehlers is a top line forward signed for cheap. He would easily average a point per game with a real centre, and both Lowry and Ehlers have been carrying lines for the last 3 years.

Aho is definitely the best player of these 3, but he isn’t worth both combined, let alone an added first.

I have my wishes as well but these cases were more about being a poor judge of talent. No team bit on Enstrom , and Postma and Dano were total busts. Tanev got a huge contract upgrade and Myers also got a pay upgrade. Ultimately, results speak for themselves.
- jetsnation

Multiple teams bit on Enstrom. This is widely reported, and can be put to bed. Try again.

Connor, Marmer and Aho have all been in media reports as being potential players to offer sheet, mostly due to teams cap situations. How come Laine being on the same team as Connor not been Ina my reports?
- TheUltimateJet

And what about all the rest? How come?

Furthermore, Laine finished behind Scheifle and Connor in goals last season. It boggles my mind that people on this board look at last season as being an aberration when in reality it's exactly what Laine is.
- TheUltimateJet

It’s not what he is, are you f**kin drunk? Players don’t just stop scoring at 20. That’s not how that works. It’s not even like he was lucky, as his shot quality, volume, and accuracy went up in his second season.
Last season was an aberration. The continued decline of Little, the drop in play for the entire team, and bad luck lead to Laine’s disastrous 30 GOAL SEASON.

Combine all this with the fact that Laine was an elite tier player before last season, and Jimmy Carson is an easily diagnosed case of injuries derailing a guy who, if you do the research, was actually a fairly consistent 30-35 goal threat for the remainder of his prime... and you get a player who will easily bounce back to 40-50 goals if you actually play him with someone that isn’t a low end 3C

The fact that you cannot complete the sentence that Laine is a franchise player because...... And choose to hurl insults at me instead shows more about your character than anything else.

Enjoy cyber bullying.
- TheUltimateJet

Dude, you are the exact definition of a hypocrite.

And what about all the rest? How come?
- Ross77

I would answer this question Ross, but after being berated for simply talking hockey and being personally insulted it’s turned me off. I was planning on taking a couple of months off after free agency day anyway.

I enjoyed the hockey talk this past season. I will see you all in September when camp opens up.

Cheers,

UltimateJet

You just agreed with me that he needs a playmaker and is unable to generate his own offence.

Let's do a critical thinking exercise.

Laine is a franchise player because....... Please fill that in. I am genuinely interested to hear this nonsense.
- TheUltimateJet

Oh my god, that makes no sense.

Should we have played Scheifele with Tanev and Lemieux/Hendricks for all of last season? If Scheifele is so good, he would be fine, no?
Should the Capitals be feeding Ovechkin a steady diet of Chandler Stephenson and Dmitrij Jaskin? He’s the best sniper of all time, so surely that wouldn’t affect his performance.

You have a very young, still developing player with an insanely lethal set of skills. So rather than putting him with someone that can cover his weaknesses, and help get the most out of that skill set, you let him drown with a centre that shares all the same weaknesses and is steadily getting worse? The point of giving Laine a Scheifele is not to cover for him because he’s bad, it’s to get the most out of everything he already offers while giving him a safety blanket to work on what isn’t as good. So, you can take 30 goals and bad defence with Little to prove a point, or 50 goals and average defence with Scheifele because you’re not an idiot

Hey Jetsnation, I am sad losing Myers. I now need a new Jets jersey. Who would suggest I put on the next one?
- TheUltimateJet

Ultimate. If you want to support the up and coming then it would be Niku or Vesalainen. If you want someone that is solid and current then Morrissey is a good choice. If you want the guys who will be stars in the not too distant future then Connor or Roslovic would be the obvious choices.

As for the Laine argument, I personally am not of the belief that Laine is the next Carson/Heatley. However, if I were any GM I would also not gamble signing him to some long term deal north of $8.5 MM until he proves himself through a bridge deal for a few years. I'd rather pay a few million more later in a few years for an elite athlete who has proven he can play the game at a high level consistently rather than be stuck with a devastatingly bad long term contract that could hurt the Jets for many years to come.

Oh my god, that makes no sense.

Should we have played Scheifele with Tanev and Lemieux/Hendricks for all of last season? If Scheifele is so good, he would be fine, no?
Should the Capitals be feeding Ovechkin a steady diet of Chandler Stephenson and Dmitrij Jaskin? He’s the best sniper of all time, so surely that wouldn’t affect his performance.

You have a very young, still developing player with an insanely lethal set of skills. So rather than putting him with someone that can cover his weaknesses, and help get the most out of that skill set, you let him drown with a centre that shares all the same weaknesses and is steadily getting worse? The point of giving Laine a Scheifele is not to cover for him because he’s bad, it’s to get the most out of everything he already offers while giving him a safety blanket to work on what isn’t as good. So, you can take 30 goals and bad defence with Little to prove a point, or 50 goals and average defence with Scheifele because you’re not an idiot
- Rexypoo

—————-
I don’t think Laine is a finished product as yet, there is a lot of potential if he gets serious and continues to work on all other aspects of his game, like he apparently has with his shot... to this point we just don’t know how that will turn out... only if you could talk with him and see if he has fire in his eyes and heart do you know where that will lead...

If you have ever worked in Human Resources you know the best predictor of the future is looking at the past...what you have done, tells me what you can do... if you look at Laine’s stats the first 3 years, he has consistently filled the net each year at 30+ goal and 60+ point pace. Which for any player in this day in age of defensive hockey is fantastic. So that is worthy of noting that chances are as he hits his prime those numbers should only increase. With a solid centre and wing you could easily expect that Laine would easily reach those averages and potentially build on those numbers. Is that enough, maybe?

However, a closer look at those numbers shows that since the beginning his goals come 40% of the time on the PowerPlay and in the last 2 years, the PP is responsible for 47% of his goals.

37% of his points have come on the PP and in the last 2 years that has risen to 45%. Again I am not saying having a PP specialist is bad, but his overall power play points come from all the deadly skill that plays together on that unit.

Now aside from that what positives does Laine bring to the table? He does not drive play, Laine had a 45.2% Corsi, the ‘worst’ rating on the Jets team(FYI of the top 10 Jets with the highest Corsi last year, 7 of them no longer are on the team). As for plus minus (+/-), Laine came in dead last again with an astounding -24!
As for ice time, from the forward aspect, aside from the number 1 line of (Scheifele, Wheeler, Conner), Laine had the 4th most ice time. So he had plenty of time to fill the net. Shorthanded he barely saw the ice finishing 20th. On the PowerPlay, Laine had 3rd most time of all players and less than 8 min difference than number 1 man Scheifele).

So if I was to sum up my thoughts 💭.... Currently Laine is nothing more than what we all know right now, that he is a one trick pony. He has a laser beam shot, that fits in great on the PowerPlay beside the other skilled guys.
So until he proves to me, that he can drive play or score 5v5, play solid defence, or learn to kill penalties... that is all he is. Best to sign him to a bridge deal and make him prove to everyone (and himself) that he can be more than the guy with great shot on the PP and more of the ‘next Finnish 🇫🇮 Flash’!

- Tommycasino

—————-
I don’t think Laine is a finished product as yet, there is a lot of potential if he gets serious and continues to work on all other aspects of his game, like he apparently has with his shot... to this point we just don’t know how that will turn out... only if you could talk with him and see if he has fire in his eyes and heart do you know where that will lead...

If you have ever worked in Human Resources you know the best predictor of the future is looking at the past...what you have done, tells me what you can do... if you look at Laine’s stats the first 3 years, he has consistently filled the net each year at 30+ goal and 60+ point pace. Which for any player in this day in age of defensive hockey is fantastic. So that is worthy of noting that chances are as he hits his prime those numbers should only increase. With a solid centre and wing you could easily expect that Laine would easily reach those averages and potentially build on those numbers. Is that enough, maybe?

However, a closer look at those numbers shows that since the beginning his goals come 40% of the time on the PowerPlay and in the last 2 years, the PP is responsible for 47% of his goals.

37% of his points have come on the PP and in the last 2 years that has risen to 45%. Again I am not saying having a PP specialist is bad, but his overall power play points come from all the deadly skill that plays together on that unit.

Now aside from that what positives does Laine bring to the table? He does not drive play, Laine had a 45.2% Corsi, the ‘worst’ rating on the Jets team(FYI of the top 10 Jets with the highest Corsi last year, 7 of them no longer are on the team). As for plus minus (+/-), Laine came in dead last again with an astounding -24!
As for ice time, from the forward aspect, aside from the number 1 line of (Scheifele, Wheeler, Conner), Laine had the 4th most ice time. So he had plenty of time to fill the net. Shorthanded he barely saw the ice finishing 20th. On the PowerPlay, Laine had 3rd most time of all players and less than 8 min difference than number 1 man Scheifele).

So if I was to sum up my thoughts 💭.... Currently Laine is nothing more than what we all know right now, that he is a one trick pony. He has a laser beam shot, that fits in great on the PowerPlay beside the other skilled guys.
So until he proves to me, that he can drive play or score 5v5, play solid defence, or learn to kill penalties... that is all he is. Best to sign him to a bridge deal and make him prove to everyone (and himself) that he can be more than the guy with great shot on the PP and more of the ‘next Finnish 🇫🇮 Flash’!

- Tommycasino
- Tommycasino

So ideally, IMO, both Connor and Laine are offer-sheeted.

Connor at 7 yrs x $7m, Laine at 5 yrs x 10.569M (you know, the some say the generational player).
We match Connor and let Laine go and take the 4 first round draft choices for someone who has no desire to battle, perimiter player, no sense of urgency - none! Yes, Laine could score 50 goals some day - and be the first 50-50 player in the NHL - 50 goals, and -50 plus/minus.

Then we trade two/three first round draft choices+ to a team that's in rebuild for a 2nd line C and a big 3-4 pairing "d". Then we are back in business and the Jets are maybe the Jets once more. Big, fast - and compete!

Ultimate. If you want to support the up and coming then it would be Niku or Vesalainen. If you want someone that is solid and current then Morrissey is a good choice. If you want the guys who will be stars in the not too distant future then Connor or Roslovic would be the obvious choices.

As for the Laine argument, I personally am not of the belief that Laine is the next Carson/Heatley. However, if I were any GM I would also not gamble signing him to some long term deal north of $8.5 MM until he proves himself through a bridge deal for a few years. I'd rather pay a few million more later in a few years for an elite athlete who has proven he can play the game at a high level consistently rather than be stuck with a devastatingly bad long term contract that could hurt the Jets for many years to come.
- jetsnation

Heatley was a point per game player for 10 years, and a steady threat until he was 32. I’ll take it. And the back to back 50 goal seasons

So ideally, IMO, both Connor and Laine are offer-sheeted.

Connor at 7 yrs x $7m, Laine at 5 yrs x 10.569M (you know, the some say the generational player).
We match Connor and let Laine go and take the 4 first round draft choices for someone who has no desire to battle, perimiter player, no sense of urgency - none! Yes, Laine could score 50 goals some day - and be the first 50-50 player in the NHL - 50 goals, and -50 plus/minus.

Then we trade two/three first round draft choices+ to a team that's in rebuild for a 2nd line C and a big 3-4 pairing "d". Then we are back in business and the Jets are maybe the Jets once more. Big, fast - and compete!
- grahamzky

Laine carried the top line for the last 20 games of the season, and was the most consistent threat in the playoffs. Your criticisms of Laine are honestly more applicable to Wheeler last season

Heatley was a point per game player for 10 years, and a steady threat until he was 32. I’ll take it. And the back to back 50 goal seasons
- Rexypoo

PTO Heater if Laine holds out! I like the creative thinking Rexy.

Question for you guys...I understand that Tanev's career production doesn't warrant 3.5 mil/season. But, has he truly improved his all around game that much every year? And, is he as fast as I'm hearing? (Which is said to be very high end)

Thanks all.

Question for you guys...I understand that Tanev's career production doesn't warrant 3.5 mil/season. But, has he truly improved his all around game that much every year? And, is he as fast as I'm hearing? (Which is said to be very high end)

Thanks all.
- cranktheradio

He has improved slightly overall, yes he is fast and yes, he will be your hardest worker who hits anything that moves.

he is a solid 4th liner. he needs to be with good defensive players because his defensive skills are over rated as is his pk skills

I wanted the jets to let him walk because to me he is replaceable with a guy making a million, the 6 year term, blew me away

Question for you guys...I understand that Tanev's career production doesn't warrant 3.5 mil/season. But, has he truly improved his all around game that much every year? And, is he as fast as I'm hearing? (Which is said to be very high end)

Thanks all.
- cranktheradio

I think you will find he's a fan favorite, will be your hardest working player. Faster than lightning, blocks shots, creates scoring chances, maybe not the best hands but you have many players that do on team.
Will be missed by the Jets, but guess the $$$ and especially the term couldn't be matched by Jets unfortunately. Problem may be keeping him healthy.
Just my take.

PTO Heater if Laine holds out! I like the creative thinking Rexy.
- Byfuglien Ate Me

That’s not... I didn’t... yeah, sure, f**k it. PTO the Heatdaddy

Question for you guys...I understand that Tanev's career production doesn't warrant 3.5 mil/season. But, has he truly improved his all around game that much every year? And, is he as fast as I'm hearing? (Which is said to be very high end)

Thanks all.
- cranktheradio

He has improved dramatically since his first season, and deserves all the credit for it. Having said that, he’s a base level 4th liner.

Solid defensive play at 5v5, lacks any noticeable PK ability. You’ll love his high slot barrel rolls.
Offensively? Black hole. Plays go to his stick when they want to die.

He’s also fast as balls, hits everything, and is genuinely fun to watch in a protected, limited role

IMHO this is all pretty straightforward -

* there is a cap of $81.5M
* I want to keep both Laine & Connor
* Ehlers is on a reasonable contract - less than if we had to go get him in open market
* I'm keenly interested in keeping Lowry - especially at $2.9M
* I will not overpay for any UFA's whether they were mine to begin with (Myers, Tanev) or from the market (name any of them - ok, Duchene)
* I'm gonna have to pay market rates for new contracts but i'm gonna really work hard not to give too much term

Under these conditions, Myers and Tanev walk and that's tough luck - - I'm gonna wait for the bidding to settle then go in and sign my RFA's - - I will look for value in the open market to incrementally improve my roster

AND - - I'm going to stick to my strategy of draft'n'develop and bring my new talent up to play

Peter Tessier: Bargain Shopping on UFA day for the Winnipeg Jets
A UFA day primer on the budget conscious Jets and what they might do today.
- Peter.Tessier

Had to be done. Cant have Buff/Trouba/Meyers all comping for RD icetime while earning 22M collectively. Pionk will be a solid 2RD.

And HUGE congratulations to Tanev. Just you and Crosby are signed through till 2025. From a 21 year old, BCHL 3rd liner with an 11 goal season, to a 21M contract is an unreal feat. Don't think any fan blames you for taking the money and running. You were the hardest skating,shot blocking, hitting, coner grinding, pk specialist. Thanks for your time here, and good luck in Pitts.

That’s not... I didn’t... yeah, sure, f**k it. PTO the Heatdaddy
- Rexypoo

Couple things,

Ultimate, sorry there are now reports multiple teams considering offer whetting Laine

Here’s an interesting thought not out of the realm of possible.
If a team offer sheets Connor (I’d prefer Connor not Laine!!) for anything over 8.5, that would be 2-firsts a 2nd and a 3rd in compensation. We could take the picks and use the money for Connor to sign Gardiner (I’m not a huge fan but absolutely believe he is better than Myers) plus if we were offered Gardiner, 2 firsts, a 2nd and 3rd for Connor who’d say no?