Laine turns down latest offer from the Jets

​They’re getting close, but a considerable gap remains…

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Laine turns down latest offer from the Jets
Zuma Press

When Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk finally put ink to paper on Wednesday on a three-year, $21 million deal, we imagined the dominos falling all the way through and getting the last three remaining unsigned restricted free agents (Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, and Mikko Rantanen) under contract… 

Well, not so fast. 

On Wednesday night’s edition of Insider Trading on TSN, Pierre LeBrun revealed that the Winnipeg Jets recently made another offer to Laine, however, the star forward was looking for more.

“There have been discussions this week. Both between Patrik Laine and his camp and the Winnipeg Jets, and Mikko Rantanen and his camp and the Colorado Avalanche. So that is the positive. The negative is they haven’t closed the gap just yet. I believe the Jets recently offered a two-year deal, yes, a two-year bridge deal at around $6 million a year. My sense is that the Laine camp led by Mike Liut would rather be north of $7 million a year on a two-year bridge. So, still a gap right there.”

For now, Laine keeps skating alongside Rantanen with Switzerland’s SC Bern as he awaits a new contract. However as Lebrun pointed out, there is some positive that this could get done before the start of the season in less than a week. 

The Jets suspended defenseman Dustin Byfuglien for cap purposes last week, leaving the team with $23 million in cap space – with Byfuglien’s $7.6 million hit not counting against the cap –with Laine and Kyle Connor still in need of new deals.

LeBrun’s colleague Bob McKenzie added on the segment that the Jets might be coming close to an agreement with Connor as well. 

“And Kyle Connor continues his discussion with the Winnipeg Jets. Right now, they are probably looking at a six-year term. That’s suitable for both sides, but they’ve obviously not been able to agree on the money just yet. As of right now, not close is the word with negotiations between Kyle Connor and the Winnipeg Jets. Connor, as we mentioned the other day, might consider a four-year deal, much like Timmo Meier’s deal with the San Jose Sharks. But there doesn’t seem to be a strong appetite from Winnipeg’s side to go at the four-year deal. So, we’ll see if they can consummate that six-year marriage.”

Let’s see if the Jets can hit two homers in a row before the season kicks off… 

Source: TSN