Patrik Laine butting heads with Jets leadership.

Rift between Laine and the leaders on his team.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Patrik Laine butting heads with Jets leadership.
Dom Gagne/CSM/Zuma

The Winnipeg Jets may be wadding into familiar territory.

For some time now there have been rumblings of potential dysfunction within the Jets organization, specifically as it pertains to the status of start forward Patrik Laine. There have been rumors that Laine is not happy in Winnipeg for several months now, and although they remain nothing but rumors at this time there has been plenty of smoke around this rumor in particular. It could have been brushed off initially as merely a reaction to the poor season that Patrik Laine had, but the fact that these rumors have persisted well into the offseason has dispelled that notion.

In a recent episode of the 31 Thoughts Podcast, Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman touched on the rumors surrounding Laine. To be blunt Friedman made things sound considerably worse than the rumors would have suggested, with the insider suggesting that there may be a significant rift between the star forward and the leadership figures within the Winnipeg Jets organization.

"Well Laine is a whole big discussion, because he is the one guy who seems to want a short bridge of all these guys. He didn't leave happy last year. Some of that was his own fault, he wasn't as good as he can be, and I think he chaffed under some of the leadership there. The guys at the top of that food chain are hard driving guys, they expect you to buy into the program. I think that they felt he did not buy in enough and I think he felt that some of the things that they wanted were ridiculous, so you gotta bridge that too."

 Laine has been linked to potential offer sheets this summer but this late into the process it seems unlikely that any such offers would be forthcoming. In spite of that the Finnish star remains a restricted free agent in need of a new contract, and you have to wonder if the potential rift between himself and his team could cloud those negotiations. Friedman's comments would suggest that there are fences in need of mending, but the Winnipeg Jets leadership has clashed with a star player in the past and the result was not mended fences. 

I am of course referring to former Jets star forward Evander Kane, a player who was effectively ousted from the team for refusing to buy in with his teammates. Kane reportedly clashed with Stanley Cup Champion and locker room leader Dustin Byfuglien during his time with the Jets, and you have to wonder if the young Laine is facing a similar struggle.

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