Patrik Laine joins SC Bern as contract holdout begins.

Laine preparing for a long holdout.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Patrik Laine joins SC Bern as contract holdout begins.
Dom Gagne/CSM/Zuma

It appears as though the Winnipeg Jets may have a very tough battle ahead of them. 

It was Marc-André Berset of RTS Sport that was first on the story, although he initially reported it merely as an unconfirmed rumor, but it now appears as though Winnipeg Jets star forward Patrik Laine is headed to Switzerland where he will begin training camp with SC Bern of the National League, the top tier of Swiss Hockey. Although there is no doubt a genuine desire from Laine here to get back on the ice and resume playing the game that he has played his entire life, this is also clearly very much a negotiating tactic designed to apply pressure to the Winnipeg Jets who thus far have not come to terms with Laine on a new contract.

Laine of course is a restricted free agent and has very little negotiating power at this stage other than to hold himself out of training camp and potentially even out of regular season games should the holdout continue. The Jets however, and more specifically their general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, have plenty of experience with this type of negotiation and it seems unlikely that they will be phased by Laine's absence during training camp. Fans of the Jets don't have to go too far back into their memory banks to remember the last time the Jets experienced such a holdout, as former Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba engaged in a similar tactic back in 2016, eventually signing at the last minute on November 7th, well into the regular season. 

This does however appear to continue an escalation on tensions between Laine and the Jets organization, or at least that is how it appears to those of us on the outside looking in. All was not well with Laine last season and it was readily apparent to even the most casual on onlookers. Laine only added fuel to the fire in April when he spoke to Sportsnet insider Chris Johnston regarding his contract situation, indicating that he felt his future in Winnipeg was uncertain.

"Well you never know. It's still business you've got to be prepared for anything," said Laine during an interview with Johnston.

Comments made by Laine over the summer during Finnish interviews have only produced similar comments and this latest move to join SC Bern certainly won't help that public perception. At the end of the day Laine signing a new deal with the Jets remains the most probable outcome, but of all the RFAs with the potential to move Laine may be at the top of the list.

Source: