Patrik Laine trade talks have suddenly cooled…

The Winnipeg Jets have been looking to trade forward Patrik Laine for a while now, and things were looking up when the Philadelphia Flyers became the frontrunner to land his services. 

However, TSN’s Frank Seravalli has reported that things have cooled between the two teams for now. The Jets are said to be seeking a defenseman in a package of returns for Laine, but Seravalli does not believe that Matt Niskanen’s recent retirement has anything to do with the reason why the talks have cooled…

“Though it did involve a defenseman going to WPG, the Niskanen retirement is a nonfactor in PHI’s ability to revisit a potential Laine deal. Will they? We’ll see.”

This is quite the busy offseason for the Jets, who have a total of 10 players on their NHL roster that are pending unrestricted free agents and four restricted free agents, with only $14-million in cap space.

Laine, who is set to become a restricted free agent next summer, is going to ask for a hefty pay raise, way more than the two-year, $13.5 million deal he signed before this season, and will only leave his current team wanting more cap space to fill out the roster. A trade makes sense. 

But will it take place? 

The Jets could end up on the winning end of a Laine trade, seeing that they do need fill holes down the middle of their lineup at center and on defense. 

In his fourth season in the NHL, Laine recorded 28 goals and a career-high 35 assists for 63 points in 68 games . We all expected him to be a coveted player on the trade block, however, for now, things have cooled…