Canadiens Trade Rumors: 4 Teams Listed As Patrik Laine Landing Spots

Montréal Canadiens forward Patrick Laine

We're still two weeks away from NHL rosters being taken out of the deep freeze, but that doesn't mean that teams aren't having conversations. Trade talks will be rampant during this two-week Olympic break, and one of the names expected to take up the most oxygen is Montreal Canadiens' veteran forward Patrik Laine.

Since Laine went down to core muscle surgery in late October, a lot has changed with the Habs' lineup, and the veteran would seem to be on the outside looking in at a pretty set forward group.

A pending unrestricted free agent, the Canadiens are willing to retain 50% on his $8.7 million cap hit for the rest of the year in order to move him.

Eric Engels of Sportsnet went so far as to report, "If the 27-year-old Finn sees any post-Olympics action, we expect it to be for someone other than the Canadiens."

With that, Habs insider Marco D'Amico lists four potential landing spots for Laine, with some seemingly more likely than others.

Let's go in order of the teams that make the most sense:

Carolina Hurricanes

The Canes are projected by our friends at PuckPedia to have over $40 million in cap space at the deadline, plenty of room to make more than one big addition. They continue to look for an offensive upgrade, and Laine, if healthy, can be a consistent 20-goal scorer. You can bet that two of his best friends, Sebastian Aho and Nikolaj Ehlers (as D'Amico points out), would vouch for him.

Seattle Kraken

Stop us if you've heard this one before: The Kraken are looking for offense. We know that they made a massive offer (financially) to try to land Artemi Panarin from the NY Rangers, but fell short. Certainly, Laine is no Panarin, but he'd bring some additional scoring power to their forward group.

LA Kings

It was the Kings, of course, that beat the Kraken to the punch on Panarin. LA desperately needed an offensive boost, and Panarin is a huge add, so maybe they're happy with that. On the other hand, sitting 30th in the NHL in goals per game, they likely need more. And considering the minimal return they had to give the Rangers, there's more in the cupboard to spend on another trade addition.

Calgary Flames

This one makes the least sense. Yes, as D'Amico points out, the Flames just gained $10.5 million in cap space with Jonathan Huberdeau going down for the rest of the season, but does this sound like a team that's looking to buy at this point? They've already sold off Rasmus Andersson, with Nazem Kadri and potentially a couple of other big names not far behind.