New contract for Patrik Laine in Montreal: 'interest from both sides'

But what does the Canadiens think? After all, the emphasis is often on the player these days when it comes to his future. But you know what they say: it takes two to dance, so do Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton want to continue dancing with Laine, who is a prolific scoring dancer? Marco D’Amico, who was on BPM Sports yesterday, discussed the subject with FX Bénard. And according to D’Amico, who’s well connected in town, the door is clearly open.

At the moment, I don’t think it’s necessarily hyper-deep negotiations. But I think there’s definitely [interest] on both sides. But at $8.7 million, we’ll have to review the salary.

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Marco D’Amico

[content-ads]Obviously, nothing’s done yet. Just because the player wants to stay in town doesn’t mean the Canadiens are going to give him a contract. Especially not at $8.7 million a year…And that’s despite the fact that he’s healthy (it’s been a long time since he’s been this fit, to be honest) and more motivated than ever for several weeks now.

I get the feeling that the Canadiens are in no hurry to extend his contract. After all, the Finn hasn’t yet proved that he can be a good part of the club’s future, in the medium or long term. Laine, if he wants to sign right now, would have to take a huge discount. It would therefore be to everyone’s advantage to let the situation play itself out and see, during the season, how it plays out. The player could show his true worth to everyone – something we haven’t yet seen in Montreal because of his knee – and the club could decide on his importance based on what it will offer in 2025-2026.That would make more sense. [content-ads]But in reality, his future in town will also depend on the club’s organizational chart. Because if Zachary Bolduc joins Ivan Demidov, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky among the indispensable wingers in the top-6, it’ll be a game-changer for Laine. The Habs didn’t go looking for Bolduc not to give him a chance.

So it all boils down to one thing: it’s still early to make any decisions in Laine’s case. Everyone needs a little more time to make up their minds, in all likelihood. We’ll see in due course, then. [spacer title=’en rafale’]- Enjoy listening

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