{"id":448337,"date":"2026-02-06T05:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T05:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448337\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T05:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T05:32:27","slug":"nick-kypreos-reveals-how-far-the-montreal-canadiens-are-willing-to-go-to-trade-patrik-laine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448337\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Kypreos reveals how far the Montreal Canadiens are willing to go to trade Patrik Laine"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\t\t\t\t\t \"Oct <\/p>\n

Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The verdict is in for Montreal Canadiens forward Patrik Laine, and it\u2019s not the one the organization was hoping for.<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s 3 p.m. deadline, marking the roster freeze for the Olympic break, passed without any major movement.<\/p>\n

Patrik Laine is still a member of the Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\n

This radio silence is not the result of a lack of effort on Kent Hughes\u2019 part.<\/p>\n

The general manager tried to find a dance partner right up until the final minutes.<\/p>\n

The reality is rather brutal for Montreal\u2019s front office.<\/p>\n

According to the information available, the Canadiens were ready to make significant financial concessions to resolve the situation.<\/p>\n

“Montreal is looking to move out his money and might be willing to spend an asset to do that. The Canadiens are prepared to retain a good chunk (even up to 50 per cent) of his deal, considering they haven’t used any retention slots and because Laine’s contract expires at the end of the season anyway.”<\/p>\n

– Nick Kypreos<\/p>\n

Kent Hughes was unable to trade Patrik Laine, and the worst-case scenario is now confirmed for the organization<\/p>\n

Despite this openness, none of the other 31 teams bit before the final buzzer.<\/p>\n

What stands out is the difficulty of the current market.<\/p>\n

It appears the Canadiens were even willing to add a complementary piece, an asset, to help facilitate the trade.<\/p>\n

When a team has to pay to get rid of a former 40-goal scorer, it highlights the complexity of the situation.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest: Laine\u2019s market value seems to have hit a worrying low.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t necessarily mean he\u2019ll finish the season in Montreal, but it does show that this distraction isn\u2019t going away anytime soon.<\/p>\n

The real NHL trade deadline will come after the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

There is therefore still a window of opportunity for Kent Hughes, with several intriguing trade ideas beginning to circulate around the league.<\/p>\n

That said, the task looks daunting if conditions don\u2019t change by then.<\/p>\n

If teams turned their backs on the offer this week, creativity will be required to restart discussions in a few weeks.<\/p>\n

For now, the status quo prevails, and it\u2019s a heavy situation that continues to hover over the team during the break.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a scenario that demands a lot of patience, both from the player and the organization.<\/p>\n

Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

5 HOURS AGO|272 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

Nick Kypreos reveals how far the Montreal Canadiens are willing to go to trade Patrik Laine<\/p>\n

Do you believe Patrik Laine will finish the season with the Montreal Canadiens?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images The verdict is in for Montreal Canadiens forward Patrik Laine,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5103],"tags":[265,5,1749,264,21,5147,4,640,52524,27057,405],"class_list":{"0":"post-448337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal-canadiens","8":"tag-canadiens","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-kent-hughes","11":"tag-montreal","12":"tag-montreal-canadiens","13":"tag-montrealcanadiens","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-patrik-laine","16":"tag-salary-retention","17":"tag-trade-rumour","18":"tag-transactions"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116022054352644743","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}