Blue Jackets willing to listen to trade offers for two top players amid ugly season

On Thursday's issue of TSN’s "Insider Trading," Darren Dreger reports that the Columbus Blue Jackets are willing to listen to offers on forward Patrik Laine and defenseman Ivan Provorov. Making high-impact additions in the last two summers, it appears the Blue Jackets are at least willing to entertain the idea of a major selloff.

To say that trading away either player is complicated would be an understatement. Laine’s $8.7M salary over the next several years makes it nearly impossible for most teams to acquire, while Provorov is less than a year removed from being acquired by Columbus in the first place.

Nevertheless, the value that each player could bring to an organization is inherent. Although relatively streaky and bringing some health concerns to the table, Laine is one of the more well-respected goal-scorers in the league, while Provorov has transitioned nicely to the Blue Jackets, on pace to tie his career-high in points with 41.

In Laine, although his goal-scoring ability is apparent, there have been questions surrounding his work ethic throughout his time with the Blue Jackets. Infamously, earlier in the season, Columbus’ head coach, Pascal Vincent made Laine a healthy scratch, reportedly creating a rift between Laine and the rookie head coach. Keeping this in mind, it could be a reasonable possibility that if Vincent is set to lead the Blue Jackets in the future, he may not envision Laine as a part of that plan.

Drafted second overall by the Winnipeg Jets back in the 2016 NHL Draft, Laine has a total of 204 goals and 388 points, currently putting him in fourth place in both categories among all players of his draft class. Having already been traded once in his career back during the 2020-21 season, Laine’s name being mentioned in trade rumors should put him in familiar territory.

Provorov, on the other hand, is much more known for his defensive attributes rather than his offense. Over a seven-year span with the Philadelphia Flyers, Provorov played in a total of 532 games for the Flyers, scoring 217 points in the process. A regular member of the top penalty kill unit for both Columbus and Philadelphia, but Provorov’s physical play has decreased over the last handful of years, he still regularly racks up nearly 180 blocked shots each season. An effective top-four option for any team throughout the NHL, Provorov’s $4.725M salary over this season and next is much more palatable to most teams than the contract of Laine.

At the end of the day, given that both players are signed beyond this season to relatively large sums of money, it is unlikely that the Blue Jackets will be able to find a trading partner until the draft or the opening of the free-agent market next summer. Nevertheless, with plenty of competitive teams looking to make a significant upgrade in a wide-open playoff race, Laine and Provorov could quickly become some of the bigger names on the trade market leading up to the trade deadline.