When Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk finally put ink to paper on Wednesday on a three-year, $21 million deal, we imagined the dominos falling all the way through and getting the last three remaining unsigned restricted free agents (Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, and Mikko Rantanen) under contract…
Well it seems another one might be falling soon as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that talks are heating in Winnipeg on a Laine extension. Minutes later he confirmed that the Jets and Laine agreed on a two-year deal, at $6.75 million.
On Wednesday night’s edition of Insider Trading on TSN, Pierre LeBrun revealed that the Winnipeg Jets recently made another offer to Laine, however, the star forward was looking for more.
“There have been discussions this week. Both between Patrik Laine and his camp and the Winnipeg Jets, and Mikko Rantanen and his camp and the Colorado Avalanche. So that is the positive. The negative is they haven’t closed the gap just yet. I believe the Jets recently offered a two-year deal, yes, a two-year bridge deal at around $6 million a year. My sense is that the Laine camp led by Mike Liut would rather be north of $7 million a year on a two-year bridge. So, still a gap right there.”
Laine has been skating alongside Rantanen with Switzerland’s SC Bern as he awaits a new contract. And he will be in Winnipeg for the season opener!
Laine is coming off a season that saw his goal total dip from 44 to 30. He scored 18 of them in 12 games in November, and had long slumps after that.
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