Wild reportedly eying Patrik Laine

Former No. 2 overall draft selection Patrik Laine is set to return to the National Hockey League after having been cleared to return to play after a stay in the NHL Player Assistance Program for what he described as time to focus on his "mental health and well-being". 

And while he's been linked to the Montreal Canadiens after being recently spotted at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport, one NHL analyst believes that Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin could soon come calling. 

Former NHL player Mike Rupp, who suited up for the Wild for a time and is now an analyst on NHL Network, thinks Laine could be the "star power" that the team needs right now to team up with Russian phenom Kirill Kaprizov. 

“If there’s a team to kick the tires, I think Minnesota (makes sense) because they need that star power,” Rupp said. “They need somebody else that can help carry the workload as far as putting up big numbers.

“The problem I have with Laine is it depends on what kind of team you are. Everything that Minnesota has established themselves to be as far as their identity, working hard and lunch pail, he’s not that. The thing that’s kept Minnesota competitive is everybody’s kind of pulling the same way and there’s no freelancers. I think he would be a freelancer. It could work, but it could be really bad, too.”

It would take some maneuvering on Guerin's part in order to accommodate Laine under their salary cap restraints, as they currently have less than $2 million available to work with. Laine is under contract for two more seasons with an AAV of $8.7 million.

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