STACKHOUSES 10 THOUGHTS ON LAINE/DUBOIS TRADE

1 – OVERALL REVIEW – On the surface, I don’t like this trade for Winnipeg. But, there are probably a slew of things under the surface and that’s why the deal was made. Otherwise, Kevin Cheveldayoff got fleeced.  Hockey wise, the Jets get a bonafide second line centre that they’ve desperately needed for years. Dubois had 48 points last season which is nothing to brag about however he dominated in the playoffs and looked like an elite player. That’s who the Jets feel they are getting in this trade.  Laine has an Alex Ovechkin-level ceiling although we’ve only seen glimpses of it over his 4+ years in the league. One such glimpse was on opening night when he scored 2 in a win over Calgary. That’s his last memory as a Jet. Roslovic is an interesting case.  He had 29 points last year playing, mainly, on the third line with sprinkled amounts of PP ice time. He was drafted as a centre, but moved to the wing. Many around the league feel there is untapped potential if given a larger role and he will get that with Columbus, his hometown.

2 – DUBOIS QUIT – Dubois cashed his ticket out of Columbus on Thursday by putting forth no effort at all in the first period of a game against Tampa Bay in which he ended up benched for the final two periods and overtime. Any player who does this raises a big red flag to me. But it’s also 2021 and a player who does this today is viewed differently by society than a player who might’ve pulled this stunt in 1995. Nevertheless, there is precedent now for him to go into Operation Shutdown as a Jet if he ever gets unhappy.

3 – LAINE HONORABLE – I’m going to give Laine some credit and being the conspiracy theorist that I have ended up being over the last year, this is what I believe happened: Laine did the honorable thing and reported to Winnipeg even though it was the last place on Earth he wanted to be. He gave a really pouty interview on Zoom that proved the rumour mill was true. Nevertheless, he goes out on opening night and was the best player on either team in a 4-3 OT victory over Calgary. The next morning Paul Maurice says Laine had trouble ‘getting loose’ and he hasn’t played since. I think Laine was never hurt. He worked with the Jets to keep it quiet but the deal all along was that he’d show up, play a game or two to showcase himself, then hit the pressbox until a trade could be made. A Laine sitting at home is worth a lot less than a Laine who’s ‘day to day’ because he ‘couldn’t get loose’. The longer it draws out, the better the chances are the rest of the league catches on that he’s holding out and isn’t really injured. The Dubois situation blows up, and you have a perfect fit for both teams to make a trade.

4 – THE OVERPAY – Unhappy Laine for Unhappy Dubois in a one for one seems to still favor Columbus even though teams value a centre more than a winger but I could live with it. Here’s where the trade loses me from a Winnipeg standpoint. They already are losing on Dubois for Laine. They also then throw in Roslovic for a 3rd round draft pick and also retain $1.75-million of Laine’s salary. Roslovic immediately signs a $1.9-million contract for this year as well as next and now the Jets are basically letting Roslovic play for free on another team and all they have to show for it is a third. From Columbus’ point of view, Laine’s contract is up at the end of this year and he could walk. That’s their argument on why Dubois is worth more than him.  However, the Jackets have lots of cap space and will be one of only a few teams that can afford Laine under the cap at the end of the season so my guess is that Laine signs long term but he also has to show he’s a consistent 40 goal man first. 

5 – ROSLOVIC FACTOR – I could be wrong, but I’m going to guess Columbus gives Roslovic a look at centre and it may even be on Laine’s line. I don’t believe we ever saw that in Winnipeg. Roslovic and Laine may have had a cup of coffee together but not with Roslovic as centre. Roslovic was clearly blocked by the likes of Connor, Ehlers, Laine, and Wheeler on the wings so he was never moving up unless he goes back to centre. The Jets have always needed a centre and never tried Roslovic there after moving him off the position as a rookie so they feel quite strongly he can’t do it. I wonder if the Jackets agree. 

6 – JETS PP – A week or so ago I wrote in this column that a Laine trade may be good for the team to change up how they play and give their powerplay a new look. This week, we saw how the new trigger man on the PP is Kyle Connor, who I believe is the Jets’ most gifted offensive player. Connor also plays on the opposite side of Laine so it may take awhile for teams to come up with a game plan on how to defend it. Mark Scheifele sets up in Laine’s spot and isn’t the same threat to shoot despite having a very good shot. I think in the long run, provided they find a better PP quarterback (Ville Heinola or Sami Niku would be my choice), the Jets powerplay will perform better.

7 – JETS DEPTH – If you watch the Montreal Canadiens, as I have so far, you are probably very impressed with how they come at you with four very good lines, three of which are a threat to score at any given time.  Does Winnipeg move in the same direction or does Paul Stastny play out of position and move to the wing?  For whatever reason, Connor looks like the main line driver so keep him with Scheifele and Wheeler. Dubois goes into the middle on your second line with Nik Ehlers and then you can either slot Stastny over into Laine’s spot on the right wing or keep Andrew Copp there and slide Stastny down to the third line and see if he can generate offense with Mason Appleton and Jansen Harkins. That pushes Adam Lowry down to the fourth line, even though he’s much too good to be only receiving 10 minutes of ice time a game and they really don’t have wingers suited to play with him unless you keep him with Appleton and Harkins, but then that makes a $6-million Stastny your fourth liner with $4-million Mathieu Perreault and Trevor Lewis. If Stastny can play the right side, you reunite Lowry with Copp and Appleton. The fourth line, whoever is on it with Harkins won’t play a lot, which I think is wasting Harkins. I’d like to see four lines that are hard to play against and can do damage any given night and I don’t want to see Lowry lose ice time as he brings a dimension the rest of the forwards don’t have.

8 – JACKETS DEPTH – At the moment, Columbus’ top two centres are Max Domi and Alexandre Texier.  Neither are the world class centres Laine whined about wanting to have in Winnipeg although I suspect that complaint wasn’t overly genuine. He simply wanted top line minutes and he’s going to get that and more with Columbus.  I think Domi has been around long enough to know he’s not a top line player. Texier is only 21 but appears to be more of a shooter than passer. By and large he’s had more goals than assists in his short career however I have never paid attention to him. This is why I think Roslovic gets a shot at centre although right wing isn’t deep either despite the fact they have Cam Atkinson and Oliver Bjorkstrand is off to a really good start.  Roslovic and his role is the real wildcard in this trade.

9 – JETS SUCCESS PATH – For me there is only one way Winnipeg wins this trade. They need the playoff version of Dubois to be what they get most nights and they need to sign him to a long term contract.  Anything less than that is a failure, never mind what Laine and Roslovic end up doing. Laine was picked 2nd overall in 2016, Dubois went one pick later and if you recall it was a shocking selection when the Jackets made it. They turned out to be correct as Jesse Puljujarvi hasn’t panned out for Edmonton and the next three centres selected (Tyson Jost, Logan Brown, Michael McLeod) haven’t been NHL factors of note to this point.  Still, Laine has 140 goals while Dubois has 66. To be fair, he’s also played 70 less games but still for Winnipeg to have to pay more than just Laine for Dubois seems like an overpay. Speaking of pay, the Jets retaining some salary in this trade seems laughable yet Chevy was talked into it.  

10 – COVID FACTOR – Dubois won’t play for the Jets for 2 weeks as he has to undergo a 14 day quarantine, so he won’t even be practicing. My guess is that after his 2 weeks are up, they will want him to practice for a day or two as he will be out of game shape having not even been on the ice. Meanwhile, Roslovic simply needs to clear a 48 hour Covid protocol and then he’s good to go. Laine needs a work visa and then he also clears a 48 hour Covid protocol, so it’s going to be about a week before he’s in the line-up. Follow the science.  It works.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)