Jarmo Kekalainen on Patrik Laine trade rumours ''people make up sh*t''
If the National Hockey League had an award for bounce back player, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine would be among the candidates.
The 2020-21 season was a rough one for the 23-year-old Finn. He started out by playing one game with the Winnipeg Jets before being dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Once he got to Columbus, he found himself in John Tortorella's dog house, being benched on a few occasions. Laine finished the season with 24 points in 46 games, the lowest total of his career thus far.
Laine has bounced back and in 35 games, he's tallied 38 points (20 G, 18 A). He'll become a restricted free agent this summer, but is open to signing long-term with the Blue Jackets.
Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen spoke with Pierre LeBrun to discuss a number of topics, including Patrik Laine and said that he is annoyed by the talk of trade rumours regarding the young Finn.
Kekalainen was also asked about Laine's contract status, but he said that they aren't in a rush to lock up the Tampere native.
Let's see if there's a marriage that we can get into. And if not, you know, that's hockey. I always say, every player that gets into the time frame when they can become (unrestricted) free agents, they can do that if they want to. And there's not much we can do about it."
Blue Jackets GM bothered by Laine trade rumors: 'People make up shit' https://t.co/QbrUfky0T5 pic.twitter.com/17JR1pN0ys— theScore NHL (@theScoreNHL) March 2, 2022
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Ryan McLeod | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Connor McDavid | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Matthew Boldy | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brent Burns | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mats Zuccarello | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jason Zucker | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Dylan Cozens | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Ryan Hartman | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zach Hyman | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Martin Necas | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vasily Podkolzin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Marco Rossi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Viktor Arvidsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evan Bouchard | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Brown | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Connor Clifton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ty Emberson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Capitals | 44 | 29 | 10 | 5 | 63 | |
Jets | 45 | 30 | 12 | 3 | 63 | |
Golden Knights | 44 | 29 | 12 | 3 | 61 | |
Oilers | 44 | 28 | 13 | 3 | 59 | |
Wild | 45 | 27 | 14 | 4 | 58 | |
Stars | 43 | 28 | 14 | 1 | 57 | |
Devils | 46 | 26 | 15 | 5 | 57 | |
Maple Leafs | 45 | 27 | 16 | 2 | 56 | |
Avalanche | 45 | 27 | 17 | 1 | 55 | |
Hurricanes | 45 | 26 | 16 | 3 | 55 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||