1. With former CBJ coach Pascal Vincent being an employee of the Canadiens AHL affiliate, the Montreal GM and coach must have reached out to him to get his opinion before they even entertained any deal, especially because Montreal has a young team and is trying to build for the future. The last thing they would want is a locker room cancer. For the CBJ to even get this meager return, Pascal must have said some variation of “go for it,” or at least “it’s worth the risk.”

2. Several comments here and elsewhere have been giving kudos to the CBJ for freeing up cap space and creating cap flexibility. Would someone please explain to me as a fan, where the CBJ are with the rebuild, why the heck to I care about salary cap flexibility? We are not going to contend this year and very likely not next, so what are we going to do with all that extra cap space: put in an offer sheet for a 26 year old RFA goaltender like Swayman? (I will believe that when i see it.)

3. Several comments here have wished Patrik well. Bless you, you all are nice people, but this guy screwed the franchise, my city and the fanbase so I hope he is a complete flop in Montreal and the brutal press and demanding fan base absolutely hounds him into oblivion. Frankly, I don’t care if Tom Wilson or Matt Rempe lights him up and knocks him back to Helsinki and out of the NHL.

Normally, I try to understand that these are just young guys trying to make a living in a career that has a short shelf life but what Patrik did to us  is worse than what Jeff Carter did to this franchise. At least Carter showed up did his best to give the CBJ at least a bit of leverage to get the best deal possible at the TDL. I can’t prove it (and we'll never know) but based on GM Waddell’s comments over the weekend, I believe Laine and his agent told the CBJ, “I’m not reporting to training camp and I'm not going to play my way into a trade; finding me a new home is your problem, not mine.” Given the Babcock circus last year, the new leadership could not afford the same cluster this year so as a direct result, the CBJ got fleeced.**

Rant over, comments welcome.  :-)

**I welcome thoughtful input informing me what the rights of a team are if a player refuses to report. Can we say ok, if you don't want to be here don't come, but we are fining you in an amount equal to your salary and will hang on to your rights for two more years. Enjoy dogsledding season in Finland.