Patrik Laine may not be sitting without options much longer.
The winger still hasn’t landed a contract for the 2026-27 season after the first few months of the offseason, but interest is starting to pile up. Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette reported that the Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, and Tampa Bay Lightning have all shown interest in Laine. Andre Leal of The Hockey News added the Toronto Maple Leafs to that mix.
If that’s the full picture, it’s a far bigger market than had been publicly attached to Laine earlier in the offseason. The only team previously linked to him was the New York Islanders, though that never looked like a clean fit. The Islanders were only prepared to give him a professional tryout agreement for the preseason, and there’s still no sign another team is ready to offer much more than that.
Philadelphia stands out as the most obvious match on paper. The Flyers finished with the league’s worst powerplay success rate last season, and that’s the part of the game where Laine can still tilt the ice.
But there’s a catch. His defensive issues make it hard to see him playing a major role at even strength, and the Flyers already have plenty of young forwards, especially on the wing, fighting for jobs in September.
Bringing in Laine would mean one fewer opening for that group.
The other teams on the list each come with their own logic. Minnesota lost a lot of offense on the free agent market this summer, so adding Laine could help make up some of that production. The Rangers are in retool mode, which gives them more room than most teams to let Laine try to get his game back on track.
Tampa Bay and Toronto are harder to connect to him. Both teams have spent this offseason trying to get tougher and grittier, and that isn’t really Laine’s game.
Offense hasn’t been their biggest problem in recent years anyway. The issue has been handling the trench warfare brought by the Florida Panthers, and Laine doesn’t profile as the kind of player you want in that kind of grind.
Even so, the signs point toward Laine finding a new NHL home for 2026-27 rather than heading overseas to rebuild his value. His injury history makes him eligible for a performance-based contract, which keeps the base cap hit low and makes him more appealing to teams weighing the risk.