Mark Twain said it best so many years ago.
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
Patrik Laine remains an unsigned restricted free agent. He has missed training camp thus far and has relocated to Finland to workout.
In the meantime, he also opted to discuss where on the Winnipeg Jets’ roster and ise he thought he should be playing.
“When I’m negotiating a new contract, I always want to know who I’ll be playing with,” Laine said in an interview in Finland earlier this week. “With my merits, I would play with the best elsewhere. Everybody who understands something about hockey knows that.
“There are the top lines and then there has been our line. I’ll play with whomever I’m told to.”
In saying anything, Laine managed to cast some aspersions on Bryan Little his linemate for the last three seasons.
That necessitated an apology/
“He was saying sorry and apologizing for just the way I think it was interpreted, which I kind of understood before I even talked to him,” Little said. “I know Patty well enough to know that he’s not someone that’s going to purposely say negative things, especially about his teammates.”
Jets head coach Paul Maurice was appreciative of the resolution.
“When something like that comes out, whether it’s direct or in an indirect way and seems to disparage a teammate, you do the right thing and pick up the phone,” Maurice said. “And then those are the only two guys that have to answer to each other, they handle that. I’m glad it happened because it should have happened, it’s the right thing to do, everyone has a good giggle about it and we move on.”
Sometimes, it’s better not to say anything.
Elsewhere, if everything goes as planned, Thomas Chabot will be with the Ottawa Senators until he is 30-years old.
The now 22-year old defenseman signed an eight-year, $64 million contract extension with the Senators this week. The deal starts next season and avoids Chabot becoming a restricted free agent next season.
“Now that everything is done and I’ll be here for the next nine years, this is something that I’m very happy, very proud to be here,” Chabot said. “This is amazing for me and my family, and to be here for the next nine years, build something with the group and be a really competitive team, is exciting.”
He had 14 goals and 55 points through 70 games last season.
“We knew there would be some tough days, and now we’re looking forward to the great days, and getting Thomas under contract was part of a long-term plan,” Ottawa general manager Pierre Dorion said. “We feel we’re definitely headed in the right direction, and having Thomas play for nine prime years of his career is a great thing for our fans.”
Looping back to Laine and adding Mikko Rantanen to the mix, their agent says the negotiations remain unresolved as RFAs.
“We’re not close … they’re high profile guys,” Mike Liut said this week. “… There’s nothing happened that we didn’t know was going to happen. Nothing has gone on that we didn’t anticipate.”
The Colorado Avalanche need Rantanen for his scoring and if the Avs are not any different from last season, the secondary scoring will need to pick it up as long as Rantanen is out of the lineup.
“We’ll take it one day at a time,” Rantanen said. “Due to the current situation, we can’t make any long-term plans. We’re leaving Bern next week at the latest.”
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