NHL: Patrick Laine officially withdraws from player assistance program

The attacker is Columbus Blue Jackets, Patrick RyanIt was announced Friday that he has been cleared to return from the NHL Player Assistance Program and the NHLPA.

Ryan joined the Player Assistance Program in January while recovering from a broken collarbone suffered a month earlier. He made 18 appearances for Columbus last season, scoring six goals and nine points.

Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddle confirmed Thursday that the team will continue to explore trade possibilities for Ryan, who has requested a trade from Columbus.

“I’ve been hearing that he’s very positive that he’s going to come out of the program,” Waddle said on Thursday’s First Up on TSN 1050. “Unfortunately, as a team, you can’t get a lot of information from the doctors. Most of my information is coming from the agents. So I have to believe that he knows the situation because he’s talking to Patrick.”

“Patrick made it clear that he wanted to start over somewhere, even before everything changed this summer. When the time comes – and I hope it won’t be too long – we will look at all the options. I can’t rule out any option, even going back here, because it would take two teams to make a trade, and if there’s no deal that makes sense for us, then we have to face reality.»

“Ryan’s agent Andy Scott has told him multiple times that we’re going to make sure we look at everything and understand the situation, we understand how Patrick feels, we can find the right solution and we will. But if not, we have to deal with it. »

The 26-year-old winger signed a two-season extension at $8.7 million per year and is the Blue Jackets’ third-highest paid player. Johnny Gaudreau ($9.75 million) and Zach Wilensky ($9.58 million) is the highest paid player on the team.

Selected as the second in 2016 Winnipeg JetsSince being traded to Columbus in 2020, Ryan has failed to replicate the success he experienced early in his career. After scoring 28 or more goals in each of his first four seasons, including a career-high 44 in 2017-18, Ryan failed to surpass 26 goals for the Blue Jackets while dealing with a variety of injuries.

He played in 55 games in the 2022-23 season for the Blue Jackets, scoring 22 goals and 52 points, as the Blue Jackets missed the playoffs in each of the past four seasons.