Cup Champ Says Laine Deal Needs Bonus Protection

Patrik Laine is back in the kind of contract conversation that makes teams sweat a little before they even pick up the phone. A Stanley Cup champ is already warning that any deal has to be loaded with bonus protection, which tells you the market is thinking hard about risk before talent. Laine has always been the sort of player who can swing a board room and a box score at the same time. The question now is whether a team wants the upside badly enough to structure the bet the right way.