Central Division team reportedly interested in Blue Jackets star Patrik Laine

Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine is arguably the biggest name on the NHL trade block.

The Minnesota Wild are looking for an impact scorer, and they reportedly have interest in the 26-year-old sniper, per The Athletic’s Joe Smith and Michael Russo.

“According to team and league sources, the Wild began to show interest in the 2016 No. 2 pick around June’s NHL Draft,” Smith and Russo wrote . “And with Laine having recently exited the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program, he now has permission from the Blue Jackets and the league to talk to interested teams. It is expected that Guerin will reach out at some point soon to Laine to gauge how he’s feeling mentally and physically and whether he’s interested in playing for the Wild.”

Laine was seen wearing a Minnesota Twins ball cap over the weekend, further fanning the flames about a potential deal being in the works with the Wild.

Laine played in just 18 games last season before entering the player assistance program, has a 10-team no-trade list. So if he is moved, he will at least have some say in where he ends up.

Though Laine has played eight NHL seasons already, he’s still very much in his prime and likely will be for a while. He’s scored 20 or more goals in six seasons, 30 or more goals in three seasons and 40 or more goals once. He’s also topped the 60-point mark three times.

Despite having five 20-goal scorers last season, the Wild ranked 21st in the NHL in goals per game last season (3.02). They added former second-round pick Yakov Trenin in free agency, but he’s more of a bottom-six depth player while Laine would almost certainly plug right into Minnesota’s top line.

The Blue Jackets have made it known they’re willing to retain some of Laine’s $8.7M cap hit to accommodate the right deal, but Minnesota would have to move some other pieces around to make things work with just $756,410 in cap space, per PuckPedia .