Source A made it clear to me that the problem was entirely on Winnipeg’s power brokers — from ownership to general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff to coach Paul Maurice to Wheeler, who runs the dressing room along with alternate captain Scheifele and have repeatedly butted heads with the more laid-back Laine. In his mind, they’ve cultivated a toxic environment that had Laine looking for the quickest exit.

“The issues in Winnipeg right now have to deal more with issues in the dressing room between competing personalities. And when there is a divided room, that gets around the league. And players generally, if they have other options, are going to exercise them until that whole situation gets cleaned up,” he said.

“I’m surprised it’s been allowed to go on this long without people in charge getting in there and cleaning it up. It’s going to have a great impact around the league with people choosing whether to play in Winnipeg or not.”

Now contrast that with what Source B told me, suggesting in no uncertain terms that Laine, and Laine only, was the problem. That a perceived lackadaisical approach towards his career quickly wore thin.

“All of the issues in the room could be solved by trading one guy (Laine),” he said.

There was a rumour going around this morning that Bennett might want a change of scenery. And I did call his agent Darren Ferris who said yes, that’s true, he would like it to be considered. The Flames are in radio silence about this. No comment from them. One thing I gleaned from just calling around is that they’re not in any hurry to do it. They like their depth down the middle, they’re not racing to make a move, but according to the agent for Sam Bennett he would like a change of scenery.