If I’m the Winnipeg Jets, I’m not trading Jacob Trouba just because he wants out.

There’s simply too much on the line.

Winnipeg is a small market and not a particularly desirable one for NHL players with many attractive options.

The Jets are a draft and develop team because they have to be to have any hope of being successful. It’s imperative they hold on to the assets they acquire through the draft.

To have a 22-year-old player with three seasons under his belt demand a trade because he’s unhappy is a terrible sign.

To cave to that player would be even worse.

The Jets have a plethora of young talent, drafted players who will be looking for contracts in the next three years like Nikolaj Ehlers, Kyle Connor, Connor Hellebuyck and Patrik Laine.

The last thing the Jets need is to have those players and their agents think the organization can be pushed around.

Trouba’s a good defenceman who hasn’t fully proven himself yet. As such, he should be signing a contract at market value and playing where his coach wants him to play.

He should not be in a position to dictate the terms of whether he plays on the right or left side or how much ice time he gets.

You earn your ice time. You earn a spot on the right side of the top defence pairing by beating out the incumbent.

Then you get paid accordingly in both salary and term.

Of course, the whole right side-left side thing could just be an excuse. What’s more likely, is Trouba simply wants out.

And as much as the Jets need to make sure they get something for an asset like Trouba, they shouldn’t trade him now.

At least, not until it’s on their own terms.

PATRIK’S DAY?

Second overall draft pick Patrik Laine had his best practice Thursday while playing on a line with fellow Finn Joel Armia and 2015 first-round draft pick Jack Roslovic.

Laine, 18, hasn’t looked particularly comfortable in training camp so far and the Jets hoped playing him with Armia would loosen him up. It seemed to work.

“His practice was really impressive today,” Jets assistant coach Jamie Kompon said. “You saw a lot of good habits and putting him with Joel, a fellow countryman, makes him feel a little more at ease.”

It’s likely Jets fans will get their first look at Laine on Friday night when the Edmonton Oilers come to town for a pre-season game, but Kompon wouldn’t confirm i.

“There’s a possibility,” he said before Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Wild.

“Patrik is getting familiar with his surroundings and teammates and the pace of practice and what we expect of him. I think the testing the other day took a lot out of him, you know, a young kid.”

GET THE APP

Friday’s game, and Laine’s possible debut, will not be televised on TSN3, as Jets games normally are.

Because the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are hosting the Edmonton Eskimos in a CFL Friday night affair, that game will be on the full TSN network.

That means the Jets game will only be available on the TSN GO app starting at 7 p.m. The streaming service will broadcast the game and use the audio feed from TSN 1290 radio for play-by-play with Dennis Beyak.

TALENT SHOW

The Jets top two prospects — Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine — should be seeing plenty of action through the rest of the pre-season and that’s creating excitement with the fans and in the dressing room.

“The fans always want to see the new talent coming in and it’s exciting for us too,” veteran defenceman Mark Stuart said.

“Those guys just need to soak it all in and enjoy it.”

Stuart is just getting to know some of the young players who are pushing for jobs in this training camp and so far he likes what he sees.

“There’s a lot of talent and from what I’ve seen too, talking to them off the ice, they’re good people as well,” Stuart said. “There’s some character there and that’s important.”

Thursday was also the first exhibition game of the season for Stuart, who is trying to bounce back from a season full of struggles. The 11-year veteran will need to be better than he was last season to hold on his blue-line and he’s raring to get going and show what he can do.

“I get excited still,” Stuart said. “You train all summer and you go in the weight room and do stuff on the ice and you kinda reach a point where you’re tired of it and want to play a game.”

INJURY UPDATE

Centres Shawn Matthias, Ryan Olsen and Patrice Cormier and winger Anthony Peluso all missed Thursday’s training camp session at the IcePlex. Kompon said all four are day-to-day with undisclosed injuries. Left-winger Brendan Lemieux is also out, but he is listed as week-to-week with a lower body injury.

twyman@postmedia.com