Wells trained strongly in the Roos' main session on Wednesday and Laidley admitted he was surprised by the 24-year-old's availability after his stint on the sidelines with a hip injury.
"He's ready to go," Laidley said. "But we've got to be mindful that he's been out for three weeks. He won't be able to play his full quota of time but we think he'll value-add to our side."
North has also recalled wingman Ben Ross for his first match of the season, along with small forward Matt Campbell and ruckman Todd Goldstein.
Laidley said the performances of Ross and Goldstein in the Roos' win over the Power in round 15 last year hadn't encouraged their inclusion.
"We looked at trying to keep our forward line a little bit more settled by bringing in another ruckman," he said of Goldstein.
"You look at St Kilda with (Nick) Riewoldt and (Justin) Koschitzke and their two ruckmen. Maybe (Drew) Petrie and (David) Hale, if they can play down there a bit longer together and spend more time together it's going to help them."
Despite successive best-on-ground performances in the VFL, experienced half-forward Corey Jones was named as an emergency; the recent efforts of Aaron Edwards and Ben Warren keeping him out of the side.
And North would hope this week's combination can end a frustrating run that has produced just one win from five games.
Inconsistency has also troubled Port Adelaide, which won its cross-town clash with the Crows last weekend, was belted by St Kilda in round five and beat Hawthorn at the MCG a week earlier.
Laidley wasn't reading much into the Power's form and said educating his own players had taken priority.
"With our young team we've just been really focusing on getting some things right which have probably let us down over the last couple of weeks or the games that we've lost," he said.
"There has probably been 10 or 12 minutes in a game where the opposition kicked a few goals and got away from us. The rest of the games have been pretty even."
However, he pointed to the fact that, bar injured defender Lachlan Hansen (hamstring), every player selected in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft would line up for the club this weekend.
Ross joined North in that year's pre-season draft.
"I've been really pleased with the development of the young guys. [It's been] super.
"But I don't think there's been enough said about (2008 draftee) Jack Ziebell, who's probably averaging 20 possessions, [is getting] clearances, goal assists, the contested footy and is high on his tackle count.
"His figures stand up against the best of them."
Hansen jogged laps at Arden Street on Friday afternoon while draftee Liam Anthony took part in light skills as he continues his recovery from foot stress fractures.
