We have a sighting and good news finally! Patrik Laine was seen skating in Brossard, marking a big step in his recovery from a knee injury sustained in the preseason.
Tiens, tiens! 👀
— RDS (@RDSca) November 9, 2024
Patrik Laine était sur la patinoire du Complexe Sportif CN samedi matin! 🔵⚪️🔴
(📽️: Oli Girard/FB) pic.twitter.com/AZc999sSea
The biggest splash the Montreal Canadiens made in the offseason (besides drafting Ivan Demidov) was Kent Hughes and co. trading away young defender Jordan Harris to the Columbus Blue Jackets for sniper Patrik Laine.
It was hoped that Laine would help bolster a top 6 that in the past had struggled to score at a high level, and despite some rocky seasons, when he has been on the ice, Laine has produced well. In his last two full seasons with the Blue Jackets, he scored at a point-per-game pace. Granted he only played around 50 games each season, but those are good numbers.
Laine has only ever played a full 82-game season twice, but if he does play for most of the season, he can be relied upon to score 30-40 goals and 60-70 points. Numbers that would look beautiful next to the Canadiens' anemic offence.
At least, that was the dream. After playing just 18 games last season, Laine was understandably rusty and playing in a new city, so he wanted to get his reps in and play in every preseason game he could for the Habs.
Patrik Laine is forced to leave the game with a knee injury after colliding with Cedric Pare. pic.twitter.com/3rAOIRrfrQ
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 28, 2024
That decision unfortunately came back to bite him as a knee-on-knee hit from Cedric Pare of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Many fans feared the worst as we were just coming off of a season-ending injury to Kirby Dach last year, but the news came that it wasn't as bad as we feared.
It was determined days after that the injury was just a sprain, which would leave him out of the lineup for about 2-3 months. That timeline still puts his return a month or two away, but after being pretty radio silent, we have good news on the Laine front.
While we are likely still a while away from seeing Laine suit up for a full NHL game, this is super encouraging news, and it couldn't have come at a better time, with the young team reeling and dropping hard and fast in the standings. A lot of extra firepower is on the way.