Canadiens' Laine nervous, excited for long awaited return

MONTREAL — For the first time in 354 days, Patrik Laine will play an NHL game of consequence.

That it’ll be as a member of the Montreal Canadiens — and that he gets to play it in front of fans at the Bell Centre — is something Laine has been dreaming about since he was traded from the Columbus Blue Jackets in August.

Just thinking about it on Monday made it hard for him to sleep through the night.

“Might have something to do with a little excitement today,” Laine said after taking line rushes at Tuesday’s morning skate with Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky. “Woke up a little earlier than usual, just super excited, super thankful to be here. It’s been a long road with a lot of ups and maybe more downs so far, and over the last couple of years, so just excited to put on this jersey and be out there with the fellas finally. It’ll be awesome.”

Laine got a sense for what he’ll be feeling against the New York Islanders when he first took to the ice with the Canadiens during camp.

In a pre-season game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Laine took a rush up the ice and brought the fans out of their seats.

Then he left them gasping in concern when the rush ended with him lying on the ice, clutching his right knee.

A collision with Toronto’s Cedric Pare caused a severe sprain that was thought to be much worse in the moment. It was feared Laine would miss the whole season, with surgery being presented as an option to him 48 hours later.

But after seeking out other opinions, Laine ruled that option out and began the long road back to the ice.

That meant weeks with his knee in a heavy brace and his body propped up by crutches. It was painful journey to follow up the difficult one he went through last season.

Due to a broken clavicle and a stint in the NHL-NHLPA players’ assistance program, Laine last played a regular season game on Dec. 14, 2023.

The 26-year-old from Tampere, Fin., scored a goal that night. Now he’s hoping he can pick up from where he left off.

As to whether Laine can, we’ll see.

“Probably I need to look at the expectations a little bit. I probably won’t, (but) I should, (and) I know that,” he said. “But I probably expect as soon as I jump on the ice to start off where I left. It might happen, it might not happen. I don’t know, nobody knows. But I think it’s kinda the same thing I was talking about before the season (that) I’ve just got to be patient, give myself some time. But hopefully it’ll be like riding a bike. I hope so. But it’ll be great, I’m sure.”

It'll be equally exciting for the Canadiens, who were thrilled when Laine’s acquisition was made — along with a second-round pick — for defenceman Jordan Harris on Aug. 19.

They felt Laine would help them take a step forward in their rebuild, but his loss clearly deflated them prior to the start of the season.

The Canadiens have since taken a step back, putting themselves in 31st place in the NHL.

The climb back into the mix is unquestionably a steep one, with the Canadiens currently eight points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They aren’t under any illusions about Laine coming in and playing saviour after all the time he’s missed.

But they do expect he’ll help.

“We obviously can’t wait to get back on the ice with him tonight,” said Dach. “Hopefully he can add a little bit of juice to our lineup and get us going.”

The potential for that is based on Laine’s history as a premier goal scorer in this league.

He was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets second overall (behind Toronto’s Auston Matthews) in 2016, and he immediately established himself as a star player by posting 36 goals and 64 points in his first season.

By the time his tenure with the Jets had ended with his trade to Columbus, the six-foot-five, 208-pound left winger had accumulated 140 goals and 250 points in 306 games.

Laine’s output with the Blue Jackets may not have been as prolific, but he still put up 58 goals and 129 points in 156 games with them before scoring only six goals and nine points in 18 games last season.

The clavicle injury hit, and then Laine opted for more time off when he entered the players’ assistance program on Jan. 28 to prioritize his mental health.

Laine was cleared from the program on July 26, and he declared after his trade to Montreal weeks later that he was prepared to not only resume his career as a perennial 30-goal scorer but to also return to the form that saw him score as many as 44 times.

The injury suffered in the pre-season immediately got in the way of that and was a devastating blow for both him and the Canadiens.

But that’s behind all of them now, and coach Martin St. Louis is thrilled that it is.

“I think, for sure, when you bring a player back with that type of resume, it excites everyone,” he said. “We still have to manage our expectations and continue to work as a team, but I think it’ll help us.”

What should help Laine is the opportunity to get back into the swing of things in Montreal, where the Canadiens will play their next five games.

“If somebody plays here and doesn’t get fired up, I think there’s something wrong with them. So, I don’t think that should be an issue,” he said. “I think the crowd will be buzzing, as always, and hopefully as we play, and with the way that we play tonight, we’re going to excite ’em even more.”