BROSSARD, Que. — As we await news on Patrik Laine, which could come later Monday, or perhaps even as late as Tuesday, we know one thing for sure: It’s going to be a while before we see him in a Montreal Canadiens uniform again.
On Monday, Laine was sitting on the Canadiens’ bench, crutches by his side, left knee braced, watching his teammates practise without him after a collision with Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Cédric Paré on his second shift of Saturday’s pre-season game knocked him out of action for the foreseeable future. If the reality of his long-term absence hadn’t quite sunk in prior, it was only reinforced by his presence between two trainers instead of linemates.
The image of Laine sitting there instead of skating with the Canadiens got to coach Martin St. Louis.
“I think what makes it a little bit harder with what happened during the game is we felt we were doing the No. 1 job we had to do with Patty, which was to make him excited to come to the rink. And he was,” St. Louis said after practice. “And it’s not just my job, it’s the group. And what I’m really proud about the group is — obviously, there’s a show called the Rebuild — when you’re rebuilding, it’s like building a house. The house can look really nice, but is it a home? It takes more to make it a home. And I feel like Patty coming in like that makes me feel that we’re building a home, not just a house. So I think it stings a little more because I feel he was excited to come to the rink.”
The Canadiens were excited to have Laine there to begin with. They were gaining confidence he’d immediately start reviving his once-prolific career in their uniform come October.
But that’s on hold now.
The Canadiens aren’t, though.
They’re in solutions-mode, as they must be with the regular season less than 10 days away.
We didn’t get a sense for how St. Louis intends to fill the six-foot-five-sized hole Laine leaves on the right wing of the second line and second power-play unit — he didn’t run combinations for the hour the Canadiens were on the ice for Monday — but he made it clear all options are on the table.
Including splitting up the top line of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky.
“Everything is possible,” St. Louis said. “We start in nine days, so I think we’re going to be directed in those decisions by the things we try and the things we think.”
The Canadiens have two more pre-season games to play before the end of the week, and St. Louis said they’ll have four or five more practices before the start of the season, so there will be a lot of experimentation to come.
We could see Josh Anderson step in for Laine, even if he took Monday off to receive treatment.
The six-foot-three power forward had a paltry nine goals over his last 78 games and was a shell of the player who once scored 27 goals in an NHL season. But Anderson spent the summer in Montreal working hand in hand with Canadiens director of development Adam Nicholas — both in the video room and on the ice — and is looking to redeem himself the same way Laine was after a tough season in Columbus.
St. Louis may not have pointed to Anderson as the solution on Monday, but he did say this about his training camp: “Andy’s been great. He’s been really good. He understands the kind of season he had last year and he’s taking responsibility and action, and, so far, I’m really excited about him.”
The coach has also liked what he’s seen from Emil Heineman.
It’s markedly different from what we saw at this time last year, when the 22-year-old was given a crack at completing a line with Caufield and Suzuki but didn’t prove ready for that assignment.
There’s no telling Heineman would get another chance to play as a top-six forward to start this season, but his performance in this year’s camp suggests he could be ready to step into the NHL this October.
“I think he looks more comfortable out there, and I think it comes with a little more experience,” said St. Louis. “He’s got a season under his belt of North American hockey. He does the same thing — he can skate fast, he can finish checks, he’s got a good shot — it just looks a little bit better this year. I can’t pinpoint one thing. It just looks a little bit better. And I think it comes with just being comfortable in the environment, experience, reps. That’s what’s most noticeable to me. But it’s not like he got faster, he got stronger. I’m sure it’s part of it, but to me, to my eye, it just looks more connected.”
One player who appears to be putting it together here is Laine’s countryman, Oliver Kapanen.
The Finnish centreman has had an impressive couple of weeks with the Canadiens after breaking out in Finland’s Liiga last season and scoring six goals in eight games at the world championship of hockey last spring.
Based on the small sample so far, Kapanen appears earmarked for NHL duty.
But the decision to keep him here long-term rather than send him back to Timrå of the Swedish Hockey League — let alone throw him in Laine’s spot to start — can’t be made just yet. Nor can it be solely based on what he’s shown so far.
“You look at guys and think, what would this guy look like in December, January?” said St. Louis. “That stuff crosses our mind, no doubt. As we get towards our answers, these are conversations that we’re going to have.
“Like, him trying at wing, that could happen. We’re going to try and have as much information to make the best decision.”
St. Louis isn’t facing any easy decisions over the coming days.
As he noted earlier in camp, that’s typically a good problem — to have several players forcing you to think long and hard about what your roster should look like and how bolstered your overall depth is as a result.
But there’s no way of looking at what happened to Laine, not to mention what happened to David Reinbacher, who also suffered a knee injury that’s still being evaluated, as a problem they would welcome.
His injury on Saturday was the most unwelcome sight imaginable for everyone on the team.
“Pretty devastated,” Caufield said about it. “Pretty excited to have a guy like that on our team, and to see him go down and be in pain like that for sure wasn’t fun.”
Just as figuring out how to replace the goals Laine could score won’t be easy.
He had only six in 18 games last season before surgery and a stint in the NHL/NHLPA Players’ Assistance Program halted him, but he appeared to just be starting to gain momentum on his journey to redeem his 40-goal ability when he got hurt.
How long his injury lasts will be determined over the coming hours.
But again, St. Louis and the Canadiens have no choice but to move on immediately.
Sulking about it won’t help that cause, and it’s clear St. Louis isn’t spending any time doing that.
“I don’t think my goals, my purpose … nothing has changed,” he said. “I think we’re delusional if we think we’re going to go 82 games with the same 23 guys. It’s a hard league, there’s going to be teams that are going to face the same thing, and you just have to keep going. If you change your outlook just based on something that you can’t control, you’re not going to keep going.”