MONTREAL — Patrik Laine will debut in a Montreal Canadiens uniform Tuesday night when they take on the New York Islanders at the Bell Centre.
Laine suffered a severe left knee sprain in a preseason game against the Toronto Maple Leafs after being acquired by the Canadiens from the Columbus Blue Jackets in an offseason trade.
This will be Laine’s first NHL game since he faced the Maple Leafs with the Blue Jackets on Dec. 14, 2023.
“Couldn’t really sleep. That was weird,” Laine said after the Canadiens morning skate Tuesday. “Might have something to do with a little excitement today, I’m not sure, but yeah, 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, like the last couple years.
“So just excited and thankful to put on this jersey, and just being out there with the fellas, finally. It’ll be awesome.”
Laine left that game in 2023 with a clavicle injury and shortly afterward entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. Upon exiting the program, Laine advocated for destigmatizing mental health problems and said he emerged from his time away with a new perspective. He saw his trade to the Canadiens as a fresh start, only to have it derailed by the injury in September.
After being off the ice for so long, Laine knows he should not have massive expectations of jumping back into the NHL and performing right away, but admits that won’t be easy.
“Yeah, probably I need to look at the expectations a little bit. I probably won’t. I should, I know that, but I probably expect, as soon as I jump on the ice, to start off where I left,” Laine said. “It might happen, it might not happen. I don’t know. Nobody knows. But yeah, I think it’s kind of the same thing I was talking about before the season, that I’ve just got to be patient, and obviously I haven’t played too much hockey lately.
“So I’ve got to be patient, give myself some time, but hopefully it’ll be like riding the bike. I hope so, but it’ll be great I’m sure.”
Laine will skate on a line with Juraj Slafkovský and Kirby Dach against the Islanders, making it a line composed of the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft (Slafkovský), the No. 2 pick in the 2016 draft (Laine) and the No. 3 pick in the 2019 draft (Dach).
“If you watch the best teams in this league, they have an identity within their lineup, and they come with waves,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “And that’s what we’re trying to do. I feel like if we can get those three guys to work well together, I think we’ve got an opportunity to come with waves, with more depth.”
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(Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
