A tricky begin to the season for Montreal Canadiens winger Patrik Laine simply received even harder. The staff announced that he has undergone surgical procedure to restore a core muscle damage. Consequently, he’ll miss the subsequent three to 4 months.
Each of Patrik Laine’s seasons in Montreal impacted by damage
That is Laine’s second season with Montreal after he was acquired from Columbus within the 2024 offseason. It’s additionally now the second straight season that he has suffered a big damage early on. Final season, a preseason knee damage price him a few months of motion, and this one might preserve him out for twice as lengthy.
Whereas Laine received by coaching camp wholesome this time, it didn’t take lengthy for him to drop down the depth chart. Whereas he began the 12 months on Montreal’s second line, he was all the way down to fourth-line minutes at five-on-five inside a few weeks. Consequently, he was restricted to only one help by 5 video games whereas averaging simply 12:36 per evening, a profession low in that regard. He didn’t accompany the staff on its four-game Western street journey whereas getting a second opinion on his damage; clearly, that second opinion concurred with the primary with him present process surgical procedure quickly after.
Final season, Laine made a direct impression when he returned to the lineup, tallying 15 power-play targets. In doing so, he was among the many league leaders in that regard regardless of lacking 29 video games whereas he helped Montreal’s energy play get nearer to the center of the pack. Nonetheless, his enjoying time and effectiveness waned down the stretch and into the playoffs, the place he was injured partway by their sequence towards Washington.
Patrik Laine’s future earnings may very well be negatively affected
This can be a contract 12 months for Laine, who carries a cap cost of $8.7M, tops amongst Canadiens forwards. It’s honest to say his hopes of a giant payday subsequent summer time have taken one other hit as he’ll now miss greater than half the season; that, coupled together with his struggles at full energy, don’t bode nicely for him on the open market.
That stated, as a result of he ought to wind up lacking 100 days due to this damage and has greater than 400 profession NHL appearances, Laine needs to be eligible for a one-year contract with efficiency incentives subsequent summer time. That could be the very best path to go for him, one that might permit him to maximise his compensation ought to he keep wholesome whereas offering the signing staff — be it Montreal or another person in free company — with much less danger in signing him.
For the Canadiens, since they’ve over $4M in cap area in the mean time per PuckPedia, an LTIR placement wouldn’t make any sense for them. Since Laine is anticipated to return this season, the utmost quantity of LTIR area they might amass is $3.82M, not his full cap cost so, barring a rash of additional accidents, don’t count on him to be moved to LTIR. As of but, the Canadiens haven’t moved him to common injured reserve though that’s merely a formality for each time they should open up a roster spot.
