BROSSARD, Que. — The Montreal Canadiens have time with Patrik Laine, and they appear intent on taking it.
That seems like the wise choice, even if Laine appears to be getting closer and closer to being able to return from the core-muscle surgery he had back on Oct. 25.
The timeline given for Laine’s recovery that day was three to four months, and Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes said he was on schedule — and not ahead of it — when he was asked about it back on Jan. 6.
Ten days later, after skating for several days in a non-contact jersey, Laine appeared in his first full practice with the Canadiens in Kanata, Ont.
Ten days after that, on Monday, he was participating in his fourth practice — this time at the team’s south-shore facility.
But Laine hasn’t been given clearance to play for the Canadiens against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, and we don’t see an incentive for the Canadiens to manipulate their lineup to get him in even once he does eventually receive clearance.
Martin St. Louis’ comments on the subject — which came after Laine took alternate rushes on the team’s first line Monday — did anything but alter that feeling.
When the coach was asked how he’d reintegrate Laine, St. Louis said, “When (head athletic therapist Jim) Ramsay tells me he’s ready, we’ll cross that bridge.”
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When asked about what Laine could bring to his lineup, St. Louis pointed to only one thing.
“His strength is his shot on the power play, so he can for sure bring that,” he said.
St. Louis not mentioning anything else was even more telling.
It’s hard to imagine him feeling assured that Laine can fit in the Canadiens’ fast and connected brand of hockey at five-on-five because Laine hasn’t offered up any evidence he can.
At least part of that’s been due to injury.
Laine came to Montreal after an injury to his shoulder interfered with his off-ice training regimen in the summer of 2024. He was just starting to round back into form that fall when he sprained his left knee in his first pre-season game with the Canadiens and ended up missing a little over two months. And he went under the knife just nine days after Montreal’s fifth game this season.
Before Laine played, St. Louis said the work the big Finn put in over the summer could bring out the best in him.
But had the coach seen that through training camp and the start of the season, he’d have found a way to use Laine for more than 13:45 in a single game.
What St. Louis saw using Laine as a power-play specialist over those first five also inspired little hope that inserting the player into that same role now would be worth pulling someone else out of theirs.
The 29-year-old didn’t score. He registered only four shots in his 12:12 on the power play, and he was minus-3 in limited minutes at five-on-five.
Last season, Laine was minus-14, but the Canadiens wouldn’t have made the playoffs without his 20 goals.
This season, the Canadiens haven’t needed Laine’s goals. They’ve produced 3.33 goals per game without him — sixth-most in the NHL — and they’ve also run the sixth-best power play in the league since Laine got hurt.
He’s still a highly skilled player with unique tools — tools that saw him drafted second overall in 2016 and led him to remarkable success through his first four seasons with the Winnipeg Jets.
But Laine has only been more dangerous without the puck ever since, and his inability to offset that with the same volume of offence he produced with it in Winnipeg helped put him in the situation he’s in now.
Injuries through Laine’s four seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets hampered what was already a limited skating stride, and that’s hurt him in Montreal. His insistence on wanting to slow the game down at times when the Canadiens need him to speed it up has also hindered his ability to fit with them.
Not that the game doesn’t permit a player with the rare ability to slow the game down to do so. As St. Louis was saying Monday, there are even circumstances — like on zone entries where you’re given space and you’re trying to use it to buy time for another teammate to catch up and give you a numerical advantage, or on zone exits, when you want to buy yourself time for a line change — that force such a player to take advantage of that skill.
“The game is so fast, though, now,” St. Louis added before concluding that most teams are too good at applying pressure and not allowing you to slow it down.
The Golden Knights are one of those teams.
The Colorado Avalanche, Buffalo Sabres and Minnesota Wild are others — even if they all play different styles — and they’re the next three on the Canadiens’ schedule after Tuesday’s game.
It’s hard to envision Laine being inserted against any of them.
Barring an injury, the Canadiens couldn’t put him in without trading a player for futures or sending one down to the American Hockey League to remain compliant with the 23-man roster limit, and only two of their players can go down right now without having to clear waivers first.
Jakub Dobes is one of them, but the Canadiens aren’t going to play without a backup goaltender.
And even if Zachary Bolduc hasn’t scored a goal since Dec. 23 against the Bruins, it seems unlikely the Canadiens would choose to play without him right now.
Over the last week, St. Louis has done nothing but (justifiably) praise the 22-year-old’s work in the role Laine would most likely occupy in his return — on the fourth line and second wave of the power play — and it’s hard to imagine him pulling him, let alone pushing him to Laval.
Even harder to imagine would be Laine playing where he practised Monday, in rotations with top liners Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. Those two have played almost all their five-on-five minutes either against the opposition’s best forwards or their best checkers, and that doesn’t sound like an optimal assignment for a slower player who hasn’t played in over three months.
No assignment seems fitting for Laine with the Canadiens at the moment, which makes waiting all the more reasonable.
His earliest possible return, according to his timeline, would’ve been Tuesday.
“But I think they want to be sure,” said Laine’s teammate, Brendan Gallagher, Monday.
The Canadiens took extra time before recently activating Kaiden Guhle and Kirby Dach — even after both appeared ready to return from their respective injuries — and doing the same with Laine makes sense.
It buys him more time to get into game shape and buys them more time to figure out what to do with him once he’s in it.
