Opinion: Why Patrik Laine Was the Wrong Player — And the Wrong Position — For the Montreal Canadiens To Trade For This Summer

The Montreal Canadiens stunned the hockey world on Monday by acquiring Patrik Laine in a cap-clearing trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

While some immediately declared this a massive win for GM Kent Hughes, others were wondering just where the one-time Rocket Richard Trophy runner-up will slot in on the roster.

Will Laine, who hasn’t scored more than 26 goals since leaving Winnipeg five years ago, team up with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield on Montreal’s top line? Or will he add scoring depth (and experience) to the top six by joining forces with 23-year-olds Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook?

Wherever he ends up playing, coach Martin St-Louis will have to try to get Laine to return to the player who was once believed to be the successor to Alex Ovechkin in terms of goal-scoring ability. That was before injuries and mental health issues kept him off the scoresheet and out of the lineup.

But unless Hall of Famer St-Louis plans on strapping on the skate blades and centering Montreal’s second line, the Canadiens will run into the same problem the Blue Jackets experienced in finding ways to get Laine the puck.

This is not the right player for the Canadiens, who are still rebuilding without a center who can truly match up with Auston Matthews, Aleksander Barkov and Brayden Point in a crowded and competitive Atlantic Division. 

Nor is this the right landing spot for Laine. The Habs didn’t need another winger. They have plenty of those. What they needed was a center. So, too, does Laine, who is hoping this change of scenery will finally get him back to his early-career numbers.

"I don't want to come back as a 30-goal scorer," he told reporters on Monday. "I want to come back as a 40- to 50-(goal scorer). I've done that previously, and it's not by accident, but it's not just all about that. I want to come in and do whatever it takes to contribute to the team and make the team win. Whether it's me scoring 50 or scoring 20, as long as the team wins, that's all I’m about. I just want to win."

Whether Laine scores 30, 40 or 50 goals will depend on whether he can stay healthy and stay consistent. But it will also depend on whether anyone on the Canadiens' roster can set him up for scoring chances.

It’s a familiar problem for the 26-year-old. 

While he got to team up with Mark Scheifele during Laine’s best years in Winnipeg, since being traded to Columbus, he had winger-turned-center Boone Jenner as his most frequent linemate. Jenner's had a career-high 49 points in a season, which came back in 2015-16 before teaming up with Laine. That goes a long way in explaining why Laine failed to score more than 26 goals in each of his four years in Columbus. 

Don’t expect that to change now that he’s in Montreal. The Canadiens have Suzuki, who you can argue is a top-line center after scoring 33 goals and 77 points last season. Adding Laine to his wing might actually improve those numbers. That is unless Slafkovsky keeps that coveted spot on a line with Caufield. If so, it could push Laine down the depth chart, where the options down the middle are either Alex Newhook, who had 34 points in 55 games, or Kirby Dach, Jake Evans or Christian Dvorak — a trio of centers who combined for 39 points last season.

Part of their low numbers is because Dach and Dvorak combined to play only 32 games. But even at their best, we’re still talking about two players who each have never scored more than 38 points in a season. That’s not the kind of offensive potential that will get Laine back to being a 44-goal scorer. And it’s not the kind of situation that will benefit Montreal’s wingers.

The Canadiens are flush on the wings. Aside from Laine, there’s also Caufield, 2022 No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov, who was selected fifth overall in June. Maybe the latter can convert to a center, but he won't be in Montreal next season, at least.

Laine, who has two more years remaining on a contract with an $8.7-million cap hit, now becomes Montreal’s highest-paid healthy player. As such, even if there was a minuscule chance that someone like Sidney Crosby, John Tavares or even Leon Draisaitl could be lured to Montreal and sign as a free agent next summer, there’s now less money to go around and get him. 

Then again, if Montreal ends up as a bottom-five team again, perhaps they can win the draft lottery and select center James Hagens with the No. 1 pick. Of course, by the time Hagens could become a top-line NHL center, Laine could already be out of Montreal and on his next team.

Wherever he ends up, hopefully, he finds a No. 1 center to play with.