Patrik Laine and his wife Jordan were on hand to do the ceremonial puck drop ahead of the game between the Montreal Victoire and the Toronto Sceptres. Still, once the winger is ready to return, one has to wonder if there will be room for him in the Canadiens' lineup.
While his Montreal Canadiens teammates were on their way to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, sniper Patrik Laine, who is still recovering from core muscle surgery, was at the Bell Centre to do the ceremonial puck drop for the game between the Montreal Victoire and the Toronto Sceptres.
After the starting lineups were introduced, the announcer introduced the Habs player and his wife, Jordan Leigh Laine, before they made their way to center ice to drop the puck. The big Finn got a polite reception from the 18,107 fans in attendance, but his welcome was pale in comparison to the cheer the Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin had just received.
While it was a nice gesture from the Montreal team to invite the couple to the event, it was hard not to wonder where Laine would fit in once he’s ready to come back. Despite being affected by many injuries to some big names, the Canadiens have kept rolling, and when everyone is healthy again, Martin St-Louis will have quite the puzzle on his hands.
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When the Tricolore announced that Laine had to undergo core muscle surgery, it was said he would be sidelined for three to four months, which would bring us to either the end of January or the beginning of February. The forward only had time to play five games this season before he went down to injury, and despite his best efforts, he could only pick up one assist. His timing was off when he tried to unleash his patented power-play one-timer, and he struggled to play on the defensive side of the puck. That’s not new for him, but you could see that he was really trying, but couldn’t play the game the way St-Louis wanted him to play it.
While the Canadiens are currently struggling to find someone to complete the top line formed by Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, that’s not a role Laine can aspire to, not with the kind of game he plays. Besides, before he’s ready to return, Kirby Dach should be back, and it would make much more sense for him to land there than for Laine. He has shown chemistry with the duo in the past and was performing much better than Laine before he was injured.
With the way the Ivan Demeidov, Oliver Kapanen and Juraj Slafkovsky line is performing now, there’s no way the coach will want to break them up to accommodate Laine, and we’ve seen at the start of the season that his game isn’t really suitable for the bottom-six.
While he was a significant threat on the power play last season, it hasn’t been the case in the five games he played this year. The Canadiens currently have the eighth-best power play in the league, with a 25% success rate (22.2% at home and 27.8% on the road). They haven’t struggled without him, and it’s hard to see a scenario in which St-Louis would try to insert him there, especially if he cannot be effective at even strength.
While I feel for the player and the difficulties he’s had to overcome, it’s tough to see where he could fit in going forward. He has more offensive potential than, say, a Brendan Gallagher or a Joe Veleno, but they are more effective as fourth liners than he would be. Even free-agent signing Alexandre Texier has proven more effective, with six points in 16 games since joining the Canadiens.
As disappointing as it may be for Laine, it looks like circumstances and growth have made him surplus to requirements in Montreal, yet another proof of how well this rebuild is going.
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