Montreal Canadiens' fans were eager to see their Summer acquisition Finnish sniper Patrik Laine on the ice this season but their enthusiasm was nipped in the bud when he suffered a knee injury in a pre-season game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sept. 28. Should Juraj Slafkovsky be considered in a slump? Everyone feared he was done for the season, but rather than have an operation he opted for a more traditional treatment and was told he would be out of action for two to three months. Then, on November 6 he got back on his skates, working in Brossard and progressively ramping up the intensity of his training with director of hockey development Adam Nicholas. Yesterday, for the first time, he joined the team in practice wearing a no-contact jersey, but still seeing him skate with his teammates and deking defensemen left, right and center. Asked about Laine's presence, goaltender Samuel Montembeault said: It’s fun to see him on the ice. I thought he was moving well too, he looks good. He still has a great shot, so that’s good news…at the morning skate before the Oilers game, he helped me during warmup before practice. Of course, his return date isn't set yet and there's no guarantee it will be closer to the two-month mark than the three-month one, but he's definitely getting closer to a return. Yesterday, he was on the ice half an hour before the team and he stayed on for their first four drills before heading to the room. The Canadiens are set to practice at 10:30 this morning and it will be interesting to see if Laine is there for longer. Follow Karine on X @KarineHains [https://x.com/KarineHains] Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/karinehains.bsky.social] and Threads @karinehains [https://www.threads.net/@karinehains] Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/] for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens
