A tough start to the season for Montreal Canadiens winger Patrik Laine just got even tougher. The team announced that he has undergone surgery to repair a core muscle injury. As a result, he will miss the next three to four months.
Both of Patrik Laine’s seasons in Montreal impacted by injury
This is Laine’s second season with Montreal after he was acquired from Columbus in the 2024 offseason. It’s also now the second straight season that he has suffered a significant injury early on. Last season, a preseason knee injury cost him a couple of months of action, and this one could keep him out for twice as long.
While Laine got through training camp healthy this time, it didn’t take long for him to drop down the depth chart. While he started the year on Montreal’s second line, he was down to fourth-line minutes at five-on-five within a couple of weeks. As a result, he was limited to just one assist through five games while averaging just 12:36 per night, a career low in that regard. He didn’t accompany the team on its four-game Western road trip while getting a second opinion on his injury; clearly, that second opinion concurred with the first with him undergoing surgery soon after.
Last season, Laine made an immediate impact when he returned to the lineup, tallying 15 power-play goals. In doing so, he was among the league leaders in that regard despite missing 29 games while he helped Montreal’s power play get closer to the middle of the pack. However, his playing time and effectiveness waned down the stretch and into the playoffs, where he was injured partway through their series against Washington.
Patrik Laine’s future earnings could be negatively affected
This is a contract year for Laine, who carries a cap charge of $8.7M, tops among Canadiens forwards. It’s fair to say his hopes of a big payday next summer have taken another hit as he’ll now miss more than half the season; that, coupled with his struggles at full strength, don’t bode well for him on the open market.
That said, because he should wind up missing 100 days because of this injury and has more than 400 career NHL appearances, Laine should be eligible for a one-year contract with performance incentives next summer. That might be the best route to go for him, one that would allow him to maximize his compensation should he stay healthy while providing the signing team — be it Montreal or someone else in free agency — with less risk in signing him.
For the Canadiens, since they have over $4M in cap space at the moment per PuckPedia, an LTIR placement wouldn’t make any sense for them. Since Laine is expected to return this season, the maximum amount of LTIR space they could amass is $3.82M, not his full cap charge so, barring a rash of further injuries, don’t expect him to be moved to LTIR. As of yet, the Canadiens haven’t moved him to regular injured reserve although that is merely a formality for whenever they need to open up a roster spot.
