Canadiens forward Patrik Laine said he rediscovered his love for the sport last season, his first in Montreal.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Patrik Laine heard Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis say that we “might” see his best version this season.
The Finnish winger prefers to drop the qualifier.
“We will see the best version,” Laine said Thursday as the team began on-ice sessions at training camp. “There’s no question about that.”
The reason for Laine’s confidence? He arrives at camp after a rare healthy summer — his first in years.
Last year, shoulder surgery held him to only two skates before camp. This time, he’s been on the ice at the Canadiens’ facility since May.
“I’ve been dealing with a lot of different kinds of injuries, whether it’s been upper body, lower body, mental. You name it, I’ve probably had it,” he said. “It’s been fun to be healthy for a change, to get a lot of weeks and a lot of reps in.
“Makes a pretty big difference.”
Unlike last season, the six-foot-four winger feels he finally has his legs under him, something he says is crucial to reaching that top form.
“The best version is a guy who skates, a guy who gets his feet moving, [a] guy who’s making good plays, who’s responsible out there. Hopefully scoring every now and then,” Laine said. “When you have your legs, it’s a little easier to advance the play instead of always stopping and looking to make a pass because you can’t move.”
Once among the NHL’s elite scorers — he scored 44 goals in 2017-18 — Laine hasn’t hit 30 since 2018-19, hampered by a string of setbacks.
He arrived in Montreal via trade from Columbus in August of last year after months in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program for mental health reasons, on top of his surgery.
The 27-year-old waited until Dec. 3 to make his debut after suffering a pre-season knee injury, but quickly flashed the one-timer that made him one of the league’s most dangerous shooters in Winnipeg earlier in his career. The quick offence helped spark the Canadiens out of an early-season slump.
But while Laine produced with the man-advantage — his 15 power-play goals ranked fourth in the NHL despite only playing 52 games — he was prone to turnovers during five-on-five play all season.
Late in the year, even the power-play goals dried up, leading to a third-period benching in Game 2 of Montreal’s first-round playoff series against Washington.
Laine then missed the remaining three games of that series, later revealing he’d been playing with a broken finger.
From his head coach’s point of view, Laine never really got going.
“He hadn’t played in a long time, he was battling some stuff — and real stuff,” St. Louis said Wednesday. “We were very excited to get him. We wanted to make sure he loves playing the game again, which I felt we got to do that. But I don’t think we saw the real version of Patty just because of everything that led up to [the season].
“I see the amount of work he’s put in this summer, we might see the best version of Patty Laine.”
St. Louis is also placing Laine in a position to succeed, slotting him on the second line with Kirby Dach and 19-year-old sensation Ivan Demidov, the heavy favourite for rookie of the year.
Asked how he feels about the opportunity to play with Demidov, the candid Laine quipped: “He’ll have a chance to play with me, it’s my 10th year.”
“I’m just kidding, let’s not make this a big deal,” he added. “It’s just special what this kid can do out there. And at such a young age, it’s pretty scary to think about what he’s going to be in two, three years.”
After a difficult few years, Laine said he rediscovered his love for the game last season, crediting the Canadiens organization and their passionate fans — hockey-crazed enough to fill the stands for a Thursday morning scrimmage in September.
“Playing in probably the best place on earth to play hockey,” Laine said. “If that doesn’t get you fired up to play hockey, then you probably should be doing something else.
Laine is entering the final year of his contract, which carries a US$8.7-million salary cap hit, and says he hopes to be a Canadien for a long time.
Talks on an extension haven’t started, and Laine seems to know his play will dictate whether his future is in Montreal.
“We’ve mostly just focused on this year, all that stuff will come eventually,” he said. “I’ve been pretty open publicly and everywhere about it. I love it here, and this organization is something I definitely want to be a part of for a long time.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. But I was just focused on recovering from today and trying to make it to tomorrow, and then we’ll we’ll tackle tomorrow. That’s kind of where my mind is at.”
