MONTREAL— One word for seeing Patrik Laine lying on the ice at the Bell Centre, holding his knee in place after having it knocked in a direction it’s not supposed to go in: Devastating.
One look at this picture brings another word that starts with D to the amygdala.
Let’s stick with the first D-word.
It is absolutely devastating for Laine to have finished the second shift of just his second game in a Montreal Canadiens uniform this way. He arrived here looking to rekindle his once-promising career as an elite goal scorer after injury and a stint in the NHL/NHLPA Players’ Assistance Program limited him to just 18 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets last season, and he didn’t even get the chance to carry the puck more than twice before being carried off the ice on Saturday.
The extent of the devastation isn’t yet clear, as Laine will have to pass through further evaluation before an update from the Canadiens is provided.
But you know it’s never a good thing when a player is literally wheeled from the locker room to the imaging room in the arena and then seen leaving the building on crutches and wearing a knee brace.
You could see just how bad it was after Laine’s left knee absorbed the full collision with Toronto’s Cédric Paré.
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You could almost feel his pain as he launched his helmet and glove in frustration and winced while the trainers were bringing him to the room.
To know that Laine was the second Canadiens player to be given that treatment not even five minutes into this meaningless 2-1 loss to the Maple Leafs makes it impossible to ignore the potential for the devastation experienced by the team over the last three seasons to be extended into this campaign.
It was ominous when David Reinbacher—the fifth-overall selection of the club in 2023—jammed his ankle into the boards and twisted his knee after being caught off balance by Matthew Knies in the 13th second of Saturday’s contest. And it was downright disturbing when Laine tried to barrel his way through Paré and Jacob Quillan and found himself twisted around, with his six-foot-five body corkscrewing its way down to the ice.
For linemate Kirby Dach, it was a déjà vu moment he hoped to never experience.
Dach tore the MCL and ACL in his right knee in his second game last season. He was then told it would be his last appearance in 2023-24.
On Saturday, that whole experience came rushing back to Dach and he’s hoping the news won’t be as dire in Laine’s case.
“It sucks,” Dach said. “You definitely don’t want to see guys get hurt.”
Especially not guys who hold promise to take the Canadiens to another level — like Dach did before his injury last year, and like Laine was hoping to when he came to Montreal intent on reviving his 40-goal scorer’s touch.
Dach could feel the beginning of that process unfolding well over the past few days.
“He’s been nothing but positive,” the 23-year-old centre said of Laine. “He’s been full of excitement of joining our team, and I think he saw what we were trying to build here and was excited to be a part of it.”
And now this.
“Definitely sucks seeing that happen to a guy that’s dealt with some injury situations like myself,” said Dach. “Hopefully it’s nothing but good news (coming) and he’s back out there.”
The big Finn has dealt with more than his share of bad news over the last year.
So have the Canadiens, who can’t seem to exorcise the injury bug.
“I don’t know if it’s a jinx,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis.
He’s right. It feels more like some sort of voodoo curse at this point.
How it threatens the Canadiens’ plans to be in the mix for a playoff spot is anybody’s guess, but you have to think their chances of achieving that goal will be severely hindered by any long-term absence for Laine.
He was brought here for his booming shot and silky skill, to complete the top six, to help insulate a deep bottom six, and certainly to help give the Canadiens two threatening power-play units.
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A year ago, they had just one and, despite a few hot streaks, it led them to finishing 27th in the league in the category.
“It’s a huge benefit to a team to be able to have two different looks for PKs to worry about and to be able to attack them two different ways. It’s just that much harder to pre-scout and to be able to handle them,” said first-unit quarterback Mike Matheson.
He knew why he was being asked about it.
Losing a key piece like Laine on one unit certainly doesn’t make the work Matheson, St. Louis and the Canadiens must do on the power play any easier.
The coach said that part of Montreal’s game, along with offensive-zone tactics, will be a primary focus from now to the lead-up to the season, and he knows it must be after watching the Canadiens go 0-for-7 with the man-advantage against the Leafs’ B-squad.
But that obviously wasn’t the main thing on St. Louis’s mind when he met with reporters after this fight-filled affair.
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“It’s hard to see him go down like that today,” he said of Laine.
Matheson had another word for it, calling it “frustrating.”
Of the possibility that Laine’s situation is, in fact, as bad as it appears, he added, “I can only imagine what that would feel like for him.”
Devastating probably only scratches the surface of it.
