Patrik Laine: “We can expect him to be back on the ice soon.”

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Patrik Laine: “We can expect him to be back on the ice soon.”
Credit: Christopher Mast/NHLI via Getty Images

The Patrik Laine case continues to be the subject of much discussion.

Yesterday, the Canadiens' Finnish player was not at practice. Let me repeat that: he was the only player on the club, apart from the Olympians, who was not present at practice.

The Canadiens announced a lower-body injury for the player, who is considered day-to-day.
Forward Patrik Laine will not participate in today's practice (lower body, is being evaluated on a daily basis).

— Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) February 17, 2026

Obviously, because Patrik Laine is a player who gets people talking in Montreal, his absence has been the subject of much discussion. Why? Because the day before (February 16), he had been skating with some guys in Brossard. So does that mean he got injured while skating freely? It looks that way.

According to Renaud Lavoie's report on X and BPM Sports, the Finnish player felt discomfort while skating this week. Tests were therefore carried out to ensure that everything was okay and that he was not aggravating an injury.
According to the reporter, a return to the ice “soon” is possible.

Will this calm the discontent surrounding him? Who knows. After all, when it comes to Laine, it seems that the timing of such news is always special… and does him good.

Doubts will remain because, as if by magic, when things start to get serious on the ice, that's when Laine isn't there. That's how many people see it, whether it's fair or not.

Remember that there are a lot of trade rumors circulating in his case.

As my colleague Maxime Truman pointed out last night (before Renaud Lavoie's update) on X, this isn't the first time Laine has been involved in a murky situation. It seems to happen to him more often than to others, let's say.

And if the Canadiens are telling the truth and Laine really did injure himself in training, this could raise red flags for other NHL clubs.

Laine has been out for months with a sports hernia, which affects the lower abdomen or groin. Yesterday's lower body injury could possibly mean that we're talking about a new injury. Laine may be at the end of his contract, but a team that sees this is not necessarily encouraged to go after him. I'm not saying they won't, but they will have more questions.

This is a story to follow.


In quick succession

– He came back into the game.

— Noah Dobson and Kaiden Guhle at the 2030 Games? [TVAS]

– Good question.

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