Patrik Laine: Come on down to Laval, kid!

Have I ever told you that things can change (very) quickly in the world of hockey?

It's March 10, 2026. A little less than 17 months ago, Kent Hughes acquired Patrik Laine, and pretty much everyone in Quebec applauded the trade.

However, 1001 things have happened over the past 17 months (knee injury, repeated viruses, comments about the Blue Jackets, playoff injury, early season surgery, etc.), so much so that currently, you won't find many people calling for Patrik Laine's return to the Canadiens lineup.

Only my colleague Pat Guillet and podcaster Bertrand Girard still dream of the tall Finn's return.

The problem is that Laine has been healthy for a month and a half, but his name is still on the injured list.

As of 9:07 a.m. this Tuesday morning, Patrik Laine's name is still on the injured list. https://t.co/iMrgZMzZ33

— Maxime Truman (@MaximeTruman) March 10, 2026

And Laine's last goal—a guy whose main quality is scoring goals—was on April 6, 2025. We're talking about more than 11 months without finding the back of the net in a regular game for Laine…

You know, when you decide to offer a player whose contract is set to expire in a few weeks to the other 31 NHL teams for “nothing”, but no one even bothers to raise their hand, you get a pretty good idea of that player's value/reputation around the league.

And that's even if he'll be getting a $2 million bonus at the end of the month…

The big question now is: how many of the last 20 regular season games before the playoffs will Patrik Laine play?

Since Joe Veleno and Alexandre Texier are already waiting for their turn and everyone is healthy enough to play, I'm tempted to say zero. In my opinion, it would take at least two injuries for Laine to rejoin the lineup. Yes, Laine is becoming a real problem in Montreal.
He's a distraction for the group, he's in Martin St-Louis's way (he didn't like having two backups on offense at the end of training camp, so imagine three), playing him would be detrimental to the team culture (work ethic), some agents might tell their clients not to sign with the Canadiens because the club treated Laine badly, Laine's presence could prevent Hage, Reinbacher, and/or Fowler from coming at the end of the season (salary cap), Kent Hughes might have to deal with a payroll reduced by $1-2 million due to performance bonuses that will have to be accounted for next year (due to a lack of salary cap space to absorb them this year)…

Is there a solution to lessen the negative impact of Patrik Laine?

Yes.

What is it?

The Canadiens need to seriously consider putting Patrik Laine on waivers and sending him to Laval. Don't tell me he would be a distraction at the Rocket; what matters is the Montreal Canadiens (and Laine is a distraction there).

Sending Laine to Laval would free up a little over $1 million, money that would allow the Habs to call up Reinbacher and Fowler (both of them), perhaps pay performance bonuses this year, and have some spare change to sign Hage before the end of the season.

If Laine impresses in Laval (as Joel Armia did), he will return to Montreal. And he will sign a new contract (with another team) afterwards.

But right now, Laine needs to be removed from the Montreal Canadiens. And not just for conditioning purposes. That wouldn't solve the problem.