Kent Hughes: “We have to give Patrik Laine a lot of credit”

Félix Forget
Kent Hughes: “We have to give Patrik Laine a lot of credit”
Credit: Physiquement, il est guéri, Patrik Laine.

Patrik Laine finds himself in a rather unusual situation with the Habs this season. The Finnish forward, who played five games early in the season, underwent surgery and was expected to miss a few months… except that, in the end, he hasn't been seen in the lineup since then.

Officially, he's still on the injured list. But in reality, pretty much everyone understands that he's healthy enough to play.

So right now, Laine (who is set to become a free agent) is getting paid to sit on the sidelines and train with the team. That said, he's keeping a low profile and trying not to draw too much attention to himself.

And that attitude earned him some (public) praise from his GM tonight: in an interview on 98.5 Sports tonight, Kent Hughes said that Laine deserves a lot of credit for the way he's handling all of this.

He referred to a “difficult situation” for his player.

You can tell that the GM, who touched on all this while discussing the team's depth—which forces tough decisions—as well as the attitude of the guys who are left out, is proud to see Laine doing his best not to become a distraction. And in fact, it's true that it can't be easy for Laine given that he's at the end of his contract.

He isn't exactly in the best position to secure a future in the NHL right now.

Remember that after the trade deadline, the GM stated that Laine was available to coaches. That said, at the moment, it's worth noting that his name is still on the Canadiens' injured list.

I wonder if the league likes to hear such comments.

But what's clear is that Laine is handling things the right way in his GM's eyes. It's great if he remains a positive influence within the group.


In brief

– Note that in the same interview, Hughes said he wasn't “that surprised” to see his team reach 100 points this season. He also hinted that Kaiden Guhle might miss more games before the end of the regular season.

– I like that.

– Interesting.

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