Patrik Laine has been through an awful lot over the past year.
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On Dec. 14, 2023, Laine suffered a broken left clavicle while playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 6-5 overtime win over the Maple Leafs in Toronto. Laine scored the first goal that night before being injured. It was his third goal in five games, giving him 6-3-9 totals in 18 games with the Blue Jackets.
Laine didn’t play another NHL regular-season game until Tuesday night at the Bell Centre, when he played his first game with the Canadiens and scored the first goal in a 2-1 overtime win over the New York Islanders.
Last January, Laine entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program while dealing with mental health issues. In August, the Blue Jackets traded him to the Canadiens and then he suffered a sprained knee during a pre-season game against the Maple Leafs on Sept. 28.
Life in the NHL hasn’t been easy for Laine since he was the No. 2 overall pick at the 2016 NHL Draft by Winnipeg and then scored 36 goals as an 18-year-old rookie with the Jets during the 2016-17 season. He followed that up with seasons of 44 goals in 2017-18 and 30 goals in 2018-19. Laine, now 26, hasn’t hit the 30-goal mark since then, but he also hasn’t played more than 68 games in a season.
Laine has also been traded twice — from Winnipeg to Columbus on Jan. 23, 2021, and then from the Blue Jackets to the Canadiens.
On Nov. 3, 2021, Laine suffered an oblique injury while playing for the Blue Jackets in a road game against the Colorado Avalanche that put him out of the lineup for nearly two months. Eighteen days after suffering the injury, Laine received the terrible news that his father, Harri, had died unexpectedly back home in Finland at age 54. The Blue Jackets told Laine to go back to Finland and spend all the time he needed with his family.
“He’s been my … No. 1 fan and supporter, always,” Laine told Columbus reporters when he returned to the team. “Not that my mom and sister haven’t been, but hockey was kind of our thing, our passion. I definitely wouldn’t be here without him.
“He always watched my game, ever since I was a kid,” Laine added. “He always wakes up at night (in Finland) to watch my games, so it’s definitely tough. I’m losing my best friend.”
Laine has several tattoos, and one on his left arm has the date of his father’s death above praying hands. Laine will no doubt be thinking of his father when he suits up for Team Finland’s first game at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament on Feb. 13 at the Bell Centre against Team USA.
It was made official on Wednesday that Laine was named to Team Finland, but he got the news Saturday when the Canadiens were in New York and he received a phone call from Finnish coach Antti Pennanen.
“I wasn’t sure if he was going to call me that I’ve been cut or that I made the team,” Laine said with a grin after the Canadiens held their morning skate Thursday at the Bell Centre before facing the Nashville Predators. “That was kind of 50/50. But it was a happy phone call. That’s good.”
It’s good to see Laine not just playing hockey again, but also looking happy. He was very relaxed and comfortable answering questions from reporters after Tuesday’s game and again following Thursday’s morning skate.
Tuesday’s game was an emotional one for Laine, who was cheered by Bell Centre fans basically every time he touched the puck. A roar engulfed the building after he scored the first goal with a wicked shot on a power play.
“My emotional tank was pretty empty after Tuesday,” he said. “Just overall happy that I got that first game out of the way and now we can just skip all the ceremonies and all that stuff, and now we can just play and now there won’t be too many talks of first game back, all that, blah, blah, blah. Now we can just go out there and play and have fun.”
Laine is looking forward to playing with Aleksander Barkov, one of his best friends, on Team Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Laine’s Canadiens teammate Joel Armia will also be part of the team. The only other Canadiens player who will take part in the tournament is goalie Sam Montembeault, with Team Canada. Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki was left off Team Canada and Cole Caufield didn’t make Team USA, despite leading all American NHL players in goals this season with 16 heading into Thursday night’s game.
“I thought he had a really good shot at it, especially with the season that he’s been having,” Suzuki said when asked about Caufield not making Team USA. “Kind of in the same boat as me. So use it as fuel for us moving forward here.”
Suzuki led the Canadiens in scoring heading into Thursday’s game with 10-16-26 totals in 25 games, followed by Caufield with 16-7-23 totals.
With the tough journey Laine has been on — both on and off the ice — I asked him after the morning skate what he’s most proud of now.
“I think just being able to play again … that’s probably the biggest thing,” he said. “It’s been a journey and a half. Being able to play again and enjoy what I’m doing for a living. Sometimes you forget how cool this is. So now I’ve kind of found that again. That’s really special.”