The saviour has arrived.
Recommended Videos
OK, that is written with tongue firmly in cheek, but there’s no denying there’s a new buzz to the Canadiens ever since Patrick Laine finally laced up for his first game with his new team on Tuesday evening. He’s already scored two goals in two games and both were absolutely beauties. That first one Tuesday against the New York Islanders was just unreal. That wasn’t only top-shelf — it was an absolute banger that went top top corner, a zinger no goalie could stop.
“I closed my eyes and hoped to hit the net,” said Laine, after the game. “It was close. I almost missed. But it was a good enough shot that it went in.”
And the crowd at the Bell Centre just went absolutely nuts. After the game, Laine was still coming to grips with the huge emotional reaction from Canadiens fans.
“That was the most outrageous thing I’ve heard in my entire life,” Laine said. “I don’t deserve this, like not at all. It’ll be something I’ll for sure remember forever. That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Just getting that welcome, even early on when I came here, from the fans and from the city overall, and now obviously coming back to play, it was pretty humbling.”
His arrival has had a hugely positive effect on his teammates as well. There’s a photo of Cole Caufield hugging Laine after that first goal — Caufield looks like it’s Christmas morning and he’s just discovered Santa has left him his best-ever present under the tree.
Laine was traded from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Canadiens this summer and there was much buzz about him coming here. Then that excitement turned to disappointment when he badly sprained his knee in a pre-season game against the Toronto Maple Leafs in late September.
Clearly, the fans are loving the idea of hopping on the Laine train. Montreal hockey fans love stars and let’s be honest, they’ve been starved in that department for years. The Habs famously haven’t had anyone in the top 10 of scoring leaders in the NHL for literally decades. For most of the past two decades, the franchise player was Carey Price and, as great as he was between the pipes, a goalie isn’t the guy who’s going to get the fans on their feet night after night.
We want to see Guy Lafleur flying down the right wing, his golden locks flowing in the wind, just before he rockets one past the Bruins goalie. We want to watch Stéphane Richer scoring 50 goals. P.K. Subban wasn’t a superstar, but he had a sense of the dramatic, a flair for on-ice theatrics that people here loved.
Alex Kovalev had that spark and that’s why Habs supporters fell so hard for him. But that was a brief tenure and came late in Kovie’s career. The last star player who sparked an immediate love affair with the fans ici was Ilya Kovalchuk, but if you blinked, you might’ve missed his 22-game tenure here in the winter of 2020. But it was an exciting sprint — he only scored six goals, but two of them were overtime winners.
And now there’s a new star in town and the fans made it clear on Tuesday and Thursday night how much they dig this dude. Will the arrival of Laine be the difference-maker for the 2024-2025 Canadiens? Probably not in all honesty. The team is what it is. Even Laine can’t seem to invigorate Kirby Dach, though his other line-mate, Juraj Slafkovsky, has looked a little more animated since the Finn joined the squad.
Also, is Laine able to rebound for real after a very inconsistent four-year run in Columbus? We’ll see. But fans are excited and given the pain they’ve lived through the last three seasons — or is that the last 30 seasons? haha — maybe that’s enough.
Mary Sinclair, an ex-Montrealer who lives in Oakville, was at a table of Habs fans Thursday at Maison Publique McLean’s, most of whom like her have been exiled to the Leafs Nation in southern Ontario. None, however, have given up their allegiance to the bleu blanc rouge.
“He got out there (Tuesday) and got the first goal,” Sinclair said. “I found it very disappointing that right away when he got here, he got an injury. Now, he’s back and I think he’s going to make a huge difference.”
Sinclair’s brother John Rivard, who lives in Burlington, Ont., is also upbeat about Laine.
“I think it’s a good move,” Rivard said. “He’s 26 years old. He was a second overall pick right behind Auston Matthews. He’s gone through some mental-health issues and physical ailments over the past couple of years. Having said that, he could be part of the rebuild. So I’m pretty happy about it. I think he could get 35 goals this season. And now you have two solid lines of offence.
Rick Lunny is a little more cautious in his hopes for Laine.
“I’m a little more skeptical than my buddies here,” said Lunny, who was having dinner with Sinclair, Rivard and a few others. “We’ve been listening to (this story) of rebuilding for a few years now and I’m starting to lose faith. How can one guy turn the whole team around?”
Scott Jerris had come up from his home in Skaneateles in Upstate New York to see the game Thursday with an old friend from Halifax and was saying he’s been a Habs fan since the late ’70s. At the time, he was doing an accounting degree at the University of Albany and used to come up to the old Forum to watch games. He was happy to see his favourite team sign Laine in the off-season.
“To have someone of that magnitude who is a goal-scorer, it can only be a boost for them,” Jerris said.
Consensus at the pub was there’s no downside to having Laine. But even these hardcore CH supporters admit their patience is being tested.
“How long is that rebuild going to last?” Sinclair asked. “I’m watching the series (The Rebuild on Crave) and it goes on and on just like they do. But if you’re a real fan, you stick through good times and bad. That’s how I approach it.”