Heading into the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament with Team Finland, the Canadiens’ Patrik Laine was hoping to regain some of the confidence he says he has lost.
He was also hoping to get more ice time than he has had in recent games with the Canadiens.
“I think it’ll be a good turning point just to play good here and gain confidence and keep it going with the Canadiens for the rest of the year,” Laine said.
Laine did get more ice time in Finland’s first game Thursday night, a 6-1 loss to Team USA at the Bell Centre, but he was held pointless for a ninth straight game.
Laine was on Finland’s second line with centre Sebastian Aho and Roope Hintz, logging 15:58 of ice time. Finland’s first line had Aleksander Barkov at centre between former Canadien Artturi Lehkonen and Mikko Rantanen.
Laine had only 11:13 of ice time in the Canadiens’ last game before the break — a 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last Sunday — after being demoted to the fourth line.
The Canadiens’ Joel Armia was on the fourth line for Finland Thursday night — along with centre Erik Haula and Teuvo Teravainen — getting a team-low 9:52 of ice time with one shot and one hit. Laine had one hit, one shot and three giveaways.
Heading into the tournament, Finnish coach Antti Pennanen hoped putting Laine with Aho and Hintz would give him a spark. Aho has 20-35-55 totals in 55 games with the Carolina Hurricanes this season, while Hintz has 22-14-36 totals in 51 games with the Dallas Stars. Laine has 12-6-18 totals in 28 games with the Canadiens.
Aho and Hintz both play with a lot of speed and Pennanen was hoping that would force Laine to play faster.
“He played with a couple of good guys, Hintz and Aho,” Pennanen said after the loss to Team USA when asked to rate Laine’s performance. “They can skate with the puck and I hope that it’s going to help Laine to play with the same speed. I see some good signs about his game but, also, me and him know that he can improve his game. A couple of turnovers. But I think he was pretty OK today.”
Laine wasn’t made available to the media after the game.
Laine was much better than OK when he made his Canadiens debut in early December after missing the first 24 games because of a sprained knee suffered during a pre-season game. He scored eight goals in his first nine games — all on the power play. But Laine has only four goals in the last 19 games and only two of his 12 goals have come at even strength. He has no goals in the last 10 games and only six shots on goal over the last seven games.
Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis lost his patience with Laine after a weak back-checking effort that led to a goal during a 3-2 loss to the Ducks in Anaheim on Feb. 2, benching him for most of the third period. Laine has had less than 14 minutes of ice time in each of the four games since then. Laine has looked frustrated and slammed his stick against the boards when returning to the bench after a shift against the Lightning.
In that game, St. Louis decided to take Juraj Slafkovsky off the No. 1 line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, replacing him with Jake Evans. Slafkovsky made a bad giveaway that led to the Lightning’s first goal.
It would make sense to me to give Laine a chance to play with Suzuki and Caufield when the Canadiens return to action in the hope that might spark him the same way Pennanen hopes to give Laine a spark at the 4 Nations Face-Off. It’s not like Slafkovsky is lighting it up on the No. 1 line with 8-22-30 totals in 53 games and only one assist over the last six games.
Laine has played most of this season with Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook as his linemates. Laine isn’t the type of player who makes his linemates better — he needs linemates who can get him the puck so he can use his elite-level shot. Dach has only 12 assists this season and Newhook has eight after getting zero assists in the first 34 games.
Laine has one more season after this remaining on his contract with a salary-cap hit of US$8.7 million — the highest on the Canadiens — so why not see what he can do with the team’s two best offensive players for at least a couple of games?
Laine came to Montreal with a lot of red flags, which is why the Canadiens only had to give up defenceman Jordan Harris in last summer’s trade with Columbus to get him and they also received a second-round draft pick in 2026 from the Blue Jackets as part of the deal.
At the time I wrote it was a low-risk move by Canadiens GM Kent Hughes. So is giving Laine a shot on the first line with Suzuki and Caufield.