Stu Cowan: It’s nice to see Canadiens’ Patrik Laine having fun again

He will certainly be thinking about his late father, who was his No. 1 fan, when he suits up for Team Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

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 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 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.”

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.”

Related Posts


This will close in 0 seconds