So many might have forgot that Columbus traded Patrik Laine to Montreal last offseason. And after blowing out his knee in a preseason game many thought Laine was done for the season. Before Laine made his season debut on december 3rd 2024, Montreal was 31st in the league with a record of 8-13- 3 in 24 games with Chicago Blackhawks just 1 point behind them. It seemed like Montreal was done for the season. But Laine started turning things around on the powerplay and ended up with 15 powerplay goals overall. That's good enough for 4th overall in the whole NHL this season. The guys infront of him all got to play either with Kucherov or McDavid on the powerplay. Montreal's record after Laine joined the team on December 3rd is 32-18-8 in 58 games, good enough for 12th in the NHL over that timeperiod.
Well 15 powerplay goals isn't that impressive you might say. Well since the dawn of time a Montreal Canadiens player has only been able to put up at least 15 powerplay goals in a single season 23 times. That's less times than they've been able to win the Stanley cup so far. And for Columbus Blue Jackets it's only happened twice and once was by the late great Rick Nash. Columbus could've needed those powerplay goals as they only scored a combined 36 powerplay goals the whole year.
On top of that Laine also cut a great heel promo that got a lot of heat before Montreal was facing Columbus in their home town on December 23rd. In the short run that fired up Columbus and gave them an extra 4 points that night and had them going on a little run afterwards. But the long term effects of that promo actually benefited Montreal as their record is 10th best overall from December 23rd onwards.
Despite this Laine still gets a lot of shit from many Montreal fans and reading their forum it seems like many of them want him gone or playing for pennies moving forward. Is Montreal going to kill the golden powerplay goose that got them to the playoffs in the first place? And where will Laine end up after that? Is there still hope for him? As a Leafs fan I would love to see him in Toronto, as Laine is one of the few players that said he would like to play in Toronto before getting drafted.
Well 15 powerplay goals isn't that impressive you might say. Well since the dawn of time a Montreal Canadiens player has only been able to put up at least 15 powerplay goals in a single season 23 times. That's less times than they've been able to win the Stanley cup so far. And for Columbus Blue Jackets it's only happened twice and once was by the late great Rick Nash. Columbus could've needed those powerplay goals as they only scored a combined 36 powerplay goals the whole year.
On top of that Laine also cut a great heel promo that got a lot of heat before Montreal was facing Columbus in their home town on December 23rd. In the short run that fired up Columbus and gave them an extra 4 points that night and had them going on a little run afterwards. But the long term effects of that promo actually benefited Montreal as their record is 10th best overall from December 23rd onwards.
Despite this Laine still gets a lot of shit from many Montreal fans and reading their forum it seems like many of them want him gone or playing for pennies moving forward. Is Montreal going to kill the golden powerplay goose that got them to the playoffs in the first place? And where will Laine end up after that? Is there still hope for him? As a Leafs fan I would love to see him in Toronto, as Laine is one of the few players that said he would like to play in Toronto before getting drafted.
