powered by:
valneva canada inc.
patrik laine hopes to be more than a 30-goal scorer with canadiens
"i want to come in and do whatever it takes to contribute to the team and make the team win," winger says after trade from columbus.
aug 20 2024
4 minute read
patrik laine is congratulated by his blue jackets teammates after scoring goal in game against the toronto maple leafs on feb. 22, 2022 at nationwide arena in columbus.
kirk irwin
/
getty images
patrik laine isn’t looking to be a 30-goal scorer for the canadiens.
“i don’t want to come back as a 30-goal scorer,” laine said in a video conference monday after canadiens gm kent hughes acquired him and a second-round pick at the 2026 nhl draft from the columbus blue jackets in exchange for defenceman jordan harris. “i want to come back as a 40, 50. i’ve done that previously and it’s not by accident.”
laine has never scored 50 goals, but he did score 44 as a 19-year-old with winnipeg in 2017-18 after the jets selected him with the no. 2 overall pick at the 2016 nhl draft. laine scored 30 goals the next season, but has never reached that total since. in his four seasons with the blue jackets after being traded by winnipeg, laine scored 64 goals in 174 games.
last season, the 26-year-old winger played only 18 games with the blue jackets, scoring six goals, before suffering a broken left clavicle during a game in mid-december that required surgery. laine hasn’t played a game since and he entered the nhl/nhlpa player assistance program in january while dealing with mental-health issues.
while laine would like to score more than 30 goals, he’s not making that his main priority with the canadiens.
advertisement
advertisement
“it’s not just all about that,” he said. “i want to come in and do whatever it takes to contribute to the team and make the team win. whether it’s me scoring 50 or scoring 20, as long as the team wins that’s all it’s about. i just want to win. i’m kind of getting to that age as well. i’m not 19 years old anymore. i just want to win. i know how important that is, how much fun winning is and it’s been tough missing the playoffs the last handful of years.”
laine hasn’t played in the playoffs since 2020 with the jets.
laine didn’t want to go into a lot of details about what went wrong in columbus, saying “it just wasn’t a great fit for me.” earlier this month, laine and his fiancée, jordan leigh, announced a new mental health initiative called from us to you on instagram and thanked people for the support he has received over the last few months.
patrik laine and his fiancé announced a new mental health initiative called from us to you on instagram.
— b/r open ice (@br_openice) august 12, 2024
laine also thanked everyone for the support he has received over the past few months 👏
(via ig/patriklaine, ig/fromustoy0u) pic.twitter.com/vuyxcdj07s
“it’s not a secret that it’s been a little tough on and off the ice lately, but i think i’ve learned — how do i put this — to learn things about myself, how to handle certain situations,” laine said monday. “there’s always going to be stuff that’s happening to you. a lot of adversity and a lot of good things … kind of how to handle that. i always wasn’t the best at doing that, but i feel like now i know kind of how to navigate through and how to handle it … is the glass half full or half empty kind of thing and now i’m looking at things in a more positive perspective these days. i feel like the handling and navigating through tough times is kind of what i’ve learned mostly about myself these past couple of years. i feel like i’m in a really, really good place and couldn’t be (more) excited with the news from today.
advertisement
advertisement
“we’re pretty proud of it the thing we’re doing,” laine added about the from us to you program with his fiancée. “i had a lot of positive feedback and it’s pretty close to both of our hearts. we both know from experience that life is not easy. so i think it’s more about talking about it and that’s kind of my approach to this. for me, talking was the thing that’s been helping. for somebody else it might be something else, but i can only speak from my own experience. just try to spread the positive about talking about these hard things. it’s not easy, it’s not fun, but it’s so helpful in the long run and that’s kind of what i’ve realized during my journey. i just figured start this project and kind of destigmatize this whole mental health space and it’s ok to seek for help and it’s not a weakness, it’s a strength. so that’s kind of where we’re at with this and we’re really proud of it and taking it as high as we can. hopefully help a lot of people along the way.”
as for his own personal struggles, laine said: “i think most importantly it’s been just about patty as a person more than patty the hockey player. one thing i’ve noticed is that when you’re not enjoying whatever you do, you’re probably not going to be able to perform and that’s kind of where i’ve been at. i haven’t been enjoying myself for a while, but now i’m happier than ever off the ice and i’ve done a lot of work on myself to get me back to this point where i’m actually super-excited about playing in a new place with new teammates in a new city.
advertisement
advertisement
“i’ve learned a lot of things over these last couple of years and now it’s a really good time to put them to test,” he added. “i’m absolutely readier than ever.”
share story
