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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporterOct 1, 2024, 06:06 PM ET
CloseRyan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.
Montreal Canadiens winger Patrik Laine will miss the next two-to-three months while he continues to recover from a sprained left knee, the team announced Tuesday.
Laine sustained the injury Saturday during the first period in his team’s 2-1 preseason loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Laine was skating into the Leafs’ zone when his left knee was part of a knee-on-knee hit with Maple Leafs forward Cedric Pare.
Replays showed Laine’s left knee bent backward during the collision and he immediately fell to the ice before appearing to grab his left knee. Pare was not assessed a penalty but eventually fought Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj with Xhekaj repeatedly punching Pare in the head. Xhekaj was given a minor penalty and a 10-minute misconduct for instigating, a major penalty for fighting and a game misconduct. On Sunday, the department of player safety announced it fined Xhekaj the maximum amount – $3,385.42 – for unsportsmanlike conduct.
On Monday, Laine showed up to Canadiens’ practice where he was on crutches. A day later, the team announced that he would not require surgery as part of his recovery.
Missing Laine for at least the first two months of the season comes after the Canadiens acquired him in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets in August with defenseman Jordan Harris and a 2026 second-round pick going in the other direction.
Laine’s time in Columbus was believed to be coming to an end with Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell confirming those beliefs after he told TSN 1050 in Toronto that Laine spoke with him about not wanting to play for the franchise within days of the trade.
Getting Laine came with a few moving parts. The first being the Canadiens added a 26-year-old who was already a six-time 20 goal scorer packed inside of a 6-foot-5 frame who also had two years remaining on his contract worth $8.7 million annually.
Another was what it meant for…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/41556549/canadiens-patrik-laine-miss-2-3-months-sprained-knee
Author : Ryan Clark
Publish date : 2024-10-01 23:09:54
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