What will a successful 2024-25 season look like for Patrik Laine of the Montreal Canadiens?

When it comes to hockey fans, most are loyal to a specific team. But there is no shortage of people who want to see Patrik Laine prosper.

In a world where hockey players often lack personality, that has never been a problem for Laine. Between the extravagant outfits, her love of video games, or her sheer confidence, Laine has established a loyal fan base wherever she goes. But the Montreal Canadiens are a totally different beast.

And now, after the toughest season of his NHL career, and the start of his most lucrative contract to date, there has never been more pressure for him to perform in the NHL.

Between an upper-body injury early in the season, an illness in early December, a broken collarbone and then a trip to the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, Laine was limited to just nine points in 18 games last year. His advanced analytics weren’t very good, and between inconsistency and injury issues, he never looked comfortable in his four-year stint with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Laine hasn’t played a competitive NHL game since Dec. 14, so getting comfortable in a new environment is paramount. Preseason is good and all, but he hasn’t played a real game against a full NHL roster in almost 300 days. Now he’s playing with new linemates, a new coach and a new system in a whole new city. He will most likely slot in on the second line alongside Kirby Dach, who hasn’t played since last October.

So if Laine starts off slow, it’s understandable. But this won’t be acceptable for long, given his salary. From the beginning, Laine was viewed as one of the NHL’s best young scorers. With an incredible shot and a ton of raw muscle to back it up, Laine had three consecutive 30+ goal seasons to open his career. Nothing matched his 44-goal, 70-point streak in 2017-18, and he looked good during the Winnipeg Jets’ long playoff run. He scored 28 goals in 68 games in 2019-20, so he would have easily scored 30 if he had stayed healthy.

But since then, the closest it has been is 26 in 2021-22. Columbus never really gave him adequate support in the middle to work with compared to Winnipeg, but inconsistency, some awkward two-way efforts and a history of injuries didn’t help.

So Montreal is giving him a fresh start, but Laine has to hold up his end of the deal. He’ll make $8.7 million per season through 2026, which is a steep price for someone who simply hasn’t looked his best in a while. Fortunately, the Canadiens have cap space and are not expected to be in the playoffs this year. But eventually, they’ll be back in contention, and they’d probably love to have Laine healthy and strong as a big part of that.

At the very least, Laine needs to stay healthy. Even 60 games would be the best he’s achieved since his time in Winnipeg ended in 2020. If he can play 60 games, at least 20 goals and 50 points feel manageable. Sure, Laine struggled last year, but he never had a chance to feel comfortable. Once he hears the roar of a packed Bell Center on October 9, you can expect his old, competitive self to reappear. Some players simply shine in the spotlight; maybe Laine will too.

That’s optimistic, of course. But even in the games leading up to his departure from Columbus, there was something there. Laine is best when he has a skilled passer feeding him throughout the game. He can also exploit open space on the power play, something he will have plenty of opportunities to do with the Habs.

At his best, Laine is excellent as a quick scorer and can shoot from anywhere. We still saw that last year, but in smaller increments. Some scouts even noted that Laine was forced to play more defensively or rely on his teammates to get him the puck, when his game is really designed for him to have the puck and take care of things from there.

“Few players want to score more than Laine, and he knows how to do it,” one scout said. “Montreal’s coaching staff would do better to let him play his game instead of molding him into something he’s not, like a two-way player. Let him score goals.”

There is probably more pressure than ever for Laine to perform. He’ll want to get his career back on track before hitting the open market in 2026. If he can become a great long-term answer for Montreal, great. They gave up almost nothing to get it, and it essentially addresses a major hole the Canadiens were missing. Canadians clearly don’t see Laine as dead weight. They’ve been promoting him a lot, and even for a non-contender, accepting a salary as big as his is no small feat.

If you’re a Habs fan, it’s going to be a fascinating season. Will they be a good team? No. How about a better team than last year? Absolutely. And with Laine there, maybe the Habs can help resurrect his career like they did with Sean Monahan. That alone could be a fun story to watch. The Habs don’t need him to set career highs this year, but if he can get back into 50-point territory, that will be a good start. Anything more will be huge. These may not seem like big numbers for a player making that much money, but he hasn’t played at the level we’ve seen him capable of in quite some time.

The moral of the story? Laine just needs to play. A lot. And if everything goes well, the results will come. You need to regain your trust.

There is optimism that we will see a mega season from Laine in 2024-25. But it’s up to him to make the most of it.

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