Patrik Laine goes against Kent Hughes and delivers an unexpected message about the Canadiens
Patrik Laine just blew up Kent Hughes' story in front of the Montreal cameras Monday at the Canadiens' end-of-season media day in Brossard.
The Finnish winger told reporters he could've returned to the lineup well before the playoffs ended. Around New Year's, in his own words.
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That's not what Hughes said earlier in the day.
The general manager had framed the absence as a player who couldn't physically catch up, on a team that needed every meaningful game it could win.
«Maybe he could have pushed through and tried to play,» but it was too late by then.
He was «an incredible teammate,» according to Hughes.
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Laine offered something very different. He said he was healthy. He said he made the call to stay out because of where the room was, and how hard everyone was pushing.
Read that again. A $8.7 million winger told the city he was good to go months ago, and the team that finished 48-24-10 played without him anyway.
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Cap pressure now lands on Hughes and a winger nobody trusts in big games
Montreal finished 6th overall with 106 points and a 283-256 goal share. The roster did fine without him. That's the uncomfortable part.
Laine's full-season line tells the rest. Five games. Zero goals. One assist. A -3 rating in a sample that small.
A 28-year-old sniper carrying that cap number, watching a deep run from the press box while saying he was ready, is not a footnote.
It's a divorce in slow motion. The kind where both sides keep smiling for the cameras and quietly pack boxes in the basement.
The clip is worth your time. Laine speaks calmly, almost amused, like a man who already knows where he's playing next year.
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Because here's the question nobody at the Bell Centre wants to answer out loud. If Laine was ready in January, who decided he wouldn't play in May?
The GM said one thing this morning. The player said another this afternoon. Both can't be true.
Martin St-Louis hasn't weighed in yet. When he does, the math gets even messier, because the head coach controls who steps on the ice and who watches in a suit.
For now, $8.7 million of cap space is sitting in a chair in Brossard, telling Montreal he could've helped. That sentence doesn't age well.
The next move belongs to Hughes. And the clock on it just got loud.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 29, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Taylor Hall | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jackson Blake | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alexander Nikishin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| Phillip Danault | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||