My Man: Jordan Leigh on Patrik Laine

MONTREAL - Between enjoying the sights and scenes of Montreal, taking care of their pup Boogie and running their mental health initiative From Us to You, Patrik Laine and his fiancée Jordan Leigh are quite the busy couple.

Luckily for the Canadiens content team, Laine’s better half took some time to answer our questions and give Habs fans a glimpse of what the Finnish forward is like off the ice.

Questions and answers have been modified for clarity and conciseness.

How did you and Patrik meet?

I was living in D.C. at the time, and he was in Columbus playing there, but I grew up in Columbus. So, I was home for a weekend for a wedding, and it's not very romantic, but we met at a bar. I never really thought I was going to see him again, but we ended up keeping in touch and FaceTiming every night. We met up again in Miami a couple of weeks later, and the rest is history.

What was your first impression of him?

At first, he was very quiet and reserved, but then he really opened up and just laid everything out on the table. He was like, “This is who I am. This is what I’m all about. This is what I think.” It really encouraged me to open up and be like, “Alright, well, this is who I am, and this is what I've been dealing with,” and that kind of stuff. It's like what Patty says with From Us to You: if you open up, it encourages someone else to open up, too.

What would you say is his best quality?

He’s so goofy and funny. But he's also the sweetest teddy bear in the entire world. Patty is very concerned about others. He’s very kind and generous. I guess I’m giving you 50 qualities [laughs], but he's a big teddy bear and he's very dependable.

By the way, congratulations on the engagement! How did he pop the question?

We actually got engaged a year ago in February even though we announced it at the end of the summer. We were in Turks and Caicos for the break, and it was for my birthday. He organized a private dinner on the beach and I kind of had an inkling that it was going to happen, but somehow, he still managed to totally surprise me. It was a very romantic and private dinner, and it was beautiful.

Speaking of romance, would you call Patrik a romantic?

He's very thoughtful. I think that’s the biggest word I would use. He's not romantic in the sense of, “I'm going to lay out rose petals,” and that kind of thing [laughs]. But he’s romantic in the sense of he's always thinking of me and doing little things to show me that he cares, and he’s very affectionate, for sure.

You guys launched an online mental health platform called From Us to You. What does it mean for you to have this platform together?

It means everything. I'm so proud of him for taking something that was really, really hard and turning it into a positive to help other people. I think it goes to show the kind of person he is, and that he can take these really difficult challenges and make them something worthwhile, and I'm so grateful to be on this journey with him. [...] It's nice to see how our different skills and perspectives complement each other in this initiative.

What is the best Valentine’s Day gift he’s ever gotten you, if you can only pick one?

Oh my gosh. I think it's actually this ring [that I’m wearing]. It’s the ring he got me before he gave me my engagement ring. He got it engraved on the inside with “Rakkaani”, which means “my love” in Finnish. That was something really special and thoughtful that he did. It's a really nice touch and that’s what he always calls me. It's a nice way to have the Finnish culture on my finger, too.