Patrik Laine will be out 2-3 months for the Montreal Canadiens because of a left knee sprain. He will not require surgery.
The forward was injured in a knee-on-knee collision with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Cedric Pare at 3:49 of the first period of a 2-1 preseason loss on Saturday. He had to be helped off the ice and down the tunnel.
Laine was acquired by the Canadiens in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Aug. 19 with a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft for defenseman Jordan Harris.
"It's tough for him, obviously," Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher said. "He was excited, the fan base was excited, and us as a team, we were very excited to have him. He's an electric player and for that to be put on hold is disappointing but it's kind of the nature of the game. We dealt with it last year with Kirby (Dach, who played two games last season before a season-ending knee injury). We've been through it seemingly every year around here.
“We know how to handle it. It's going to be an opportunity for other players to step up and as a group just do what we can with the bodies we have. It’s obviously tough news to hear, that's for sure."
Laine was limited to 18 games last season, the last on Dec. 14, because of a broken clavicle. He had nine points (six goals, three assists). Laine began receiving care from the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program on Jan. 28 and was cleared from the program on July 26.
"The number one job we had to do with Patty is make him excited to come to the rink, and he was," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said Monday. "And it's not just my job, it's the group, you know. And what I'm really proud about the group -- and I know, obviously there's a show called 'The Rebuild' -- when you're building a house, the house could look really nice, but is it a home? And I feel like seeing Patty coming in like that makes me feel like we're building a home, not just a house. So I think it stings a little more because I feel he was excited to come to the rink."
Selected by the Winnipeg Jets with the No. 2 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Laine has 388 points (204 goals, 184 assists) in 480 games with the Jets and Blue Jackets, and 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in 24 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He scored an NHL career-high 44 goals with the Jets in 2017-18 after scoring 36 as a rookie in 2016-17. Laine is a six-time 20-goal scorer, mostly recently with 22 goals in 2022-23, but has played 129 of 246 games the past three seasons.
Montreal will also be without defenseman David Reinbacher for 5-6 months because of a left knee injury.
Reinbacher, who had surgery Tuesday, was also injured in the preseason game Saturday shortly after the opening face-off following a hit along the boards by Maple Leafs defenseman Marshall Rifai.
Reinbacher, the No. 5 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, had 11 points (one goal, 10 assists) in 35 games last season with EHC Kloten of the National League, the top professional league in Switzerland, and had five points (two goals, three assists) in 11 games with Laval of the American Hockey League.
Reinbacher, who was expected to begin this season in Laval, also had two assists in three games for Austria last month in qualifications for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.
Montreal begins the regular season at home against Toronto on Oct. 9.
