The Canadiens’ regular season kicks off in exactly 30 days, and it’s time to see a new face in action: Patrik Laine. We still can’t confirm which line he’ll be playing on, but we have our suspicions it’ll be the second line.
In an interview with Guillaume Lepage of NHL.com, Alex Newhook confirmed that he’s very excited to be back on the ice and that he’d love to complete a line with Kirby Dach and “little” newcomer Patrik Laine.
However, Newhook wouldn’t confirm anything with Lepage. He’s not in a position to give a precise opinion on the composition of the trios for next season.
On the other hand, the chances of the Laine-Dach-Newhook line-up seeing the light of day are pretty good if the first line-up of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky remains intact.
With two tall players in Laine (6 foot 5) and Dach (6 foot 4), Newhook believes he can bring the speed needed to complete a good chemistry in this line.
Laine had the opportunity to skate with the Habs in recent days, and Newhook found he fit in perfectly with the team.
But Newhook is far from the only Canadiens player excited at the prospect of playing on the same team as Laine. His captain, Nick Suzuki, told NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger that the Canadiens are delighted to have added a player of his calibre to the team.
Suzuki is aware that Laine has had a tough time of it, but he believes that Montreal is the kind of organization that can get Laine back to his old ways.
Like Newhook, Suzuki had the opportunity to skate with Laine in Brossard. The captain believes that getting back on the ice has been good for Laine, who has been absent from NHL activities since December 14.
Suzuki also took the time to add that he enjoyed getting to know his new teammate.
It’s good to see the Habs players so excited about playing with Laine, which proves that Kent Hughes was right when he said he wanted to reward his players.
