Patrik Laine wasn't hurt but sat on IR anyway. The NHL can't sit still - Canada News Beep

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Patrick Johnston: If a player is healthy, they’re supposed to be on the roster

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Published Jun 01, 2026 • 3 minute read

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Montréal Canadiens right wing Patrik Laine speaks to the media in the locker room as the Canadiens season comes to an end, in Montreal, on Monday, June 1, 2026. Photo by Allen McInnis /Montreal GazetteArticle content

Keeping a player on the injured reserve list once they’ve recovered from injury is supposed to be a huge no-no in the NHL.

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This is apparently what happened with Montreal Canadiens winger Patrik Laine this past season — so the former scoring star admitted Monday in conversations with reporters at the team’s end-of-season media day.

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Laine spent most of the season on IR after suffering a core muscle injury in October. At the time, the team said he needed surgery and would be out three to four months.

It was no surprise that he returned to the ice in January and went through an as-expected injury recovery, slowly but surely getting backup to full speed and becoming a full participant in drills.

“I probably could have played after New Year’s,” Laine revealed to reporters, confirming what many had wondered about for weeks. But, for whatever reason, he never suited up again for Montreal.

General manager Kent Hughes had a somewhat nuanced explanation when he was asked Monday about what happened to the 28-year-old sniper, who was in the last year of a four-year contract that averaged $8.7 million per season. He signed the deal with his previous team, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“Laine was behind because of his injury. We were getting into a situation where we absolutely had to win,” Hughes said. So, in other words, he wasn’t going to be an option, fit or not.

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“Maybe he could have pushed and tried to play, but by then it was too late,” the GM went on. “He was an incredible teammate.”

That’s nice, but the simple truth is if he’s been cleared medically to play, he’s not supposed to be on injured reserve. He’s supposed to be on the active roster.

And if you are the NHLPA, you are surely concerned: There’s a good reason injured reserve exists. But the system requires trust and if there’s a suspicion team doctors can be manipulated into saying a player is injured when they clearly are no longer, where does this all end? Laine didn’t complain. In his post-season comments, he went on to say he was proud of his team. Management praised him for his attitude.

But he would have been within every right to complain about what was going on.

And I would be shocked if other teams don’t complain on this one.

When the Vancouver Canucks put in post-season practices in 2023, they had the hammer fall on them heavily. There was a rule change that came out of it, but the team was also warned, clearly, that they’d run afoul of the rules and it wasn’t to happen again.

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Like the Vegas Golden Knights were just punished for running afoul of media access rules after repeated warnings, it’s hard to imagine the Canadiens won’t be read the riot act about these Laine shenanigans.

People have been mad enough in recent seasons about teams, like Vegas, using the long-term injured reserve system to their advantage going into the playoffs. This isn’t quite the same since the Habs had the cap space to work with, but it’s still an issue of working conditions. Players should be able to expect that they’ll be treated fairly by their team’s medical staff and that they won’t be pressured to do things with their health in any way, shape or form.

Of course, there’s also the final point raised, smartly, by TSN’s Pierre Lebrun: Because Laine missed substantial time this season on IR, he’s actually eligible to sign an incentive-laden performance bonus contract. Normally only players over 35, or on their entry-level deal, can sign contracts that start with a low AAV but can be escalated through performance bonuses. But if you spend a season chiefly out injured, you can sign one of these deals because that minimizes risk for potential signing teams and opens up the options for a player who might have injury questions hanging over them.

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Given a capped out team would pay out any contract overages in the subsequent season, there’s now also plenty of reason for the league’s top teams, who might otherwise not be interested in taking a risk on a player who scored 20 goals in 52 games in his previous season with Montreal, to take a risk on Laine.

What’s to lose on a guy who should score, but who might flake off, if your opening commitment is minimal? Not much.

That, though, ignores the bigger point: There are rules. If a player is healthy, they aren’t supposed to be on IR. That’s it.

The league’s credibility demands that these rules be enforced.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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Patrik Laine wasn’t hurt but sat on IR anyway. The NHL can’t sit still

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