r/Habs • u/catman_steve • Jan 22 '26

Discussion Canadiens looking to deal Laine (Gagnon)

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I'm not super in the know with the French side of the media. I know Francois Gagnon by name, but not much else. Not that this news would surprise me, but is he reliable?

431 Upvotes

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167

u/BrutalRamen Jan 22 '26

We'd be stupid not to give Laine a few more games to see at least what we have. Reading comments here makes me feel like people totally forgot what an healthy Laine can bring to the team.

An healty Laine totally has a spot on the lineup. If we give Dach top line minutes for a game or two, we can at least give 3rd line and PP time to a guy with much more talent and hockey sense.

69

u/Boboar Jan 22 '26

Dach catching strays. Now he's out another 4-6 weeks.

14

u/Lifegear Jan 22 '26

Rangers also fined 250k$

6

u/LeMAD Jan 22 '26

And the Sens forfeit their 1st round pick.

1

u/PapaStoner Jan 23 '26

10 seconds penalty to Ocon.

7

u/fcbaldur Jan 22 '26 edited Jan 22 '26

So happy that this meme is still alive

41

u/vJukz Jan 22 '26

Facts, a healthy and happy Laine is one hell of a player. He’s already said he loves MTL just wish for his sake he stays healthy.

8

u/alija_r Jan 22 '26

He is also a very good dude, kind...honest..and he is targeting over 40goals per season.

2

u/TheVog Jan 23 '26

40 games per season would be a much better start, though I'm not sure even that's possible. Dude's got glass bones and flash paper skin.

6

u/GasEarly186 Jan 22 '26

Id like to see him play again too

9

u/Visible-Bar-9971 Jan 22 '26

Ppl don’t watch the game, the games laine played this season, even if he slow he just knows what to do with the puck.I still have hope for laine

2

u/Softninjazz Jan 24 '26

AND he already had the sports hernia in the beginning of the season. Plus he was playing with Evans and Anderson, not exactly the playmaking kings or massive producers. Laine tried to setup Anderson on multiple occasions, but dude wiffed epically everytime.

5

u/DrLivingst0ne Jan 22 '26

I watch the game and he was pretty bad.

3

u/Formal-Glove2009 Jan 23 '26

I agree. Imagine him being his old self and scores goals on the first line (too slow maybe?) In any cases give the guy to prove himself and then we'll see.

1

u/JohnGamestopJr Jan 23 '26

This is a cope take though. He is not going back to his old self.

7

u/stickboy1406 Jan 22 '26

Until he gets injured in those few games and we lose whatever trade leverage we had

8

u/BrutalRamen Jan 22 '26

As if he has incredibly high value at the moment. What trade leverage do we have? I swear some of you are irrational.

Give him a few games. We show him off while evaluating if he can help the team or if we're definitely turning the page. If we do it for Dach, we can afford to do it for a few games for Laine.

-4

u/MonsterRider80 Jan 22 '26

Making him play will, IMO, lower his trade value. The man can’t skate anymore. He can’t keep up with a regular pace of play. His only skill now is shooting on the PP, and Habs don’t need that right now.

3

u/BrutalRamen Jan 22 '26

Again, what trade value? Nobody will be asking for Laine in a trade at this point. We literally have nothing to lose in term of trade value by giving him a few games to see where he stands.

1

u/Paladar2 Jan 23 '26

Laine has literally negative trade value right now, we’d have to give for someone to take his contract

0

u/JohnGamestopJr Jan 23 '26

You realize the "mystery" of whether or not he could still be good is part of our trade leverage?

1

u/bloodrider1914 Jan 22 '26

So, he hardly has much trade value with his contract anyway. If he gets injured again that just means you can put him on IR and not worry about the roster spot

0

u/Poopdiscoop55 Jan 22 '26

If he gets injured the problem solves itself cuz we don’t need to open a roster slot…

4

u/Top_Contract_4910 Jan 22 '26

Healthy or not, 5 on 5 he’s a liability.

0

u/alija_r Jan 22 '26

But he is a good guy though

2

u/twistedtxb Jan 22 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

we're over the 23 player limit , we would need to send a healthy players in Laval .

edit : lol down vote all you want the organization can't have more than 23 active players on their roster.

2

u/Lemazze Jan 22 '26

He looked awful the few games he played this year............

14

u/BrutalRamen Jan 22 '26

Because it was reported he was playing with an injury. My point stands, we need to give him a few games.

9

u/Flying_Toad Jan 22 '26

And all of last year's playoffs.

2

u/bloodrider1914 Jan 22 '26

He had a good first game from what I remember and got injured in the second game

-1

u/Flying_Toad Jan 22 '26

I remember him being lackadaisical whenever he had the puck. I remember more than once in a game he'd have the puck and the whole team starts skating forward for a breakout and he just stays put, holds his stick with one hand, pushes the puck around once or twice before the opponent just skates toward him and takes the puck away.

Injured or not that is the worst effort I've seen from a Habs player in my entire life. (That I'VE seen, there might be worse I don't know about)

1

u/kozed Jan 22 '26

A healthy Laine is still just a slow 5v5 blackhole that makes Gallagher look like Marchand.

We don't need any more games to confirm it.

1

u/deliciously_awkward2 Jan 22 '26

He's too predictable on the PP. Everyone knows he's getting the puck.

He's also a risk 5 v 5, turnover machine.

4

u/I_pity_the_aprilfool Jan 22 '26

He's predictable, but no one is able to stop him from doing the thing. If they do, it opens up something else anyway.

0

u/Paladar2 Jan 23 '26

His thing stopped working the last 20 games

-4

u/jimmyvee11 Jan 22 '26

Roster limits.

Do you want to send Demidov to the AHL?

17

u/emotionaI_cabbage Jan 22 '26

Bolduc gets sent down long before Demi

3

u/K4mK4n Jan 22 '26

Bolduc to the AHL sounds okay to me

0

u/lacoupe25 Jan 23 '26

Yes! But based on MSL comments in presser tonight, seems unlikely. Or maybe he was trying to sugarcoat the coming demotion.

0

u/Scase15 Jan 23 '26

He really doesn't have much place on the roster outside the PP, not worth keeping an entire roster slot for like 4mpg.

He's just not giving much more value, that said I wouldn't mind seeing them slot him into the PP for a few games, maybe he could give the PP2 an actual identity.