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Speaking to the media on Friday morning, new Montreal Canadiens forward Patrik Laine was asked if he would like to play the [then] remaining three pre-season game and he replied:
Yeah I think so, I think we’ve had good conversations with the coaches, kind of what they’re looking for and what I want to do. I would probably prefer to play all the games left since we don’t have any back-to-backs or anything. Just trying to get as many games under my belt as I can. You can’t replicate a game in practice, so try to get in game action as much as I can before the opener.
After what transpired last night, it’s now obvious it won’t happen. Whichever way you look at it and however optimistic you want to be about a possible prognostic, a knee-to-knee hit like the one we saw on Saturday night always comes with a stay on the injury list.
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After missing so much time to injury and personal issues, it’s understandable that Laine wants as much opportunities as possible to shake off the rust and get his marks back, but hockey is a high-speed contact sport. Whenever you step on the ice, you run the risk of hurting yourself.
A Necessary Evil?
Is it worth running that risk for meaningless pre-season exhibition contests? No probably not, there has to be a better way. All too often, injuries sustained by NHL players in the pre-season come at the hands of AHL players hoping to leave their calling card, that should not happen.
While Laine is right that you can’t replicate game action in practice, you can hold scrimmages. A career AHLer who attends his organization’s training camp knows he has nothing to gain by injuring their team’s star. If anything in scrimmages, they are forced to hold back on the rough stuff and show how they can actually play hockey.
Related: Déjà Vu: Canadiens Lose Patrik Laine Four Minutes Into Saturday Night Game
Of course, scrimmages involving fringe NHLers and AHLers journeymen will never offer the same caliber of hockey as a proper NHL game and therefore won’t allow the most talented players to get proper reps, but that could still be done.
Possible Solutions?
If the pre-season game requirements were changed in the next collective bargaining agreement and the definition of “veteran” was review, there could be a safer environment for NHL stars to shine in. One X user suggests perhaps the A version of a team should always just play the A version of its opponent and the B versions play each other.
How would we then know if a player is ready to make the jump from the junior leagues or the AHL to the NHL? Well, perhaps the team should be allowed to keep their best prospects with the team for longer than they are now. Give those guys auditions in real regular season games and make the entry level slide conditions different. Instead of being a maximum of nine games before having to send them down, make it 15. I know this only applies to a small minority of 18-19 year-old players, but I believe it would help, and I’m not alone.
You don’t need to audition career minor leaguers who’s biggest skills are to bring grit and physicality, you know what they bring to the table. Seeing them in action against other AHLer is enough to assess their strength and weaknesses.
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The players who go through camp showing promises could then be given their shot in real game action once everyone is actually on the ice to win and not to make a name for themselves as an enforcer.
What’s Next?
While was happened to Laine is beyond unfortunate, he’s not the first NHL start to suffer a serious injury in the pre-season and the rules have never been changed because of that, but that doesn’t mean it never should be.
The current CBA will run until the end of the 2025-26 season, now is the time to consider what needs to be changed and/or improved. If I run the show, the way the preseason works is at the top of my list, closely followed by the salary cap loophole that plagues the playoffs and essentially amounts to circumventing the rules. Loopholes are meant to be fixed, there’s a reason why laws can be amended, because people find their way around them and a CBA is no different.
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