It was an exciting season by all measures for the Montreal Canadiens, who not only returned to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive campaign but also advanced to the Eastern Conference Final following consecutive Game 7 road victories over the divisional rival Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres.
And while their run came to a close at the hands of the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes, there is plenty to be excited about.
As part of his offseason moves, Canadiens GM Kent Hughes re-signed Ivan Demidov to an eight-year, $73.2 million contract, while also re-signing Kirby Dach; Hughes also acquired forwards Brett Berard and Hunter McKown, while signing goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen.
But one player who likely isn’t going to be back with the Canadiens is Patrik Laine, who joined the club from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a trade in August of 2024.
Patrik Laine Is Moving On From The Montreal Canadiens And Could Stay In Eastern Conference
Laine, who missed the first several weeks of his first season with the Canadiens with a knee injury and was limited to just five games this past season, won’t be back with the club for the upcoming campaign.
And it appears as though his next potential destination may have been linked by none other than his wife Jordan Leigh during a recent Q+A session on Instagram.
She responded to a fan by hinting at Washington D.C. as a particular hint to where he could be playing in 2026-27.
“Oh I ABSOLUTELY do HA BUT my lips are sealed. I do love dc though! I lived there 3.5 years before meeting Patty and they were his favorite team as a kid,” she replied.
The couple has already moved on from Montreal and are currently soaking up the sun in Miami.
“Taking you guys with me to this blowout before I head to nyc tomorrow for my masters! We are not in Montreal we’re in Miami for the summer! We road tripped down here with boogie and the YouTube video of our trip will be up on Saturday if you’d like to check it out! Xx.”
Patrik Laine Was Limited To Just Five Games In 2025-26
Laine said following the season that while he was available to come back earlier than expected, he still finished the campaign on the injured list.
“I could have come back pretty early, but this is one of those things when you have surgeries and stuff, you don’t always feel 100 per cent,” he said. “You don’t want to rush anything and go play too early, and then take a step back and it takes longer. I wanted to be more cautious.”
“It’s one of those things. I’ll just leave it at that,” he continued. “I kind of figured early on that I probably wasn’t going to be playing since I’ve been out for four or five months and guys are battling for a playoff spot, and all the guys are playing great….Figured that I probably won’t be playing.”
So far in his NHL career, Laine, who was taken with the second overall pick in the 2016 Draft, has scored 224 goals with 198 assists in 537 games with the Winnipeg Jets, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Canadiens.
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