Many feared that Patrik Laine would be out for the entire 2024/25 season with a knee injury, but now <a href='https://www.nhl.com/canadiens/news/patrik-laine-out-two-to-three-months' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>the team have confirmed surprisingly good news</a>. The 2024 pre-season in the NHL has been a disaster for injuries, and after the Montreal Canadiens announced that prospect David Reinbacher would <a href='https://www.hockeylatest.com/nhl-team/montreal-canadiens/early-updates-on-david-reinbacher-and-patrik-laine-provide-worrying-signs-for-the-montreal-canadiens' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>miss between five and six months with an injury</a>, the expectation was that Patrik Laine would be out for much longer. On Tuesday however, the team announced some shocking news, revealing that he would miss just two to three months with what was a knee sprain, despite the prediction of an ACL injury from many insiders. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/canadiensmtl/status/1841221676417122748'> </a></blockquote></div> This is amazing news for Montreal, but more importantly Laine, who missed plenty of 2023/24 while dealing with a mental health situation, so now that he will potentially return in early 2025, it's a big boost for him and the team as a whole. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/renlavoietva/status/1841222182711558479'> </a></blockquote></div> During pre-season and training camp, many around the Canadiens noted that Laine looked more motivated than ever, and while this injury could have cost him significant time, he returned to practice after his injury to see his teammates, remaining as positive as ever. Now, he'll be back with over half of the regular season to go if everything goes as planned, and with an exciting second line combination with Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook building, this could be a very fun team in 2024/25. The past few days have been filled with dread for Canadiens fans, especially given the manner in which he was injured, but now, many fans can breathe a sigh of relief as Laine will be back with plenty of time to find his footing, and if he can find his form of old, this will be a player to keep a very close eye on.