Habs teammate goes knee on knee with Patrik Laine at practice.

Regardless of the fact that the Montreal Canadiens appear to have dodged a bullet here, you gotta believe that young defenseman Justin Barron is going to be getting a stern talking to from the coaching staff after today's practice.

The Canadiens fan base held their collective breath on Friday when news broke that star forward Patrik Laine had been knocked out of practice after going knee on knee with the aforementioned Barron during a drill.

Laine has of course missed the entire regular season thus far after being the victim of a similar situation during the National Hockey League preseason. At that time, Laine went knee on knee with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Cedric Pare, resulting in a major injury for Laine before he had ever played a single official game for the Canadiens. Coincidentally, Pare has also not played a single game in the NHL this season... or ever for that matter.

As you would expect that put everyone on high alert when Laine went knee on knee with Barron and that situation only got more intense when Laine was forced to leave the ice following the collision. Thankfully it does appear as though Laine is going to be ok with reports that he returned to the ice following the collision and appeared to be alright, relatively speaking.

The last thing the Canadiens need is another major injury to Laine, who was expected to be one of the team's most exciting forwards this season.

The Canadiens acquired Laine, and his massive cap hit of $8.7 million per season, in a trade this past August with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Canadiens also received a second round pick in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft in that deal and gave up defenseman Jordan Harris in exchange.