Huge update on the return of the injured Patrik Laine.

The Montreal Canadiens have had a terrible time of things to start the 2024-25 National Hockey League regular season posting an abysmal record of 4-9-2, a record that is only matched by the lowly San Jose Sharks. The Canadiens are a young team in the middle of a rebuild so some growing pains are to be expected, but one thing that certainly did not help them was a devastating injury to star forward Patrik Laine before the season even officially began.

As most of you reading this will already know, Laine was injured during a preseason game against the Toronto Maple Leafs when he was struck by a knee on knee hit courtesy of Maple Leafs forward Cedric Pare, a player that has gone on to appear in no NHL games this season and only 7 American Hockey League games thus far. That blow was expected to keep Laine out of the lineup for 2 to 3 months due to a knee sprain, but a recent update may provide a much needed ray of sunshine in what has otherwise been a very gloomy season for the Canadiens up until this point.

That timeline would have seen Laine return in either January or December at the earliest, but recent comments from Canadiens insider Renaud Lavoie have indicated that Laine's recovery may be ahead of schedule. Speaking during the broadcast of Saturday night's game between the Canadiens and Maple Leafs, Lavoie would reveal that the Habs may have Laine back before the end of this month.

"Patrik Laine started skating again on Thursday," said Lavoie during Saturday night's NHL broadcast before adding "if everything goes well, and I stress if everything goes well, he could be playing at the end of the month... if everything goes well."

That would provide a much needed boost to a Canadiens fan base that has very little to cheer for this season, especially with their team in the middle of a 6 game losing streak and the worst goal differential (-23) in the entire NHL.