Canadiens' Patrik Laine out 3-4 months; Olympics also in doubt - ESPN

Montreal Canadiens winger Patrik Laine will miss the next three to four months after having surgery to repair a core muscle, the team announced Saturday.

Laine, a seven-time 20-goal scorer, has faced a challenging start in his second season with the Canadiens. He recorded one point and an assist in five games, with his last appearance coming Oct. 16 in the Habs' 3-2 overtime win against the Nashville Predators.

Since then, he has been out of the lineup on a day-to-day basis with what was initially designated as a lower-body injury.

The Canadiens announced Laine's injury a week after they said that defenseman Kaiden Guhle would be out for up to six weeks with a lower-body injury. Guhle's injury left the Canadiens without one of their top-four defensemen who was fifth on the team in average ice time at 19:14.

Laine's departure comes as the Canadiens are having one of the strongest starts of any team. They entered Saturday with six wins through their first nine games while being tied with the Vegas Golden Knights for the third-most points in the NHL.

Being without Laine, who was serving in a bottom-six role, means the Canadiens' potential bottom-six winger setup is expected to feature Josh Anderson, Zack Bolduc, Kirby Dach and Brendan Gallagher.

Should the timeline for Laine's recovery hold, the earliest he could return to the Canadiens' lineup would be late January, with the notion he could be healthy by late February.

That timeline could also create questions about his availability to represent Finland at the Milan-Cortina Olympics that start Feb. 6 and end Feb. 22.

Laine has represented his nation at different international competitions but not the Olympics, with the NHL allowing its players to return to the Games for