Montreal Canadiens confirm major rumour involving Patrick Laine because of legendary goaltender Ken Dryden

The Montreal Canadiens confirmed a major rumor involving Patrik Laine because of their legendary goaltender Ken Dryden.

The Habs general manager, Kent Hughes, hit a home run yesterday by trading the promising defenseman Jordan Harris to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Patrik Laine and a 2026 2nd round pick.

Patrik Laine, who's coming off a tough season with the Blue Jackets, will try to get back to his prior level. Let's not forget that Laine scored 70 points, including 44 goals with the Winnipeg Jets in the 2017-2018 season, only two years after being drafted 2nd overall by the same organization.

The player is confident that he'll bounce back from his tough 2023-24 season, where he was limited to only 18 games due to an injury and his time in the NHL, NHLPA's players assistance program. As he mentioned in a press conference yesterday, he wants to score 40-50 goals, a lot more than his nine-point production last season.

Since he was drafted, Laine has always worn the same number: 29. Hockey players, known to be superstitious, often prefer to keep the same number as long as possible.

Unfortunately, number 29 is already in the rafters of the Bell Centre. Indeed, the legendary goaltender Ken Dryden wore it during his career, from 1969 to 1979.

Dryden, a hall-of-famer and six-time Stanley Cup Champion, is among the best goalies to ever play in the NHL. He had a 258-57-74 record and was able to maintain a 2.24 GAA as well as a .922 SV% in his short NHL career.

Seeing this, Laine had no other option but to choose another number, which he did.

In an official post on X, the Montreal Canadiens confirmed that Laine will wear number 92:

With a fresh start in a new team, this change could turn out positive for Laine and the Canadiens, who all hope that the player will get back to his former glory.

Source: Montreal Canadiens on X

Source for Ken Dryden's statistics: NHL.com

Source for Patrik Laine's statistics: Hockey DB

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