Martin St. Louis calls out the NHL and Gary Bettman following Patrik Laine's heartbreaking injury
Patrik Laine potentially suffered a long-term injury in the Canadiens pre-season matchup against Toronto, and now Martin St. Louis has called out the league.
Last night's matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens was a brutal one, and that was highlighted by the severe injury of forward Patrik Laine, who took a knee-on-knee hit from Cedric Pare of the Maple Leafs.
The intent of the Leafs forward is up in the air, but regardless of that, this is a player that may likely never play an NHL game causing a major injury to a star of the NHL with, at the very least, an incredibly reckless play. Montreal would get their revenge on Pare as Arber Xhekaj would take him down and batter him in the middle of the ice, and while it needed to be done, it will likely result in a suspension.
This whole story has raised a bigger issue however, why does the pre-season need to be so long? That is a question that has been raised all over social media in the last three days, with three NHL stars potentially suffering injuries that will cause them to miss significant minutes in the regular season.
Now, Canadiens Head Coach Martin St. Louis has seemingly asked the same thing, calling out Gary Bettman and the NHL in a brutal way.
It's unlikely that this will do any more than getting St. Louis in trouble with the league, but it's an appropriate question to ask, and with training camps getting longer and more intense, perhaps the need for a long pre-season has passed the league by.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 29 | 162 ANSWERS Martin St. Louis calls out the NHL and Gary Bettman following Patrik Laine's heartbreaking injury Should the NHL shorten the pre-season to avoid injuries like this one? | ||
| Yes | 106 | 65.4 % |
| No | 56 | 34.6 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Noel Acciari | - | - | - | |
| Mason Appleton | - | - | - | |
| Morgan Barron | - | - | - | |
| Anthony Beauvillier | - | - | - | |
| Sidney Crosby | - | - | - | |
| Dylan DeMelo | - | - | - | |
| Haydn Fleury | - | - | - | |
| Matthew Grzelcyk | - | - | - | |
| Connor Hellebuyck | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 19 | 16 | 3 | - | 32 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||