Photo credit: MARTIN ALARIE / JOURNAL DE MONTREAL

Canadiens reporter shares unfortunate updates on Patrik Laine and David Reinbacher, who were both injured early on during last night’s loss to the Maple Leafs.

A pair of injuries to Laine and Reinbacher on Saturday highlight the need for a much shorter pre-season in the NHL, as both players suffered what appear to be significant injuries in the first period of last night’s pre-season meeting with the Maple Leafs.

According to Patrick Friolet of RDS, both players left on crutches, wearing braces on their left knees, which does not bode well for the players and the organization.

The Laine injury was the talk of the evening, as the former 2nd overall pick attempted to surge into the Leafs’ zone, trying to split the D in the process. Unfortunately, Laine’s wide stance led him straight into a knee-on-knee collision with Toronto’s Cedric Pare. The result wasn’t pretty.

For Reinbacher, his injury was a lot more subtle, without much explanation as to what may have happened. Yes, Marshall Rifai does follow through with a hit, but does not appear to make contact with the knee of Reinbacher at all, perhaps indicating that the injury had occurred just before the hit, as Reinbacher may have tweaked his own knee trying to stop up to avoid the hit.

Reinbacher injury

Dr. Harjas Grewal revealed on Twitter/X that there are several possibilities that should be considered when it comes to Laine’s injury.

Grewal also chimed in on the Reinbacher injury, though the prognosis was not nearly as convincing as the one offered up for Laine.

Both players are scheduled to undergo MRIs on their injured knees over the next 24 hours or so. While nothing is confirmed as of yet, both players appear to be in line to miss some major time after leaving on crutches.