Patrik Laine traveled with the team to California.

No changes were made to the lineup.

This means that Alexandre Texier was among the extra players on offense, as was Arber Xhekaj on defense. Both players were left out of Saturday’s game against the Capitals, remember.

That said, it should also be noted that Patrik Laine traveled with the team and practiced today as well. He probably won’t play until Friday (unless several guys are sick by tomorrow night), but he is still with the club at the moment.

That doesn’t mean Laine won’t be traded before the trade deadline on Friday.

But if the Canadiens were about to complete a trade, perhaps they would have asked the player to stay in Montreal. We’ll have to keep an eye on his situation over the next few days because we know there’s a good chance he’ll be traded…

We know the guy seems to be on his way out. He slammed Marc Dumont, a member of the media in Montreal, because Dumont had criticized him on Tony Marinaro’s show… and the story has been the talk of the town since this morning. Dumont responded to Laine’s comment, saying he understands why Laine is angry and that he has every right to be unhappy, as Dumont mentioned in a tweet that was posted a few minutes ago:

All this to say that Laine is still with the Canadiens, even though his situation seems to be getting more complicated as time goes on.

I really hope Kent Hughes finds a solution to this problem. Because it can’t last until the end of the season…

In a nutshell

– I like his comments.”#Canucks forward Elias Pettersson talks about his struggles since signing his extension two years ago. pic.twitter.com/jGGfgRTBpU

— Rink Wide: Vancouver (@RinkWideVAN) March 2, 2026
— To be continued.

— Interesting.

– Whew.