Patrik Laine | “The most talented player” Pascal Vincent has managed

In a way that no one can probably explain, Pascal Vincent and Patrik Laine seem to follow each other wherever they go in the NHL.

In 2016, the Quebec coach was in the Winnipeg Jets organization when the Finn was drafted by the Manitoba club. In 2021, less than a year after Laine was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets, they hired Vincent as an assistant coach.

Dismissed by the Jackets at the end of last season, the pilot was named head coach of the Laval Rocket, the Montreal Canadiens’ farm club. Then the Tricolore acquired Laine through a trade a few weeks ago.

“We’re always getting on each other’s nerves because we follow each other everywhere!” Pascal Vincent said Wednesday morning at the CH training center, where the organization’s rookie camp is starting.

Despite his scoring abilities, the big winger comes to Montreal with a certain baggage, which made the Canadiens the only NHL team willing to pay his hefty $8.7 million salary in full over the next two seasons. By trading him along with a second-round draft pick for defenseman Jordan Harris, the Blue Jackets essentially paid to send him elsewhere.

When CEO Kent Hughes acquired his services on August 19, he said he consulted with several people before finalizing the deal. However, he remained tight-lipped about his discussions with Vincent, twice refusing to answer questions about them.

Today we understand that it was certainly not the new Rocket pilot who spoke ill of Laine to his bosses.

“He’s a young man who has so much talent, who has possibilities to help a team that I’ve rarely seen,” Vincent said. “He’s probably the most talented player I’ve ever seen.” coached… »

“I think it’s an incredible acquisition for the Canadiens,” he added.

“Good relationship”

The Laval native also describes the new number 92 of La Flanelle as “a good person” who, he believes, will “flourish” in the metropolis.

“He has it in him,” Vincent insisted. “In a market where he is under pressure, I believe he can flourish. […] If you don’t have that confidence to make a difference in key moments, you’re going to be a good player, but not an elite player. Patrik has that in him. I think it can be a good thing for him to be more in the spotlight.”

He believes the third organization will be the right one for the 26-year-old, and he doesn’t seem to be upset about the fact that his stints in Winnipeg and Columbus ended badly. Laine also spent the last few months in the NHL’s player assistance program to combat mental health issues, which are now behind him, according to what the player explained a few weeks ago.

“Sometimes it’s just the timing ; being in the right place at the right time, Vincent said. There are players who have never been traded and who should have been traded 10 times. He was very good in Winnipeg, and in Columbus, he also had good moments, but they were not consistent. Today, he is excited, he wants to play hockey, he wants to perform, he loves the gang… I saw him this morning, he was smiling. He is really happy to be here.

Despite the praise, the partnership between the two hasn’t always been smooth sailing. In November 2023, in Columbus, Vincent scratched Laine from his lineup for one game. In the days that followed, the forward described it as “the most embarrassing moment of [sa] career “.

In hindsight, Vincent insists: “My relationship with Patrik has always been good.” He speaks today of a decision “that we made as an organization.”

“There are also things that happened that will remain private,” he concluded. “I learned that communication is super important.”

“Lucky” to have met Johnny Gaudreau

Pascal Vincent had the sad privilege of being Johnny Gaudreau’s last head coach in the NHL. The forward and his brother died a little less than two weeks ago after being hit by a car while riding their bikes. The death of this American hockey star, at age 31, shocked the entire hockey world. Which obviously includes Vincent, who worked alongside Gaudreau for two seasons in Columbus. “He was such a good person,” he said of him on Wednesday. “Someone asked me this morning what it was like to coach him. coachand I would say it was too easy. He never complained. There were matches where I used him less, I was a little harder on him… he didn’t say a word and he was even better the next day.” Vincent also remembers a very humble man, “liked by everyone.” “I feel very lucky to have met him,” he summed up.