In less than 50 days, the National Hockey League's first 84-game regular season since 1993-94 will get underway and for many players, including former Montreal Canadiens forward Patrik Laine, they're still looking for their next landing spot.
After an injury kept Patrik Laine out of the Canadiens' lineup for all but five games last season, the former second overall pick saw his time in Montreal come to a close on Canada Day as he became an unrestricted free agent.
Flash forward to today - August 13th, 43 days since the opening of the National Hockey League's free agency period and Patrik Laine is still looking for a new team, but it appears that a handful of clubs have been showing interest in the 28-year-old winger.
Five Teams Linked to Former Montreal Canadiens Forward Patrik Laine
In a recent article for the Montreal Gazette, Herb Zurkowsky reported that since the free agent market opened on July 1st, five teams have been linked to Patrik Laine, among them being the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Joining the Maple Leafs according to Zurkowsky are the Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, all of whom could certainly use a scoring boost to their middle-six ahead of the 2026-27 season
"Since free agency began on July 1, Laine has been linked to the New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and, more recently, the Philadelphia Flyers.
Most of those teams would make sense as destinations for various reasons. Mostly, if a club is seeking offence, the 6-foot-4, 208-pound Laine can deliver." Zurkowsky said.
A Low-Risk, High-Reward Power Play Specialst?
Despite last season's injury, there's no surprise that Patrik Laine has this many teams interested in him. His first season with the Canadiens showed what he can offer to a team and that he can still produce offensively, especially on the power play. Of Laine's 20 goals with Montreal during the 2024-25 season, 15 of them came on the power play.
Let's take a look at where those five teams' respective power play units ranked in the National Hockey League last season and how much help they could use during the 2026-27 campaign.
Of the five clubs, the Minnesota Wild had the highest power play percentage last season at 25.2, third-best in the entire National Hockey League. A big reason for their jump from 20th in 2024-25 to third in 2025-26 was the acquisition of Quinn Hughes and of course, star forward Kirill Kaprizov.
Coming in second among the five clubs and fifth in the entire National Hockey League is the New York Rangers, who had a power play percentage of 24.7. The Toronto Maple Leafs are third of the five teams (15th overall in the NHL) with 21.3% success rate on the power play.
Rounding out the five teams are the Tampa Bay Lightning (17th overall - 20.7%) and the Philadelphia Flyers, who finished the regular season with the National Hockey League's worst power play percentage at 15.7. Rick Tocchet's group scored 37 goals on the power play during the 2025-26 campaign, ten of which came from Trevor Zegras, who they landed in a deal with the Anaheim Ducks last summer.
Do the Philadelphia Flyers Make the Most Sense For Patrik Laine?
Based on the power play numbers from last season, it's clear that the Philadelphia Flyers could use the most help and Patrik Laine could be a solid fit in Rick Tocchet's lineup.
The Flyers have more than enough money to sign Patrik Laine, who I'd imagine will probably only sign a one or two-year deal at this point. According to PuckPedia, the Flyers have $13.7 million in available cap space with just one restricted free agent to sign - Hunter McDonald, who won't command more than $1 million.
In Philadelphia, Laine would likely slot in on the third line, potentially the fourth trio given the style that Rick Tocchet likes his team to play, with a big focus on the defensive aspect of the game. Laine's defensive game isn't great and we saw that at times during his tenure in Montreal. For that reason, a bottom-six role in Philadelphia would be the most likely outcome, if Patrik Laine were to sign in The City of Brotherly Love, along with a spot on either of their power play units.
There's roughly a month to go until training camps open around the National Hockey League, so we should find out relatively soon where Patrik Laine will end up for the 2026-27 season and potentially beyond.