It’s the $9.1-million question, and it revolves around No. 92: can Patrik Laine be the player the Montreal Canadiens need him to be?

Martin St. Louis opened training camp Wednesday by declaring that yes, indeed, the enigmatic Finnish forward can.

The coach even expressed optimism that Laine would.

“With the amount of work he’s put in this summer, we might see the best version of Patty Laine,” St. Louis said.

We’ll reserve judgment on that until Laine shows it in games that matter.

We don’t doubt that Laine worked extremely hard this past summer, but we need to be assured he worked smart because what we saw from the 27-year-old last season was more of what we’ve seen from him through most of his career: a player who can positively impact the outcome of a game with a single shot and jus

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