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Looking Ahead: Jonathan Drouin |
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Another year, another wave of criticism for Jonathan Drouin. After a failed experiment at centre, the Habs brass hoped he would be a fixture in the top six alongside Max Domi and while it did work at first, he finished the season with reduced ice time in the bottom six. Was it that bad of a season overall? No it wasn't. He still managed to had 53 points to his career total and finished 3rd in points on the team level with Philip Danault and a single point ahead of Gallagher. We can add to that that he was 5th in goal and 1st on the team power play points wise. The problem is though, he only managed 7 points in his last 26 games (all 7 points came during the same 3 games) which means that he was held pointless in 23 of the Habs' last 26 games as they were desperately trying to make the playoffs. Needless to say that they needed everyone's input down the stretch and Drouin just wasn't pulling his weight. The most ice time he saw was in October with a huge 24 minutes in one game while in March, he had his smallest TOI number with a lowly 9:57 minutes.
Number 92 is under contract for 4 more years at $5.5 M per and what should be expected from a player with that kind of salary? There are plenty of exemples for instance TJ Oshie got 54 points while earning $5.750M BUT that was in 69 games, Nino Niederreiter notched 53 points in 82 games and made $5.250 M, Jamie Benn got a whooping $9.5 M for 53 points (just as many as Drouin) but yes, that was a massively off year for the Stars' forward and finally, Reilly Smith got 53 points in 74 games for Vegas while cashing in $5 M. When you put it all in perspective, Drouin's output really wasn't all that bad. In this day and age, points don't come cheap. Does this mean that people just expect too much of Drouin? Not necessarily, though everyone can see the potential for so much more is there.
Drouin's issue is, and has always been, his consistency or rather lack off. Can he fix that? It's hard to say really but I for one hope that the Canadiens stick with him and push him along. Chalenge him, have the likes of Gallagher and Domi show him the way...Surely you cannot play alongside these guys who leave it all on the ice year after year and not end up catching whatever it is that they have?!?! If heart was as contagious as the measles, we'd be in business Habs fans! Call me crazy, but I do think there is still hope with Drouin and besides, for what he earns, the Canadiens are pretty much getting value for money. The question is though, is he hungry for more? He's 24 and when his deal is up, he'll be 28 and should be in his prime. If he wants to break the bank, he'll need to produce more and well, while he may not have the heart of a Gally, money talks. Perhaps that simple fact will register and he will get in gear. It's not like we've never seen guys get better when they are in their contract year right? I know there's still a long way to go before then but hey, a girl can dream no?
The fact remains though, Drouin has talent and on a team with a struggling power play, that kind of player must get on the ice with the man advantage. Hopefully, when the puck drops on the new season, Claude Julien and co. will give Drouin a fresh start and it's early season Jo from last year who'll turn up... If it's not and Bergevin doesn't bring anymore firepower aboard, we could be in for a very long season. In his exit interview in April, when asked by reporters how he explained his lack of production in the tail end of the season, Drouin replied that we would soon know some stuff. What was he referring to? The fact that he had a broken nose which required an operation? Come on, that right there sounds like an excuse to me, the road to better performance for Drouin starts with accountability. It's not because your skate wasn't sharp enough, it's not because your nose was hurting you have to just be able to say, I could have done better and I will do better. Between you and me, I truly hope that one of the team leaders take him to one side and tell him just that. We know you can do it Jo, we need you to, just get on with it and deliver.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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