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Drouin Makes Huge Commitment to CHUM Foundation, Habs Vs. Caps Preview |
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Drouin Makes Incredible Commitment to CHUM Foundation, Habs Vs. Caps Preview
The Montreal Canadiens look to enter the preseason win column tonight at the Bell Centre when they take on Alexander Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals. The Canadiens lost a close game against the Boston Bruins (3-2 Bruins) in their first preseason game in front of the sparse crowd at Centre Videotron in Quebec City, QC.
Tonight at 7 pm the Canadiens hopefuls get the chance to prove they are winners in front of the home crowd. With 12 regulars in the line up it will be a good chance for the rookies involved to make an impression.
The roster will look like this:
Pacioretty - Drouin - Hemsky
Hudon - Plekanec - Lehkonen
Martinsen - Froese - Scherbak
Carr - Holland - Eisenschmid
Streit - Weber
Benn - Davidson
Mete - Jerabek
Price
Lindgren
With better teammates you should see better performance so tonight, while meaningless for the 12 regulars, holds huge importance for players like Scherbak, Holland, Carr, Hudon, Jerabek, and Eisenschmid. These are the guys who will be fighting for the final couple spots. They have to approach this game as a fight for their professional lives. You want to earn big money? You want catered meals and private jet transportation? Go and get it tonight. Prove it to Bergevin and Julien you deserve it, that you can earn it.
I know all of us will be watching Victor Mete very closely tonight. My summer of pumping his tires appears to have paid off with many taking notice of the young blue line product of the London Knights. It’s very possible that Mete gets some shifts with Weber tonight and that alone will be the talk of Canadiens media types for days. We will hear all about how its a great, and terrible, idea. How about we enjoy the game and realize its very rare for a player his age to crack an NHL line up. However, the fact he could be deployed with one of the games best shows that management wants to test the waters and see how he handles himself. I know the practice lines show Streit with Weber and Mete with Jerabek, but I think we will see Mete get his chance with Weber.
This will be the talk of the town after the game, good or bad. At least it should.
Carey Price gets his first opportunity to shake off some rust sharing the goal with AHL starter Charlie Lindgren. From a defence and net-minding position the Habs should look pretty good tonight.
Of note, Noah Juulsen appeared to injure his foot last game blocking a shot and unfortunately he is now being sent for X-rays to ensure there isn't a break in there. Hopefully the X-rays are negative as he had a great rookie camp and I like how he played against Boston. Tough break for sure.
Jonathan Drouin Proves His Love Of All Things Montreal
Jonathan Drouin has shown that he’s dynamic on the ice many times, but yesterday he proved he’s a humanitarian off it as well. Drouin pledged to donate $500,000 of his own money over the next 10 years to the CHUM Foundation. The CHUM Foundation is Fondation du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal. The CHUM Foundations mission is: The Fondation’s mission is to provide a complementary source of funding for the CHUM. These funds will work to ensure that the centre maintains its status as a standard-setting and internationally recognized institution for medical treatment, teaching and research.
The donation will help CHUM ensure the entire community of Quebec has hospital care and specialized patient treatments. Drouin stated "They approached me. My agent spoke to me about it. I saw Ryan Callahan do things like this in Tampa. He would often go to the hospitals to see the children and that touched me. When I was traded here, I told my agent I wanted to make a donation or help a hospital. So when they approached us, it was easy to say yes. I'm from here, I'm a Quebecer. My life has changed since the trade. For me, doing things like this is really easy. I love getting involved, you'll see. It's good for me, but it's also good for the young people. When you walk around in the hospitals and you see people who are happy to see you, it's really made me want to continue doing it."
A very altruistic commitment from the Canadiens newest star shows the kind of character of Drouin. The same kid who was labelled as having bad character for his refusal to report to Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate a couple seasons ago. Drouin was tossed under the bus hard before being recalled due to a Steven Stamkos injury right before the playoffs. Just a note, Drouin was arguably Tampa’s best player that spring (with all due respect to Nikita Kucherov).
To make a good story even better, Drouin pledged to help raise $5,000,000 over the same 10 years for the CHUM Foundation and has already stated he intends to participate in activities for the hospital through the course of his time with the Canadiens.
The captain Max Pacioretty and Canadiens legend Serge Savard were on hand for the press conference. Both of them were very grateful, and impressed, with Drouin’s commitment and contribution. Savard was definitely appreciative to have Drouin as a new CHUM Foundation teammate, stating "I am extremely happy to have Jonathan join us. We are privileged as hockey players, but there's a price that comes with being a professional athlete - especially in Montreal. When young people watch Jonathan, they're going to see him as a role model, especially with the grand gesture he's made today. In my day, this was something that was passed down to us from the likes of Jean Beliveau. I'm going to be there to stand alongside Jonathan in the years to come to help him reach his goal.”
The seemingly endless praise that Pacioretty has given Drouin this offseason continued as well, “It’s all about Jo. He deserves this praise. He’s only been with this organization for a couple months, he’s never even put on a real jersey for a real game at the Bell Centre and he’s already doing a contribution like this. He’s a kid from the area who understands the importance of giving back and understands the culture of what the Montreal Canadiens are all about. He has such a good grip on things and he’s willing to do what he’s doing today.”
Good on the kid for continuing the tradition of Canadiens giving back. Pacioretty makes a great point as well in that Jonathan hasn’t even suited up for a proper game in a Canadiens jersey and he’s signed up to help donate $5,000,000 and his time/effort over the next decade. Just an incredible individual.
I have been impressed with everything I've read, and seen, of Drouin so far this offseason. I was always impressed by him going back to his draft year. There had been only two players after the first two picks that I wished the Canadiens would have moved up to draft: Draisaitl and Drouin. In addition to my own personal admiration of his skills, hearing his commitment level to hockey and building relationships within the team has made me feel that Drouin has the chance to become the best player the Canadiens have had in 20 years. His skill and character are incredible. Drouin is comparable to Koivu in the way that he not only has immense skill and desire for the game of hockey, but a caring heart away from the game. But I think Drouin has a bigger skill set than Koivu. Good on him for being a student of the game and a pillar in the community at 22 years old. It’s really remarkable.
All information provided is gathered from the Montreal Canadiens official website.
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