Back in 2017, the Montreal Canadiens completed a significant transaction to add Jonathan Drouin to the team.
Despite finishing with over 100 points in the 2016–17 campaign, the team scored only 11 goals in a six-game playoff series before losing to the New York Rangers, indicating a lack of offensive inventiveness. In exchange for Drouin, they sent Mikhail Sergachev, a 2016 top ten draft pick, to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The product of Sainte-Agathe, Quebec, was selected by the Lightning with the third overall pick. He was a dominant junior player in the Junior ranks and shown flashes of brilliance during his early NHL career. In his 73 games as a 21-year-old, Drouin scored 21 goals and 53 points, but there was significant friction between the team and the player due to contract disagreements and his slight resentment over being demoted to the AHL during his rookie contract.
After acquiring him, the Canadiens offered him a six-year contract with a $5.5 million cap cost. That carried some danger, but not nearly as much as attempting to switch the player from playing the wing with the Lightning to the center after he had also played in Junior.
Despite some difficulties with his shift to center, Drouin finished his rookie campaign with the Canadiens with 13 goals and 46 points. The next season, he tied his career best of 53 points, giving some people hope that he could develop his scoring skills further. Regretfully, everything went downhill from then on.
Despite missing the majority of the 2019–20 season, Drouin managed to score 15 points in 27 games, putting him on pace for 46. He missed a lot of time with the Canadiens during the last three seasons of his contract because of injuries and missed nets on the ice. Due to anxiousness and irregular sleep patterns, he missed the whole playoff season in 2020–21 despite finishing with two goals and 23 points in 44 games.
He did make a comeback the next season, getting 20 points in 34 games. The season before, he earned 29 points in 58 games (although only scoring two goals) while missing the other 24 due to injuries. In his native province, that was Drouin’s last chance, but he was far from out of the NHL.
Despite being far from home, he had some experience with the superstar center of the Colorado Avalanche, with whom he signed. Along with the Halifax Mooseheads, Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon dominated the QMJHL and shared a Memorial Cup in 2013.
The two didn’t go back to their previous ways right away, as Drouin was kept off the scoresheet for nine games in a row after recording an assist in the season’s first game. After that, Drouin would record seven points in his following sixteen games, which was a positive start, but he has since taken off.
Drouin is blending in well with MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, playing on the top line. Drouin has tallied seven goals and nine assists for a total of 16 points in his last 15 games. For the Canadiens, he hadn’t scored seven goals in a season since 2019–20.
The Canadiens had thought that this player would be joining them in Montreal six and a half years ago. Drouin is once again a powerful offensive player for the Avalanche since he has found a connection with their two top players. He’s on what is perhaps the finest line in hockey right now, and he just keeps getting better as the season goes on.
Regretfully, during his time as a Canadiens player, that was never the case. He leaves Montreal having fulfilled everyone’s dream of seeing him develop into the player that many fans believed he could be during his time here.
Even though Drouin had to move far from home, he is thriving in his new environment. When he takes the ice at Bell Centre tonight, it will be interesting to see what kind of response he receives from the supporters.