Montreal Canadiens Roundup: Marc Bergevin’s role in a future playoff hunt
By Omar L
Omar White: It’s pretty interesting how the perception of Drouin has become an emotional rollercoaster. The Montreal Canadiens brought the young forward in, and the fan base took off at the possibility of having a hometown francophone star lead the team to success. It got even more impactful when the Habs decided to move Drouin to centre ice further pushing his face to the forefront of the organization.
His first season was a grind, and he finished with 46 points and bumped it up to 53 points this year after being placed back on the wing in favour of Max Domi. But despite the offensive boost from Drouin, his compete level and play away from the puck has put a sour taste in many mouths, so much so that he’s be indirectly called out twice.
We know Drouin is skilled though his issues have always been when he turns it on and when he doesn’t. When he’s engaged, he’s the best player on the ice, but when he chooses to put up the curtains, you could basically put Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak over him.
It seems so simple, but Drouin needs to care. He looked really frustrated down the line, and that emotion needs to come out in his play. The consistency and engagement need a massive improvement next season, and hopefully, he can find a way to build it up over the summer.
Sebastian High: The Jonathan Drouin situation is complex. He’s unquestionably a player with the talent to be a point per game player in this league, but his inconsistency is very difficult to look past and his play at the end of the season when the team needed him most was unacceptable. Of course, it would be easy to say that he must just regain consistency to change his perception in the eyes of Habs fans, but that would be unreasonable.
However, I believe he should take a long, hard look at what has made his friend, Max Domi, a fan favourite after just 82 games in the bleu blanc rouge jersey. Domi went through slumps this year (including a 17 game goal drought) but always found other ways to contribute. He was strong on the puck and always visible when he was on the ice, his play off the puck was equally stellar.
Drouin, on the other hand, disappears when he is not producing offence, he fails to contribute in any other way and is a ghost on the ice. While it is a tall order, if Jonathan Drouin could acquire even a third of the heart that Max Domi plays with, he should be in a much better place this time next year.