Montreal Canadiens: The path to becoming an impact player isn’t all the same

Claude Julie shared thoughts on becoming an impact player which could very well apply to a number of Montreal Canadiens players waiting to reach that level.

Draft and develop. Identify and develop. Acquire and develop. Regardless of the means of adding a player to your organization, developing them is always the hardest but most important parts of the process. The Montreal Canadiens have completely leaned with that sentiment after years of being ridiculed for failing to develop talent into NHL stars.

The last three drafts have been incredible, and the Habs have young players itching at the chance of impacting the league in a big way. That’s the goal, in the end, making it to the NHL and doing enough in it to give yourself – and your team – the best chance at winning a Stanley Cup. The problem is that it takes time, and there’s no manual that will tell you exactly how long.

Some players step right in and dominate while others need years to get to that point. Claude Julien made that point at Jonathan Drouin‘s Golf Tournament saying it takes different lengths of time for them to peak. As Habs Chronicle on Twitter mentioned, Julien has experience with that when looking and Brad Marchand‘s career.

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Marchand came to the NHL when he was 21, winning a championship with the Boston Bruins in 2011. However, he didn’t start to produce the incredible numbers you see now until he was 27. It took six years, but Marchand grew and became one of the league’s best wingers.

Injuries impacted his production, but you can argue Brendan Gallagher is entering that realm at 27-years-old. Gallagher has put up 30-goals in each of the last two seasons and is making it clear they are earned. You do have success stories like Max Domi who hit a career-best at 72 points in his fourth NHL season, but again, everyone is different.

Now we look at a player like Drouin who was expected to be a league-leader but has struggled. Drouin is only 23-years-old and still has years ahead of him to become the impact player the Montreal Canadiens hoped he would be. Last season was a start as he was able to get back to the 50-point mark since his days back in Tampa Bay.

The question is whether the Habs – coaching staff, management, and the fans – have the patience to wait for Drouin to reach that level should that day come. You can apply the same logic to Artturi Lehkonen who burst out of the gate goals-wise in his rookie season and fizzled out two years later. How long will it take him to show the Canadiens who he truly is?

It’s a gamble and takes a great deal of patience, and that’s what makes developing a player so hard. However, the successful organizations put stock in those kinds of things, and the Montreal Canadiens will need all the impact players they can get if they wish to bring home their 25th Stanley Cup in the near future.