Montreal Canadiens: This is About More than Hockey
By Joshua Rosa
Distressing news came out today about Jonathan Drouin, as the Canadiens have announced that he is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team. What great timing for one of the latest articles on this site, eh?
There is no point in speculating in why Drouin has taken a step away from the team. It can be a family thing or the pressure or negative press, but we do not know and should respect the privacy of Drouin and his family.
We can talk about how Drouin being moved into the Long Term Injured Reserve has freed up some space for Marc Bergevin and Dominic Ducharme to do some work. Now, Cole Caufield and Jake Evans can both play on the team at the same time. But that is not the most important thing here.
It is important to remember that this is a luxury that hockey is actually being played right now. We are in an unprecedented pandemic that has shut down the world for over a year now. Movie theatres are being shut down and new movies are being held off from releasing until the pandemic finishes. Certain places, especially Canada and especially Ontario and Quebec have pretty much everything not deemed absolutely essential shut down.
It is a small miracle that we get to see hockey, or any professional sports at all at this point. It has been an oasis of entertainment in a world that is desperately thirsty for something, anything to watch.
This isn’t like a movie or television show, where what we are seeing was filmed months ago, and generally shot in one spot for a short time. This has been 4 months of physically demanding hockey in a highly condensed schedule, not to mention the stressful COVID travelling and bubble life.
Because, it is 4 months that many of these players have seen their families in person. They have given up pretty much everything to give us this boon of hockey this year. They have to give up everything that we have given up and so much more.
Next. A look at the Habs upcoming UFAs. dark
It is easy to be critical, Lord knows I have done that lately as many commentors have, and it will continue to be like that, especially if Montreal continues to play the way that they have been playing. And there is nothing wrong with that, but it is nice to stop every once and a while to think and be thankful on what we do have.