Montreal Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin missed the Habs playoff run as he was away from the team on a personal leave of absence.
Drouin started the season well with nine points in his first nine games and 21 points in his first 31 games. He would go on to struggle with just two points in his last 13 games before disappearing under somewhat mysterious circumstances.
A lot has changed around the Montreal Canadiens since Drouin last played a game on April 21st.
Aside from the team going on a run to the Stanley Cup Final, we have seen Shea Weber announce he is out for the upcoming season. Carey Price was left unprotected and passed over in the expansion draft. The team drafted Logan Mailloux in the first round after he asked not to be selected. Phillip Danault left for the Los Angeles Kings. The team signed Mike Hoffman, David Savard and Mathieu Perreault as free agents.
Of course, the most recent wild development was that Jesperi Kotkaniemi was signed to an offer sheet by the Carolina Hurricanes. The one year and $6.1 million contract will leave the Canadiens with a difficult decision to make. Do you overpay a 21 year old centre greatly because you took him third overall in the draft? Or do you take the first and third round picks as compensation and cut ties?
If they choose the latter, it would leave the team fairly thin down the middle of the ice. While Nick Suzuki has developed into a difference maker on the ice, behind him there is only Jake Evans and Cedric Paquette with any kind of real NHL experience. Ryan Poehling would be leaned on heavily all of a sudden if Kotkaniemi leaves town.
Unless the Canadiens can find another centre to play on the second or third line.
According to Jonathan Drouin, he is up to the task if asked to move back to the middle of the ice.
EXCLUSIF // Jonathan Drouin a confié à Pierre Houde ce matin qu'il était prêt à jouer au centre cette saison.
— BPM Sports (@BPMSportsRadio) August 31, 2021
''Je lui ai demandé et il m'a répondu que certainement. Et il était très sérieux.'' pic.twitter.com/dvyCfhahEN
Essentially, Drouin was asked if was prepared to play centre if needed and he confidently said that he was up to the task if that’s what the team asked of him.
It is an interesting option if Kotkaniemi moves to Carolina. Drouin has the skills, playmaking ability and speed to be a crafty setup man and could put up decent numbers playing the middle. He was asked to play there in his first season with the Canadiens, and though it was deemed a bit of a disaster, he did score 46 points in 77 games.
Drouin was being asked to play first line centre against some very difficult opposition that season. His face-off ability and defensive coverage were below average and ultimately that is why he was moved back to the wing.
Ideally, he would be allowed to play left wing in the upcoming season. However, if the Habs are really in a pinch he could find himself playing a little centre ice. It would help that he would slot in behind Nick Suzuki and that Jake Evans could play on a shutdown line with Brendan Gallagher and Joel Armia.
That could leave Drouin playing third line centre on a purely offensive line with Mike Hoffman and Josh Anderson.
It is not the worst plan an NHL team ever had. I mean, there is one out there offering over $6 million for a forward that doesn’t really fit on their team at all.
It would not be ideal either though. I do think Drouin could have success as a centre in a second or third line role, but it would be wide for the organization to look elsewhere for help down the middle so Drouin isn’t playing centre on opening night.