Why would we ever trade Tyson Barrie for Drouin?
Why are people so fascinated with Drouin? He's on pace for 52 points (if he played 82 games which I'd place a heavy bet he never finishes a full NHL season with more than 75 games played). 52 points will be a point shy of his current career high. He's bad defensively.
The thing I hate most about Drouin is that he's a complete band-aid. I've never witnessed a hockey player so incapable of playing through any type of discomfort. Dating back to Halifax he consistently misses games with "undisclosed" injuries or "personal reasons". He cant play through the things that normal hockey players play through. If the guy develops a case of lace bite you can write him off for the month, he's going home watching Netflix just like he did for half a season once because he wasn't happy with his ice time.
I don't care if he played with Mackinnon in junior. Mackinnon can play with literally anyone and produce. The only thing trading for Drouin would do is make Drouin look better.
Drouin is a soft LW the Habs converted to Centre. He would only be a marginal improvement in the lineup. Can’t see the Habs trading after giving up Sergachev.
Consider Drouin role in the lineup. We project either to occur: Landy pushed from the 1st line or the 2nd Rookie line: Jost, Kerfoot and Compher (most likely bumped). Maybe plays on the 3rd and 4th lines? They consist of youngsters, penalty killers and checkers (pick any 6): Kamenev, Greer, Ghetto, Soda, Comeau, Yakupov, Toninato, Morrison, Lewis, Grimaldi or Bourque. Depending on the 2018 Draft, AVs could add another high end forward Zadina, Tkachuk or Wahlstrom to make the Forward position even more crowded.
Compher will likely be the most affected, but for a marginal upgrade is not worth trading Barrie. So moving Barrie creates a hole in a position the AVs are deficient to add to an area of surplus until Makar/Timmins are ready. I rather his trade include more potential with at least 1st + Poeling/Galy as part of the package.