Jonathan Drouin - Is there hope?

[Adrianopolous]

Is Drouin broken? Or can he be saved? We all know that he has shown tremendous talent in Tampa.. Can those every come back?

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[CraigBillington]

I think he can, but I don't think he can do it by himself.

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

Of course there's hope.

He was penciled in to a #1 C role on a defensive minded team, when he is an offensive winger. It's a terrible situation for him. He's still young, move him back to the wing, free him up offensively and let him do what he does best.

 

[The Macho King]

Is Drouin broken? Or can he be saved? We all know that he has shown tremendous talent in Tampa.. Can those every come back?

I said it when he was here - he can be great at making great plays, but he sucks at making good plays. Sometimes the cross-ice pass isn't there and the best play is to get it to the point or get it on net. He just doesn't have that mindset.

At the end of the day, he's still young and maybe he figures it out. I'm not putting money on it though.

 

[Mulletman]

There's no hope for him in Montreal. Since 2008-09 only peak Plekanec has scored 70 Points in Montreal. Maybe if Drouin gets traded to Winnipeg or Washington and gets to playmake for Laine or Ovechkin there would be some hope. As things are now, Drouin might be out of the League in the next 5 years...

 

[These Are The Days]

Yes there is. Problem is he's a square peg in a round hole philosophy. He's not a center. He never was a center. He was never going to be good at center. Not that I'm saying anything new but MB is a total idiot. There's hope for Drouin. Just not hope for him in Montreal

 

[Rockomax]

There's no hope for him in Montreal. Since 2008-09 only peak Plekanec has scored 70 Points in Montreal. Maybe if Drouin gets traded to Winnipeg or Washington and gets to playmake for Laine or Ovechkin there would be some hope. As things are now, Drouin might be out of the League in the next 5 years...

Ok, he's had a tough season for sure, he was put in a role that didn't fit him quite well by a bunch of idiots.

But out of the league within the next 5 years? Give me a break.

 

[AndreRoy]

The talent is there for him to be a dominant player in the league. What he needs is the right mindset in terms of attitude, decision making (both on and off the ice), and consistency of effort. Playing out of position while carrying too much weight both literally and figuratively certainly isn’t helping matters either.

I think his best chance of success is to fail in Montreal and get dumped to some other team, where hopefully the experience humbles him to the point where he grows up and realizes the incredible opportunity he’s throwing away. Ironically the best place for him at that point would be a team much like Tampa, where there are veteran leaders to teach him and established stars to take the spotlight off him as he revives his career. Obviously it won’t be Tampa, though that would be hilariously brutal to Montreal fans.

 

[Mulletman]

Ok, he's had a tough season for sure, he was put in a role that didn't fit him quite well by a bunch of idiots.

But out of the league within the next 5 years? Give me a break.

Drouin is turning 23 next week, he's not a rookie anymore. He'll be given less and less chances to succeed just like Yakupov moving forward. And there's younger, cheaper and hungrier players waiting for a chance to take Drouin's spot in the years to come. Drouin better hope to get traded in the summer so he can have one last chance somewere else...

 

[dahrougem2]

Drouin is turning 23 next week, he's not a rookie anymore. He'll be given less and less chances to succeed just like Yakupov moving forward. And there's younger, cheaper and hungrier players waiting for a chance to take Drouin's spot in the years to come. Drouin better hope to get traded in the summer so he can have one last chance somewere else...

Lol never change Mulletman, never change.

 

[zeke]

he should have no problem being a borderline 1st line winger. maybe better.

but he's not a center.

 

[ffh]

Is Drouin broken? Or can he be saved? We all know that he has shown tremendous talent in Tampa.. Can those every come back?

Exactly what did he show in tampa. Pretty much the same that he has shown in montreal. He really hasn't taken a step back in montreal.

 

[paragon]

Quite a few people wrote Granlund off when he was playing center. Then he was moved to wing and the rest is history.

 

[Haj]

He should be playing Wing.

He needs to play with line mates that have high hockey sense, and can complement his shortcomings.

 

[hooverdam]

Drouin's kind of in the perfect storm of a bad situation in Montreal. It could be such a good situation if the people making decisions about his future weren't deranged morons, but unfortunately they are.

He's basically given a ton of rope there but being stubbornly misused. They hyped up his acquisition and extension to the high heavens; he's French, so Claude will always be lenient with him. If any other player had failed as clearly as he has playing center (albeit through no fault of his own, he's not a friggin center!), they would've been moved to a different position, but nah. He has endless room to make mistakes and fail and that's honestly bad for him. He needs to be coached in his proper position to learn and grow as a player, because he should be a damn good one.

At this point, unless Montreal finds a top flight center (or more than one) to push him to wing, or he develops off ice issues that get management on his bad side and get them to look to move him for someone with better character, he's stuck right where he is. Bergevin and Julien do not like to admit mistakes. They said he's a center, so he'll be a center for better or worse. I feel bad for him.

 

[MrClutch86]

He's a skilled winger, but not a very smart one.

 

[3rdLiner]

Him and CJ were a moronic combination by a moronic GM.

Edit: yes there is hope for him, trade him to NYR let him play with Spooner and they both put up over 60 points while playing 0 defense.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

I'm sure he would be dynamite on a more offensive team. I think a team like Edmonton or Nashville.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Move him back to wing and get a competent Center. He will be a good player there.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

He's a career 0.57PPG player currently scoring at a 0.54PPG pace playing a large portion of the season at a position he isn't comfortable at.

I'm so confused why everybody thinks this season is so disappointing. It isn't his fault a specific GM and fan base thought he was so much more than he actually was. He was traded for and expected to be something he isn't. Jonathan Drouin simply isn't a great hockey player. He's playing exactly to the expectation of what people with any knowledge expected.

He'd make a solid second line winger on almost any NHL team.

 

[Vachon23]

put him LW and you will see ! this guy as to much talent

 

[Bring Bak Damphousse]

Theres hope, get him on the wing with a decent center (uh galchenyuk maybe?) and I imagine we’ll see an improvement.

 

[MardyBum]

He needs to be on the wing. Montreal needs a decent C to play with him.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Maybe he'll gain another 15 pounds in the offseason and go from there

 

[Tuggy]

He needs to be on the wing. Montreal needs a decent C to play with him.

Yup. I've watched every game this season and I'm baffled that Julien is still throwing him out there at C.

I get that Bergevin traded him to be our #1 C but the experiment hasn't worked. Swallow your pride and move on.