It is unclear what will become of Jonathan Drouin, whose contract will expire at the end of this campaign. But his stint of six seasons in the uniform of the Canadian has been anything but a long calm river.
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At the end of Tuesday night’s game, the Canadiens announced that the 27-year-old forward would miss four to six weeks of activity due to an upper-body injury he suffered on November 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Since the Quebecer played the next three games, during which he collected two of his four points for the season, there was no indication of such news.
Drouin, like Joel Armia, missed the team’s morning practice in order to undergo treatment. It appears that for Drouin, the treatments were not enough.
It is a huge tile that falls on the head of the one that Marc Bergevin had acquired in return for Mikhail Sergachev and a 2nd round choice in June 2017. Even before the start of the campaign, Drouin had affirmed that his main objective , this season, was to stay healthy.
“Playing all 82 games is my only goal for the season. Last year, I had no problem with the way I played. It was another injury that ended my season,” he said during the annual Canadian golf tournament.
Bad tongues will say that this objective took the edge from the start of the season, when it was left aside in the first two games.
“In fact, in each of the last three, it was my health that sidelined me due to injuries to both of my wrists,” he added.
If the schedule of the Canadian medical team holds up, Drouin will be able to return to play between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Including Tuesday night’s game, Drouin will have missed 19 games.
Drouin has not played a full season in a Canadiens uniform since his 81 games in the winter of 2018-2019.
The following season, he missed 37 games due to wrist surgery and six more due to an ankle injury.
In April of the 2021 campaign, the Canadian placed him on the injured list to allow him to take a step back from his problems with anxiety and insomnia. He missed the Habs’ last nine regular season games and all 22 playoff games.
In 2021-22, he was sidelined about a third of games with an injury to his other wrist. Once again, he had to go under the knife.