Article content

Who is the real Jonathan Drouin?

We know he’s a 24-year-old forward with immense hockey skills, a player who can be incredibly frustrating — and quite exciting — to watch as he flies up and down the ice.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Analyze This: Canadiens pariah Jonathan Drouin shows offensive upside Back to video

Much has been made about his play for the Canadiens this season, though it’s fair to say the balance has shifted mostly toward the critical side of things.

Some of the criticism, particularly about his defensive impact, is legitimate. No one can deny that Drouin struggles on the other side of the puck. But with all the talk focused on his defence, we tend to lose sight of the fact Drouin makes a significant impact offensively, even if he has struggled to produce in March. It’s a very similar situation to the one we saw with Alex Galchenyuk before the Canadiens traded him to the Arizona Coyotes in return for Max Domi last summer.

Photo by John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette

What makes Drouin such an interesting player is that it’s tough to get a read on him. With the help of statistics, we can take a closer look at what has gone right and wrong for Drouin this season. But regardless of how much video we analyze, or how many hours we spend pouring over the data, it’s still hard to draw any meaningful conclusions with regards to what we should expect from him.