Jonathan Drouin's future with the Montreal Canadiens is now uncertain
It has to be said, the face of the Habs has changed a lot since Kent Hughes took over as the team's general manager.
In just a few months, he traded Tyler Toffoli, Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak, Artturi Lehkonen, Alexander Romanov, as well as Ryan Poehling and Jeff Petry. Not to mention that he gave up Shea Weber's contract to the Vegas Golden Knights.
In return for all these players, Hughes managed to get his hands on several draft picks, quality prospects, including Justin Barron, as well as Kirby Dach, Michael Matheson and Evgeny Dadonov.
Let's just say that this is a far cry from the team that made it to the finals just a year ago. Also, as Samuel Doiron of Habsolumentfan.com reports, more changes could come before the season starts.
Three Habs players will be uncompensated free agents at the end of the 2022-2023 season, namely Dadonov, Paul Byron and Jonathan Drouin. Let's just say that the name of the latter comes up a lot in the trade rumors these days.
The number 92 will be paid $5.5 million next season and since his offensive production has not been up to par for the last three years, he is probably the ideal candidate to leave the team soon. However, it must be said that Drouin has been bothered by injuries more often than not over the past three years, playing in only 105 of a possible 209 games.
In his case, the ideal scenario would be for him to have a lot of success under Martin St-Louis and if the Habs are no longer in the playoff picture at the trade deadline, his value could become interesting.
However, Hughes needs to make room on the team's payroll before the season starts and at 27 years old, a fresh start could be more than beneficial for the Quebec forward.
What do you think?
Either way, we're really looking forward to seeing Drouin play under Martin St-Louis' guidance.
| POLL | ||
How do you think Jonathan Drouin will leave the CH? | ||
| Traded before the season starts | 300 | 42.4 % |
| Traded at the deadline | 287 | 40.5 % |
| Leave as a free agent | 121 | 17.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
