Renaud Lavoie reveals his information on a possible contract buyout for Jonathan Drouin

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Jeff Drouin
June 17, 2022 (1:30 PM)

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We've been talking about it for a few weeks now, and it's now done: the contract of Canadiens captain Shea Weber has been traded to the Vegas Golden Knights. In return, Kent Hughes has acquired forward Evgenii Dadonov.

Although Weber's contract was traded to another team, this does not solve the problem the Habs are facing with the limited space under the salary cap, at least for the next season. Since then, there have been rumours that Kent Hughes may be buying out some of the players.

However, according to TVA Sports journalist Renaud Lavoie, this will definitely not be the case. This is what he mentioned during his appearance on the TVA Sports podcast "La Dose".

"Unless there's a last-second change or something the Canadiens didn't see coming, it's not going to happen. I'll tell you the chances of that happening are extremely slim, it's not even more than 5%."

Among the players who were mentioned for a possible contract buyout, there was obviously that of the forward Jonathan Drouin and Lavoie was reassuring for the fans of the Habs who want to see him again at the beginning of the next season.

"I know that people will think about him, but this is his last year of his contract and he is a player who is very talented. He's capable of helping the Canadiens."

Bothered by injuries more often than not over the past three years, Drouin has been limited to just 34 games this season in which he has 20 points, including six goals.

The Quebec forward has one year left on his contract at a salary of $5.5 million, and if the team was no longer in the playoff race next year, he could be used as a trade chip for Kent Hughes.

Also, if Drouin had a great season under Martin St-Louis, his value could be very good, but for that, he will have to avoid the infirmary.