I’ve been thinking a lot about Jonathan Drouin. One of my favorite junior players ever. He was being praised this year for improving his play away from the puck and his work rate. Then, suddenly, he’s LTIR for a “Personal LOA” and neither the team nor the player provide any comment at any point. It has been reported that his teammates have stayed in touch and were texting him along the way during their Cinderella Cup run. There’s been a lot of speculation that he’s struggling with the market and his issue may be geographical in nature.
He’s a guy with an unbelievable amount of untapped talent. He’s got some issues apparently. I thought about him when we hired Tourigny. I wonder if he’s the guy who can get through to Drouin and be the guy who finally gets the most out of him. I would guess the acquisition cost is about zero.