A call to calm Montreal Magazine

“No person in Quebec would want to see Jonathan Drouin score more than Jonathan himself.”

Although the topic appears redundant, Dominic Ducharme has not hesitated, for the second time in a week, in the defense of the 26-year-old forward.

The fact that Drouin has scored only two goals since the start of the season bothers many. It is a little understandable. After all, when Marc Bergevin made the possession in June 2015, it was in order to spur a weak attack.

In addition to awarding Mikhail Sergachev in return, Canadiens’ general manager immediately awarded a six-year contract worth $ 33 million ($ 5.5 million per season) for his new derivatives.

Drwin, meanwhile, became the highest-paid Canadian striker (since then, Josh Anderson has joined him and will be outdone by Brendan Gallagher next year).

Roll up your sleeves

His last row of goalscorers in the CH forward group stationed since the start of the season (tied with Jake Evans) largely exposes him to the dissatisfaction of the crowd.

It is true that he did not collect any points for a few matches [7 matchs], But his pre-break production was at a fairly good level [21 points en 31 matchs]. Adding to that a few goals he should have scored, we would have looked at his stats by saying that he had roughly one point per match, “said Ducharme.

“Yes, it is not appropriate, yes there is no number on the counter, but what he has to make sure to do is keep playing the right way. There are no million solutions. It’s like any field: When you want to get out of a situation, you roll up your sleeves and work . “

Although Ducharme maintains that his student has learned a lot about this aspect over the past few years, this may be where Drwin’s problem has been more of a problem lately.

In the wake of

Before the COVID-imposed break, we felt he was more engaged.

Although he was criticized for not shooting much on the net, he was more consistent with the puck in the opponent’s area and participated more actively in his defensive play.

“Right now, I’m not playing the best hockey game. I’m moving away from the disc and I’m not where I should be. It’s up to me to do the work, and come back like at the beginning of the year.”

Drouin also indicated that he used to play a lot on his heels for fear of making mistakes. Sure, when you’re not able to produce offensively, the last thing you want is to make a mistake that will hurt the team.

“It sure gets heavy [de ne pas marquer]. Even if you don’t want to think about it, it’s at the back of your head. We are there with him as we are with all of our players when they are facing more difficult times, ”Ducharme insisted.

A little reinforcement on the blue line

We just finished interviewing with Jonathan Drwin, Shea Weber, and Dominic Ducharme. Drouin had emphasized that the reinforcement was not really what was necessary to stop the slide the Canadian is in. “Mark [Bergevin] He did a great job this summer. He recently did so by going looking for Eric Stahl. This is the kind of deal you want to see. He improved the team, and now we have to find a way out of that bad streak. Weber agreed, arguing that this group of players was a success, and that he “knew” the team would be able to find the recipe.

Then the advertisement fell. CH acquired Jon Merrill, from Detroit, for Choice 5^e Tour and young man Hayden Verbeek.

good. The 29-year-old left defender will not come to fill Chiarot’s injury gap. However, Bergevin felt his 392 experience in the NHL made him more reliable than Victor Mitte, whose name had been given up at noon.

Edmundson with Petrie

Coined by demons in 2^e A round of 2010 draft, Merrill had been acquired by the Golden Knights in the expansion draft. Last fall, he signed a one-year contract with the Red Wings for $ 925,000. In the Red Wings, it was the most used defender after Filip Hronek. But, in Montreal, it would be surprising if he stepped on the ice for 19:41 as it was in Detroit.

Speaking of the defenders, Ducharme chose, to train Sunday, bring Joel Edmondson to the left of Jeff Petrie. This would benefit the most benefit for the American, whose game has suffered since Edmundson replaced Kiarot Webber. Brett Colak will now be the captain’s partner. “We have played together in the past.” The captain said, “I feel comfortable playing with anyone on our defensive team.