Evan Rawal
I said it over the summer – after watching a lot of tape on him last season, I am cautiously optimistic that Jonathan Drouin and the Colorado Avalanche will be a good fit.
Through camp and a few preseason games, I’ve seen nothing to change my opinion of that.
Now, the key word there is preseason. These games don’t matter, and especially early on in the preseason, the competition he’s facing is nowhere close to what he’ll be seeing in two weeks.
What that in mind, what I’ve been looking for are good habits. Where has his effort level been? Is he showing a willingness to go to the dirty areas? And even if the competition isn’t great, is he generating offense? It remains to be seen if he can maintain this over the course of a full NHL season, but you definitely need to see it early.
So far, so good in an Avalanche uniform. Let me show you…
Generating Chances
In Sunday night’s game, no one had more Grade-A opportunities than Drouin. He had a mini breakaway that he created off a takeaway, and was robbed on a separate break by Scott Wedgewood. The fact that he’s getting these chances is a good sign, and in both clips, you can see that his skating stands out. He looks quick, and he’s moving really well all over the ice.
As I discussed after the game, if he’s going to play on the top line, he will need to finish at a much higher rate than he has the last three seasons, but for now, it’s a good thing he’s getting chances.
3-on-3 is a different beast altogether, but man, this is a high skill (and high IQ) play by Drouin to create the overtime winner. He backs the defenders up just enough to enter the zone with possession, and as soon as he gets over the zone, leaves a perfect drop pass for Olausson to take. In the process, Drouin did just enough to draw the defenders attention, giving Olausson space to get his shot off.
The Chemistry With MacKinnon
Ah yes, the Nathan MacKinnon factor. We know Drouin is going to have to earn that top line spot on the Avalanche, but it helps that he’s got history with Nate.
Through camp and preseason, it looks like that chemistry is still there. In Sunday night’s game, they were looking for each other quite a bit, and were able to connect on a lot of smart, quick passes. My favorite of these three is actually the little no-look drop by Drouin to hit MacKinnon with speed for a zone exit.
Effort
Drouin has more to lose than others in preseason, so the effort level needed to be there. So far, it has been. He had several strong back checks in Tuesday night’s game, but I’ve chosen to showcase these two, because he created two turnovers just by outworking the opponent. He’ll need to carry this over into the regular season with consistency.
Again, the big thing that stands out here – his quickness. He’s moving his feet, and skating well.
Getting Dirty
Just based off what I’ve seen of Drouin in the past, and from watching his Montreal tape, I’m not expecting to see Drouin around the net a ton. That’s just not who he is, and you can’t expect that to suddenly change. However, in preseason, he has shown a willingness to stand in front and get his nose dirty. That will get him in the good graces of the coaching staff. It’s not clipped here, but he was in front of the net on Toews’ powerplay goal.
The second clip is not exactly a big hit from the Dallas defender, but I just liked it for a few reasons. One, Drouin didn’t panic with the puck. Lesser talented players, if we’re being honest, probably would have just dumped it out of the zone and handed the puck right back to Dallas. Instead, Drouin takes the extra second to send it back to his defenseman for a regroup. In the process, he takes a hit for his troubles. That’ll happen, but I guarantee you the staff were fans of this play, especially with how the Avalanche value possession.
Still a long way to go, and the real games need to start, but everything we’ve seen from Drouin so far has been very encouraging. Can he keep it up over the course of a full NHL season? That will be the big test.