When it comes to the enigma that is Jonathan Drouin, Claude Julien is practicing tolerance. But as the Canadiens’ ultra-talented forward continues to be largely invisible lately, even a man who’s been behind the bench as long as Julien has must be nearing his breaking point.
If Drouin weren’t so gifted, maybe his inconsistencies wouldn’t be so maddening. And maybe what we see is what we will always get: a player who will pile up points for a while and go missing in action for an equally long stretch of time. Regardless, the Habs’ head coach knows part of his job is to get the most out of every player, Drouin included.
“The motto of a coach is patience and repetition”, said Julien, speaking to reporters recently in St. Louis. “Does that mean we don’t get frustrated? We do get frustrated. The last little while has been tough for him. I see the same thing everybody else does. We know he’s got the talent. His compete level and how much he wants to get involved is really what makes a big difference in his game.”
And therein lays the rub with Drouin. The Habs certainly can tolerate when he goes into a scoring slump if he’s driving the net, taking a hit to make a pass or making simple, strong plays in his own end. But when he is on the perimeter looking disinterested or flipping a cutesy saucer pass in his own zone that get picked off, you know it drives his coaches crazy.
Julien meets with Drouin, as he does with every player to talk about what he expects, but what about Drouin’s teammates? One wonders if, for example, Shea Weber or Brendan Gallagher, two veterans with impeccable work ethic have told Drouin in no uncertain terms what his teammates expect from him. Julien says that can be a valuable tool.
“You need to understand that you don’t want to let your teammates down and that’s your responsibility”, says Julien. “There are times when a teammate says ‘we need more from you. You’re a good player for us and we have to rely on you a little bit more.’ I feel we have good leadership in that dressing room. Sometimes it’s a matter of balancing what’s professional and what’s personal and when guys figure out that what’s being said is professional, things usually work out.” Julien says an underachieving player doesn’t have to necessarily hear it from his teammates; the example is out there on the ice. “When you look at Max Domi, he skates hard, he dumps in pucks, and he goes after pucks. There’s no problem there if he (Drouin) needs an example. I can say the same thing about Byron, Danault and Lehkonen.”
As Julien pointed out, it’s not like Drouin hasn’t produced. His 13 goals through his first 45 games equaled his 77 game output of last season. And he has the type of talent where he can be silent for the majority of a game and then do something special that can bring the fans out of their seats and get the Canadiens right back into a game. But in the 7 game span between December 29th and January 10th he had only 1 goal on 17 shots and for someone who is looked to for ample power play production, he’s failed to deliver as of late (although there is PLENTY of blame to go around in that department).
But while coaches need to look for methods to help Drouin and the occasional pep talk/shin kick from a teammate can go a long way, like every other player, the motivation ultimately has to come from within. Jonathan Drouin has to know that if he can find a way to show up with his work boots on every night, he could own this town. At age 23 he’s far from old but he has nearly 300 games under his belt and should know by now what it takes to thrive on a game by game basis. It will be fascinating to see where his career goes in the next couple of years.
