Is Jonathan Drouin starting to emerge as an elite player?

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 19, 2016

TAMPA, Fla. – Jonathan Drouin has experienced more starts and stops in his brief NHL career than a commuter driving Dale Mabry during rush hour.

But might we finally be starting to see the Drouin the Lightning envisioned when using the third overall selection in the 2013 draft on the talented forward?

In the long term absence of Steven Stamkos, the Lightning need somebody to help fill that offensive void. With Nikita Kucherov out for the past three games and his status unclear for Tuesday’s game against Detroit (Fox Sports Sun, 7:30 p.m.), Drouin has been an offensive catalyst.

That’s a trend the Lightning want to see continue

Since sitting out a game on Dec. 4 due to injury, Drouin has four goals and six points in five games, recording his first career multi-goal game against Pittsburgh on Dec. 10. On the recently completed three-game road trip to Western Canada, Drouin had a goal, assist and a successful shootout attempt. Also in the three games, his Corsi rating (number of shot attempts for vs. shot attempts against while he was on the ice) was a plus-25.

His Corsi rating in the five games since he’s come back are plus-25, and he’s been a positive Corsi in all five games.

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That all shows a trend in a direction many expect to see out of such a dynamic offensive player.

“When Drouin is on the ice there is a good chance at some point good things are going to happen in the offensive end,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “He’s got that kind of talent.”

Assuming that trend continues in the right direction, Drouin might finally be on the verge of breaking out.

I’ts been a long time coming.

Since being the third overall selection, the path has been filled with speed bumps, pitfalls, detours and dead ends for Drouin.

In his draft year, Drouin did not make the team out of training camp and was returned for his final junior season with Halifax. The following season he suffered a broken thumb during rookie camp and missed all of training camp with the Lightning, which delayed his NHL debut by two weeks. He was in and out of the lineup his rookie season, finishing with four goals and 32 points in 70 games. On the march through the 2015 postseason, Drouin was mainly a spectator, scratched for all but six games, only appearing in three games in the first three rounds.

Last season played out like a soap opera, as Drouin saw his role reduced in the early stages of the season that led to a trade request which became public in January when he was sent to Syracuse of the American Hockey League. He would leave the team, awaiting his trade request to be fulfilled, but when the trade deadline passed and he remained a member of the Lightning, Drouin returned to the Crunch lineup in March.

Drouin was then called up to the Lightning for the final two games of the regular season, scoring twice, before going on to be a force in the postseason with five goals and 14 points, scoring four of his goals in the Eastern Conference finals against Pittsburgh.

Then to start this season, Drouin missed seven games in November due to injury. But since returning from his one-game absence at the start of the month, he looks as confident as he ever has at the NHL level and at times has been dominant.

After so many starts and stops, Drouin might finally be revved up and ready to go.

“I feel I’ve been playing well lately,” Drouin said. “It’s the same way I feel I’ve always played, but I’m getting rewarded for it. I have felt good the past couple of game since coming back from injury, and it does take a little time to get back the timing and stuff. But lately I’ve been feeling good.”

Knowing that Stamkos is out of the lineup until at least March, Drouin knew he’d be counted on to produce, even before Kucherov and Palat went down with injuries.

“With the injuries, guys have to step up and I’m one of them,” Drouin said. “I take pride in that, and this is a rough time for our team right now. Hopefully it’s not only me, but other guys can step up and we can start winning. . . . (That pressure) is already on myself, even if Stammer wasn’t out. For me it’s about finding a way to be consistent, that’s probably the biggest thing in this league is to be consistent.”

And with Drouin, it’s about being consistent all over the ice.

“We can’t sit here and say he has to score more, it’s his development as a 200-foot player and he’s really worked on that,” Cooper said. “That’s why I truly believe he’s starting to get points because he’s working at all ends of the ice and it’s paying off for him. But, he is one of our most talented players and when some of your scorers are going down (to injury) some guys have to pick up the slack and he’s been one of those guys, he just has to continue to do that now.”

That’s apparent to those in the locker room, including Valtteri Filppula, Drouin’s line mate for the last run of games as Drouin has started to get in to a rhythm.

“He’s a good player, lot of speed and skill,” Filppula said. “As always injuries are tough and they sort of set you back a little bit, and unfortunately sometimes it’s part of the game. But so far he’s been able to come back and play really well. Our offense has sort of been struggling and scoring as many goals, so everybody is thinking they want to chip in and help the team.”

Off day note: The Lightning called off Monday’s scheduled practice after being delayed out of Edmonton on Sunday. The flight, originally scheduled to leave Edmonton at 12:30, did not leave until 3:10 p.m.. That pushed back the arrival in Tampa to 9:50 p.m., which led to the decision to cancel the practice. … That meant there was no update on the status of RW Nikita Kucherov, who has missed three games with a lower body injury, or LW Ondrej Palat who missed the final two games with an undisclosed injury. … C Cedric Paquette missed Saturday’s game at Edmonton as well. … The status of all three players, along with RW Ryan Callahan, will be known at the team’s scheduled morning skate on Tuesday before facing the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings were scheduled to play at Carolina on Monday, but the game was postponed following a lengthy delay due to technical issue with the ice equipment. That allowed Detroit to leave for Tampa earlier than expected. … C Tanner Richard, who had his NHL debut scrubbed due to weather delays getting to Edmonton on Saturday, was recalled by Tampa Bay while RW Joel Vermin was reassigned to Syracuse.

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