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The Colorado Avalanche took a flier on Jonathan Drouin this offseason, getting little danger on a pleasant one-year deal to usher in one among Nathan MacKinnon’s old linemates from their junior hockey days. The experiment didn’t begin out so nicely, however Drouin is lastly clicking with Colorado’s prime line because the Avs look to push to the highest of the Western Conference.
Drouin’s latest surge has pushed him to a modest 24 factors on the season, however that makes him Colorado’s fifth-leading scorer. He’s additionally fifth on the workforce in targets with 10, and has a minimum of a degree in 12 of his final 15 video games. The surge in scoring has been welcome for a top-heavy Avalanche membership that has desperately been in search of depth scoring all through the 2023-24 marketing campaign.
Drouin Stumbled to Start Season
Drouin scored simply three factors by means of the workforce’s first 15 video games, and it appeared like his reunion with MacKinnon was a complete bust. He was enjoying alongside MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen on the highest line. While the opposite two have been piling up factors, Drouin was getting left behind. He didn’t rating his first objective till the 12th sport of the season – a third-period tally in a 5-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Nov. 13.
Calling it a sluggish begin wouldn’t be truthful to most different sluggish begins. Through the primary two months of the marketing campaign, he registered a degree in simply 5 of the workforce’s 20 video games. That resulted in him bouncing round on quite a few completely different line mixtures. Along with enjoying on the highest line, Drouin was additionally combined with newcomers Ryan Johansen and Tomas Tatar (who has since been traded), in addition to different newcomers Ross Colton and Miles Wood. Nothing appeared to work, a minimum of persistently.
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Drouin was additionally bumped from any significant power-play time, and noticed his minutes dwindle from 17-plus minutes on opening evening to barely scratching out between 10-12 minutes a sport in November. He appeared a far cry from the man that scored 18 targets and 53 factors for the Montreal Canadiens again in 2018-19 – and extra just like the man that scored 17 targets mixed within the 4 seasons since then. It appeared prefer it wasn’t figuring out, however then he was reunited with MacKinnon on that prime line as soon as once more.
Top Line Gets Drouin Rolling
Thanks to accidents and different line shuffling, Drouin discovered his means again on the road subsequent to MacKinnon and Rantanen, and he isn’t letting this second alternative slide. He has scored seven targets and 16 factors over his final 15 video games, and has registered 5 targets in his final six contests. That features a two-goal effort on Jan. 4, as his targets helped Colorado erase a pair of two-goal deficits in a 5-4 street victory over the Dallas Stars.
Most not too long ago, Drouin had a objective and an help in Colorado’s 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs final Saturday. The Avs trailed 3-0 after the primary interval, however Drouin scored a power-play tally 5:27 into the second to get Colorado’s comeback rolling. This is necessary on a number of ranges. He is proving his value in essential conditions, and he’s incomes enjoying time with the power-play unit. He has a degree on the facility play in three of the final 5 video games, together with a pair of power-play targets.
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Drouin’s ice time has additionally rocketed up. After struggling to hit even quarter-hour on the ice by means of a lot of November and December, he’s averaging 23:40 of ice time over the past seven video games. It helps that his scoring has ticked up, however it’s no coincidence that that quantity has risen since reuniting with MacKinnon. This is what the Avalanche have been searching for after they signed him, however it will likely be attention-grabbing to see how lengthy he can proceed this stage of play.
Why the Avalanche Need Drouin
Depth scoring has been an issue for Colorado, and the Avalanche have been rolling these days as a result of they’ve been getting extra of it. Drouin has led the way in which on this division, notching 11 factors over the workforce’s final 11 video games. The Avs have gone 9-1-1 in that stretch, together with a 3-0-1 mark on the street. They’ll be hoping to proceed that pattern, as nicely, because the Avalanche’s subsequent 4 video games are away from dwelling.
This latest surge by Drouin highlights what Colorado hoped to get from all their strikes within the offseason so as to add depth forwards. With 10 targets by means of 41 video games this season, he has matched his objective whole from the earlier three years mixed. He performed six seasons with the Canadiens earlier than coming to Colorado, however scored a paltry whole of 17 targets over the ultimate 4 seasons. He additionally by no means scored greater than 29 factors in that stretch, and already has 24 factors this season.
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It’s been powerful for the Avalanche to exchange Gabriel Landeskog’s scoring, because the captain is out for the year following surgical procedure. It additionally didn’t assist when Artturi Lehkonen was sidelined after a nasty hit. The different gamers Colorado introduced in – Johansen, Wood, and Colton – have been serviceable, however the consistency has struggled to emerge. The Avalanche want Drouin to maintain up this play to cement some consistency in that prime line. At greater than midway by means of the season, it’s fairly late to be speaking about solidifying traces, however Drouin has proven that it’s higher late than by no means – and has Colorado again as a menace to win the West as soon as once more.
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