DROUIN LEARNED A LONG TIME AGO TO HELP OTHERS

Millionaire hockey star’s efforts to raise funds for hospital ‘coming from his heart’

Jonathan Drouin is only 23 but he’s already a multimillionaire, heading into the second season of a six-year, US$33-million contract with the Canadiens.

Drouin realizes how fortunate he is because, he’s seen first-hand the struggles of unfortunate children who have grown up with nothing.

Drouin’s parents, Serge and Brigitte, have spent most of their lives working at the Huberdeau Youth Centre in his hometown near Mont-Tremblant. Serge is a security guard and Brigitte provides a motherly touch by making meals and beds, among other duties, to help children whose parents are out of the family picture for a variety of reasons.

“Jonathan was exposed to their work with kids at an early age,” Drouin’s agent, Allan Walsh, said Thursday morning shortly after the first edition of the Jonathan Drouin Golf Tournament teed off at Le Mirage in Terrebonne to raise money for the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM).

“He would go with his parents to work at different times and meet the kids. Many times, they were about his age. I think Jonathan is very sensitive to people who are less fortunate than him, growing up in less fortunate circumstances. This work of his is truly coming from his heart and not just something he’s doing for the sake of doing it.”

Last September — three months after the Canadiens acquired him from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for defenceman Mikhail Sergachev — Drouin announced he would donate $500,000 of his own money to the CHUM hospital with a goal of raising another $5 million over 10 years as an ambassador for the Fondation du CHUM. Drouin also partnered with the Canadiens Children’s Foundation to purchase a Bell Centre loge called “Jo et ses champions” for every home game, allowing about 350 underprivileged kids to watch the Canadiens play in style.

Drouin is hoping to give those young fans more reason to cheer than they had last season when the Canadiens finished 28th in the overall NHL standings and he struggled with 13-33-46 totals and a minus-28 rating.

Drouin looks different than he did last season with long, rockstar hair and he is also lighter.

“Last year, I showed up a little heavy for me,” he said Thursday before teeing off. “I was trying something new. This year, I’m going to be way lighter. I give an example of the (Mathew) Barzal (of the New York Islanders, who won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie after posting 22-63-85 totals at six feet and 189 pounds), kids that aren’t that big and still skate like they were doing in junior. It’s going to be the same for me this year.

“I was (low) 200s maybe, 203, 205 (pounds),” the six-foot Drouin said about his weight last season. “I’m trying to get down to 200, 195, that area this season. Where that brings me I feel comfortable so far … I think I could have played at 185 or 190 like I used to. That’s another learning curve of what way can I play and does it affect my speed? I don’t think it did that much, but it could be better than last year.”

Drouin added the Canadiens, as a team, need to play a faster game.

“I think we need to play with way more speed, way more tempo, maybe less flat-footed,” he said. “That’s not all about the system, but that’s the players, as well. I think we were flat-footed, not really chasing the game, we were kind of waiting for things to happen. That’s the same thing for me this year … I want to be way more aggressive, way more on the puck, skating all the time.”

Drouin also wants to do better in the faceoff circle. He won only 42.5 per cent of his draws last season while trying to learn a new position in the NHL after playing mostly on the wing in Tampa. Drouin finished the season with nine points in his last nine games.

“What I tell players all the time is you need to have short memories and leave the game at the rink,” Walsh said. “When you get in your car and you leave the rink, you’ve got to forget about the game. You have to have an on/off button and use it.

“I think with Jo, you can talk about what it’s like to be a French-Canadian hockey player playing in Montreal, but all the talk in the world isn’t going to prepare you for what the experience is really like,” said Walsh, who also represents Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty. “I think you have to go through that experience and he did. And then you put in a summer of hard training and you get yourself ready. I think Jonathan, and any player in his position, will be much more prepared for what the season entails the second time around.”

The kids in the “Jo et ses champions” loge aren’t the only ones in Montreal who will be watching him closely.

Jonathan is very sensitive to people who are less fortunate than him, growing up in less fortunate circumstances.