A ‘fearless’ young recruit
17-year-old Drouin rewarded with spot on second line
UFA, RUSSIA – It was just a year ago that Jonathan Drouin made the jump from midget AAA to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as a member of the Halifax Mooseheads.
Making a trip to the world junior hockey championship at this time wasn’t an obvious flight path, but there was no ignoring the forward’s game as he made his mark in major junior, with 48 points in 24 games.
Canadian head coach Steve Spott even made a trip to Halifax to scout the winger as well as Nathan MacKinnon, who plays alongside Drouin with the Mooseheads, just to make sure he could back up the statistics.
Drouin was banged up and didn’t play that night, but Spott did get an earful of commendations from his world junior assistants, Mario Duhamel and Andre Tourigny, who both coach in the QMJHL, as well as Kevin Prendergast, Hockey Canada’s head scout.
All three told Spott they had to invite Drouin to the December selection camp in Calgary.
“I had never seen him until then, but I became one of the guys in his fan club,” said Spott.
“I just think he’s a tremendous player with elite hockey sense and he’s fearless. He’s absolutely fearless.
“He reminds me of a Taylor Hall with the way he competes.”
If the shifty Drouin continues to impress like he has in the early days of the world juniors, he could be — like Hall — on every NHL team’s draft list when June rolls around.
Playing on Canada’s second line with Ryan Strome and Brett Ritchie, Drouin has leapfrogged past MacKinnon, the other 17-year-old whiz kid on the national team.
MacKinnon, who has had fourth-line duty, and Portland Winterhawks defenceman Seth Jones are the early favourites to be the No. 1 pick.
Drouin hasn’t been checking the early draft rankings and, even if he was, his intention is not to elevate his stock with his play in this championship.
“Nah, I’m not one of those guys. Right now, a lot of people are talking about it, but I don’t really bother,” he said.
“I have one goal and that’s the gold medal.
“I don’t really think about my draft stock. Maybe around June.”
In t he mea nt i me, Drouin, who is checking in with his folks back home almost daily, will keep his eyes fixed on the upcoming games against the United States and Russia.
“It’s a lot of fun to be here, even though you’re not with your parents at Christmas,” he said.
“It’s a cool city. We’re liking it, even though there’s a lot of cold and snow. It’s just different from Canada.
“It’s just fun to be here. I’m only 17. This is a really big step from last year, when I was midget.”
It was during last year’s playoffs that Drouin started to catch fire, then he picked up where he left off at the start of this season.
“I had a really strong beginning and I just kept going, so I think I earned my invite there,” Drouin said about the Canadian team selection camp. “Then I had a really good camp, so that’s what brought me here.”