Following the Montreal Canadiens' 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils Tuesday evening, the Habs announced forward Jonathan Drouin will miss time.
Drouin will be sidelined for four to six weeks due to an upper-body injury suffered in a Nov. 5 game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
The former Memorial Cup champion and CHL/QMJHL Player of the Year is in his sixth season with the Habs. Last season, Drouin registered six goals and 20 points in 34 games. So far this season, the 27-year-old has four assists in 12 games.
Drouin came to the Habs organization in the summer of 2017 after a big trade that involved former 2016 ninth overall pick and now two-time Stanley Cup champion Mikhail Sergachev being shipped off to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Drouin. The Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, native made his debut with the Habs in 2017 and recorded 46 points. In the 2018-19 campaign, Drouin matched his career high of 53 points that he set in the 2016-17 season with the Lightning. That year, he recorded 18 goals and 35 assists in 81 games in what was just his second season wearing the Canadiens jersey.
This is not the first trip around the injury block for Drouin. Last season, he underwent wrist surgery that sidelined him for the remainder of the 2021-22 season. He also had an ankle injury that he dealt with during the 2019-20 season. Then, in 2020-21, Drouin and the Canadiens hit a rift. After not playing in three games due to non-COVID-related issues, the Canadiens placed Drouin on long-term injury reserve (LTIR) to deal with personal issues. While their relationship has seem to have been rekindled, Drouin now hits another roadblock in what has become five rocky seasons with the Habs.
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