Quebec forward Jonathan Drouin is one of the Montreal Canadiens players who will enjoy full free agent status starting Saturday. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for him when his six-year, $33 million contract expires.
The 28-year-old Drouin risks suffering a sharp drop in salary in the event of an agreement with another team, which received an average of $ 5.5 million per season thanks to the deal signed by Canada’s former general manager Marc Bergevin in June 2017.
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In 2022–2023, the Quebecer had 29 points, including two goals, in 58 games. His time in Montreal, made possible by a trade that sent defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to the Tampa Bay Lightning, was capped by a harvest of 186 points in 321 regular-season games. He also had seven points in ten playoff games in 2020.
Jam on the offensive
It couldn’t be more surprising if the Canadiens enlisted Drouin’s services when more than a dozen forwards already have valid contracts with the Montreal club for next season. To this we must also add Alex Newhook, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Jesse Ylönen, who are among those who received a qualifying offer as free agents with compensation on Friday. At the end of this process, everything also indicates that CH has no intention of keeping the services of Denis Gurianov and Joël Teasdale.
Along with Drouin, another player who could test the unrestricted free agent market after playing for the Canadiens last season is Alex Belzile. In the case of Belzile, he recorded 14 points, including six goals, in 31 games with the Habs last season. As captain of the Laval Rocket, he had 26 points in 31 American League games.