Jonathan Drouin was two minutes late for a team meeting. It’s not a crime. But in the workplace, it’s a breach of punctuality. It is a lack of respect towards our colleagues and our superiors.
Martin St-Louis judged that a sanction was necessary.
Drouin was ruled out of a training session and benched for a full game.
The story gets people talking, opinions are divided.
There are those who condone St. Louis’ decision.
Others, like my esteemed colleague Réjean Tremblay, believe the manager has humiliated his veteran by leaving him hanging around in front of the television cameras all evening.
Supported by Gorton and Hughes
Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes probably knew what St. Louis was going to do to Drouin for Saturday’s game in Tampa Bay.
They knew Kaiden Guhle couldn’t play, and that left St. Louis with no player available to replace Drouin.
Could they have sent a player to Florida?
No doubt, but it wasn’t done.
We can therefore interpret their inactivity as support for their coach.
Drouin had to settle for watching his teammates bow to the Lightning. We could have put him in a bean bag chair to stretch his legs and gave him a keg of popcorn and a giant glass of soda to make him feel like he was in his movie theater.
Enough with the jokes.
An insult ?
Was that an insult to Drouin?
When we want to talk about the real humiliations inflicted on Canadian players, we think of Guy Lafleur’s retirement in Montreal.
Remember Patrick Roy’s last match on the forums.
Toe Blake let former teammate Maurice Richard rot on the bench in a 1959 Finals game against the Toronto Leafs.
As the crowd started chanting the name of Rocket, who was recovering from an injury, Blake asked him if he wanted to play. Richard sent him to graze.
Dick Irvin did the same thing with Doug Harvey in 1953, Dave Stubbs, formerly of The Gazette, told us on Facebook this weekend.
Drouin committed a venial sin, but St-Louis had no choice but to intervene. Not even two minutes late.
What would Drouin’s team-mates have thought if the coach had resigned?
St-Louis would have undermined his regulations and thus his authority.
Untapped talent
What I remember of Drouin is that he disappointed from start to finish of his six-year contract in Montreal. He suffered serious injuries, but that doesn’t explain everything.
Drouin never fully realized his talent. Because there is no shortage. There’s no better passer than him with the Canadiens. He can kill you out of numbers.
Like thousands of fans, I welcomed his acquisition, although I suspected that Sergei Sergachev would become a good defender.
But I dared not believe that we would see a repeat of the McDonagh-Gomez swap.
Left to our appetite
Drouin was only 22 when he arrived. He was just coming off his best National League season with 53 points in 73 games. We were right to think the best was yet to come.
But some asked questions and last but not least. On the night of the Laval Rocket’s first game at Place Bell, while we were waiting for an elevator, Guy Lafleur told me, “I wonder how he’s going to handle the pressure from Montreal. »
Maybe Guy had some information.
Two years ago we learned that Drouin was suffering from anxiety problems. However, he said it’s not specifically related to a Montreal career.
His troubles started long before that, he said. Everyone sympathized with him.
Jonathan is a good person, but his career record doesn’t speak for him. He did not deliver the goods.
Damage !
In the team photo taken at the Bell Center yesterday, Jonathan Drouin sat directly behind Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes, who was surrounded by head coach Martin St-Louis and vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton. Photo by Twitter @canadiensMTL
good baseball !
The World Baseball Classic games have been in full swing since the playoff rounds began. It feels like watching the World Series in March.
Games with Latin American teams are colorful. Supporters heartily support their country.
It brings to life a sport that really needs it.
My favorite is Randy Arozarena, outfielder for the Mexico team. For those who don’t know his story, he’s a defector from Cuba.
The guy has fun playing baseball. He’s having fun on the field, he’s always smiling from ear to ear.
Zest for life on two legs!
It’s funny to see him running in his cowboy boots while warming up before the game.
He would have been very popular in Montreal if the Tampa Bay Rays’ joint custody project had worked.
Anyway, I played for him against Japan last night.
The Pats couldn’t repeat
Members of Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières’ Patriotes men’s hockey team, two-time reigning Queen’s Cup champions, failed in their bid to win the second consecutive Canadian championship.
They were stopped in the semifinals by the University of New Brunswick Reds. The latter continued their path to the University Cup by knocking out the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
The Reds were relentless defensively during the weekend tournament in Charlottetown, PEI.
At the same time, the women’s Concordia Stingers at the Université de Montréal lost 4 to 3 in overtime to the Mount Royal University Cougars.
Congratulations to all of these players and to everyone else who competed in the other Canadian varsity championships this past weekend.
The media, myself included, don’t talk about you enough.
