Jonathan Drouin (born March 28th, 1995) is an ice hockey player who has spent his professional career in the NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens. The Canadian left winger is also able to play as a centre forward. Drouin won the NHL’s fastest skater competition of the 2015 NHL All-Stars Skills contest. He is known for his great stick handling and playmaking skills.

Minor and junior career

Drouin was the leading scorer of Lac Saint-Louis Lions AAA midget team in 2010-11 season. After the season, he was selected in QMJHL Entry Draft by Halifax Mooseheads, which he joined during 2011-12 season. Like in Lions, he also played an important role in Mooseheads – helping them to make it to the play-offs.

Drouin’s next season (2012-13) was first marred by an injury, but he played an incredible season scoring 105 regular season points for the Mooseheads. He got several awards after the successful season. In 2013 NHL Entry Draft, Drouin was picked by Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. After that, Drouin signed a three-year contract with the Lightning. However, he still spent another season (2013-14) in Mooseheads, scoring 108 regular season points in the process – despite missing part of the season due to upper-body injury.

Professional career

Like many other seasons, Drouin’s 2014-15 season started with an injury – he hurt his thumb during the Lightning training camp. Despite the injury, Drouin played 70 regular season games during his debut season in NHL and had also his first six play-off matches to his belt. Drouin scored only four regular season goals, but altogether he scored 32 points.

2015-16 was again marred by injuries. On the top of that, there was uncertainty over Drouin’s future with the Lightning – the relationship with the club and the player looked quite complex and there were rumours about Drouin being traded. Nevertheless, he finished the season with the Lightning and scored 14 points in 17 play-off games, which is his best play-offs performance so far. Drouin’s first play-off goal was a game-winning goal.

Drouin played one more season in Lightning before being traded to Montreal Canadiens. He signed a six-year contract with the Canadiens. His second season 2018-19 with the team equals his career-high regular season 53 points earlier with the Lightning. After the season, Drouin had a nose surgery because of the fracture in his nose. In 2019-20, Drouin missed 37 games because of the wrist injury. He is currently preparing for 2019-20 play-offs with the Canadiens.

International career

Drouin won Ivan Hlinka Memorial U18 Tournament with the Canadian team in 2012. He was in the Canadian U20 national team in World Championship tournaments of 2013 and 2014. Moreover, he played in Team North America in 2016 World Cup of Hockey tournament.

Other interesting stuff

Drouin is from Canadian French area. He was born in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec. His favourite sports outside ice hockey is tennis.

Drouin is still a young player that has plenty of time to develop. He had several injuries so far in his career, and it is important to avoid further injuries from now on.