Jonathan Drouin takes life on the bright side, but Martin St-Louis loses patience

BET À DAY

ST. LOUIS | There was a time when Jonathan Drouin might have been sulky or chomping at the bit when being shown the way to the catwalk by his head coach. At 27, he claims to have passed the age of such childishness. 

Limited to the role of spectator Saturday against the Blues, it was the third time that Drouin was scratched from the training by Martin St-Louis this season. If the first two times could be attributed to the need for an extra period of fitness, this was not the case this weekend.

“I keep the good attitude and I work hard . We have 15 forwards, so I know that some nights it will be up to me to skip my turn,” said Drouin, at the end of the training that the Canadian held in St. Louis, before flying to Minnesota. .

This attitude contrasts greatly with the one he demonstrated in his rookie season. Left out for 12 games in his first steps in the Lightning organization, he refused to report to the Syracuse Crunch at the start of the following campaign, before changing his mind.

“It's easier now than then. When you're 18 or 19, you're embarrassed to knock on the coach's door to ask him questions. I have a great relationship with Martin. It's easy to talk about hockey with him. As soon as I saw the formation, I had a conversation with Martin,” explained Drouin.

A student of the game

The latter may repeat that Evgenii Dadonov, Rem Pitlick and him suffered because of the surplus of healthy players in attack, we guess that the driver of the Canadian did not draw three names at random from a hat.

Never mind, Drouin wants to get something positive out of every situation. Even on the bridge, it is important to him to use this situation to improve himself.

“I am a student of the game, he argued. Even from above, you can learn things. Even at 27. For example, you can learn things about your team, about your own teammates; guys you could play with in a week or two.”

“Sometimes you also realize certain things. You understand that you have more time than you think with the puck,” he continued.

The Dadonov Mystery

If the situation seems clear about Drouin, it is less so on the side of Dadonov. The forward was not on the ice with his teammates yesterday afternoon. The team indicated that the Russian had to comply with treatment.

Curious, since he did not face the Blues on Saturday. 

Moreover, revived on the state of health of number 63, St-Louis lost patience.

“He was not on the ice today! Chantal [Machabée] told you. It just stops, hammered the head coach of the Canadian. I don't know [if something happened between Saturday and Monday]. He wasn't ready to practice today.”

One can still wonder if Dadonov is not pissed off. After Saturday's game, coworkers spotted him chatting with Kent Hughes in a hallway at the Enterprise Center.

Dadonov, who is in the final year of his $5M contract, still has not put his name on the score sheet. He is one of the least used attackers by St-Louis (13 min 29 s). In addition, it is used much more in numerical inferiority than on the massive attack. 

This is not where the points are accumulated.