Jonathan Drouin Taking Indefinite Leave from Canadiens

We spoke yesterday about the complications the Montreal Canadiens were running into when it comes to their roster call-ups, specifically when it came to Cole Caufield, Jake Evans, Alexander Romanov, Jonathan Drouin and Paul Byron. Things got a touch less complicated on Wednesday as the team has announced that Drouin will take an indefinite leave of absence for the team for personal reasons.

Related: Canadiens Have Run into Potential Roster Dilemma, Namely with Caufield

Forward Jonathan Drouin will take an indefinite leave of absence from the team for personal reasons.

He was placed on long-term injured reserve by the club. We ask everyone to respect his privacy. pic.twitter.com/bfy5F7afY6

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 28, 2021

That said, the salary cap is secondary to whatever is going on with the player as the team has asked everyone to respect his privacy and placed him on long-term injured reserve. After the announcement, there was an immediate outpouring of support on social media from fans and media.

Teammate Phillip Danault, also a French-speaking player from the province of Quebec, spoke about Drouin leaving the team and hinted at what might be going on.  The transcription is translated from a series of tweets by RDS’ Chantal Machabee: 

“I don’t want to go into details. I am also from Quebec, I know what it is to play in Montreal. I don’t want to go into details. It’s his life. We are sad for Jo. Jo is my friend. Yes, I am worried for him, but he will come back. There are more important things in life than hockey. Playing in Montreal has its ups and downs. We put so much pressure on ourselves. In Montreal, everything is amplified, with high expectations and everything. Sometimes we just take it personally. We want to play well, we put pressure on ourselves and it becomes difficult.”

Mike Stephens writes:

really hope Drouin is ok. honestly surprised we haven’t seen this from more players this year. mental health is shattered, we’re living in a pandemic & the well-being of loved ones is more important than ever. whatever’s going on here, just hope to god it has a happy ending.

What About the Roster Juggling?

Drouin hasn’t played since April 21 against the Edmonton Oilers, missing the last three games. He could be placed on LTIR retroactive to his last appearance, and could potentially return before the end of the season after missing his mandated ten games. It will be interesting to see if the Canadiens will go that considering their desire to keep players like Romanov, Caufield and Evans on the roster.

Drouin hasn’t had the best season, scoring twice in 44 games.

With Drouin on LTIR, the Canadiens cap issues in relation to Caufield or Evans should be mostly sorted out and the team can use the two young forwards down the stretch. Drouin on LTIR leaves $5.82M of $9.25M available, which enables flexibility to keep Caufield and Evans on the active roster. Both were on the ice at morning skate according to John Lu of TSN.

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