Jonathan Drouin – Halifax Mooseheads – 2013 NHL Draft

The small winger only played the second half of the season in the QMJHL, but he left a strong impression on us with his offensive skills.

Drouin is really shifty with the puck and he makes things happen quickly. His slick hands will allow him to create a lot of space both in the neutral and offensive zone, which gave his teammates a lot of room to work with. His vision along with his stickhandling ability are the best assets to Drouin’s game. He finds teammates around him easily and turns with the puck very well, especially on the power play. While his fairly good speed combined with his great hands allows him to be quite elusive, he would benefit from keeping his head up a lot more in the neutral zone in order to make better decisions, take better routes approaching the offensive zone and avoid head injuries. On the defensive side, Drouin has a lot of work to do in order to cut out turnovers from his game and improve his overall play in the defensive zone. Even though he will never be a force along the walls, his physical play should be addressed as he gets knocked off the puck too often.

All that being said, Drouin is an elite talent with a lot of room to improve in all areas of his game. We really like what we saw from him offensively and he could very well follow the path of Claude Giroux.