Pat Hickey: If Drouin is so exceptional, why is he in the doldrums?

‘He’s a special talent, obviously,’ linemate Brendan Gallagher says. But 12 players on the Canadiens have better shooting percentages than the center

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Pat Hickey • Montreal Gazette

Jonathan Drouin (92) celebrates with the bench after a shootout goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning March 10. Drouin has 10 goals and 23 assists. Those are decent numbers, Pat Hickey says, but they don’t scream special talent. Photo by Chris O’Meara /Associated Press

The day before the Canadiens played the Tampa Bay Lightning, Brendan Gallagher was asked what he and Paul Byron could do to help linemate Jonathan Drouin.

“He’s a special talent, obviously,” Gallagher said. “We’re out there to complement him. Paulie’s one of the fastest players in the world, and he’s hoping to create a lot of havoc that way. For me, it’s a question of working hard and getting the puck on (Drouin’s) stick as much as we can. We’ll try to create some turnovers and make some space for him.”

It sounded like a plan, but the reality is somewhat different.

Drouin has 10 goals and 23 assists. Those are decent numbers, but they don’t scream special talent.

And you have to wonder why Byron and Gallagher would be in a hurry to get the puck to Drouin. He connects on 7.5 per cent of his shots from him, while Byron leads the team at 17.4 per cent and Gallagher checks in at 10.7 per cent. Twelve players on the team have better shooting percentages than Drouin; five players, including Gallagher and Byron, have more goals. Gallagher and Byron combined for nine shots against Tampa Bay; Drouin had two shots blocked, and a third was off target.

Looking at those numbers, shouldn’t Drouin be working hard to get the puck on his linemates’ sticks as much as he can?

Maybe the better question is: Shouldn’t he be working hard, period?

On an afternoon when a banged up Charles Hudon led a valiant effort against the No. 1 in the NHL standings, you would have expected Drouin to be more emotionally involved in a game against his former team.

Les Canadiennes add Olympic medalists: Les Canadiennes have added two Olympians to their roster as they prepare to defend their Clarkson Cup title at the Canadian Women’s Hockey League playoffs.

The team announced last week that Hillary Knight will join the team after helping to lead the United States to a gold medal in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Knight has previous experience in the CWHL, playing with the Boston Blades. Knight’s resume also includes two Olympic silver medals and seven gold medals at the world championships. Les Canadiennes also announced that defenseman Lauriane Rougeau has rejoined the team after winning a silver medal with Team Canada. Rougeau had originally said that she wouldn’t play after the Olympics, but she changed her mind, saying that she missed the game.

Primeau on short list for award: Northeastern University freshman Cayden Primeau is one of the 10 finalists for the Mike Richter Award, which goes to the outstanding goaltender in US college hockey. Primeau, who was drafted by the Canadiens in the seventh round of the 2017 NHL draft, led Northeastern to a sweep of UMass-Amherst to reach the semifinals of the Hockey East tournament. He made 28 saves Friday in a 3-2 win and followed that up with a 29-save performance as Northeastern won 7-2 Saturday. Defenseman Jeremy Davies of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue contributed to the sweep with a goal and three assists in the two games. Primeau has 19-6-5 record with a 1.86 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage.

Seventh-ranked Northeastern will meet No. 9 Providence in the semifinals next weekend at TD Garden. The Friars also have a goaltender with a Canadian connection. Junior Hayden Hawkey, who was drafted by Montreal in the sixth round in 2014, led Providence to a sweep of Maine. Hawkey is no slouch, with a 22-10-3 record, a 2.14 GAA and a .914 save percentage.

Redmen off to Fredericton: The McGill Redmen are headed to next weekend’s U Sports national men’s hockey championships in Fredericton as the No. 3 seed. The Redmen defeated the Brock Badgers 5-1 Saturday to win the OUA championship. Samuel Tremblay paced McGill with two goals, while Jerome Verrier, Christophe Lalonde and Guillaume Gauthier each added a goal. Louis-Philip Guindon made 24 saves for the win.

McGill won the OUA regular-season title and was technically the home team for the final, but the Redmen had to travel 650 kilometers to St. Catharines because OUA rules stipulate that the final must be played in Ontario. The Concordia Stingers are also headed to Fredericton as the third-place team in the OUA.

The Concordia women are headed to the U Sports national championships in London as the No. 4 seed. Third-year coach Julie Chu won her first RESQ title by beating the Université de Montréal Carabins in a best-of-three final. The Carabins are also headed to London.

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