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If he plays like he eats toast I am worried. His toast is so unevenly cooked I question his sanity. Burnt black at one end and uncooked at the other? Should we expect a completely inconsistent style of play as well? No pb on there for protein, just a bunch of deadweight carbs for breakfast? Is that what a world class organization (?) considers a healthy breakfast?

Regarding Drouin: how many times are people going to keep expecting something good from this player. When he arrived it was his time to shine as he would be getting consistent top 6 (first line) minutes, then it was how much he would thrive under his former junior coach DD (where he’d enjoyed much success) and again be a solid top 6 player, now people expect another new coach to suddenly turn this pumpkin into a stud? He is soft, relatively slow and a non-threat to shoot/score for most part. He is way too easy to defend and too poor on défense and zone exits to play with Suzuki and CC on top line, they already have issues with these areas and cannot be saddled with a winger who is also small, soft and bad at zone exits. Given the current d group the fw’s will be getting a lot of pucks in their feet, along the boards under pressure from pinching d, leading to extended time in the dzone. Drouin is not good in these situations and will therefore not stick with first unit if he even gets a chance there. He will play himself down to third line, continue to be frustrating to watch, but a contender dealing with injuries or lack of scoring will take a flyer on him at trade deadline but he will not yield better than a 3/4 round pick. The guy is what he is and continuing to expect him to evolve, improve and impress is asking for trouble. Playing at a 50 point pace for 30-40 games is a lot different than actually showing up for 70 games (seems no one expects him to actually play a full season which says a lot) and actually producing consistently enough to merit 50 points. Dude is washed up, was never really a factor in his career and shouldn’t be holding others from top 6 minutes. Would rather see Ylonen get that kind of shot.

Yes, we have wingers. But, for perspective, consider the number of wingers on the Habs that scored at a 50-point pace last year, or better: One. Caufield, of course. Toffoli would have qualified, but he is now in Calgary. We may be drowning in wingers, but not in wingers capable of scoring or setting up goals. And, just to be clear: I am not proposing to extend Drouin now. But depending on what happens this season, I will accept a rational decision from Hugo, whether it's to extend or trade. I don't think making player decisions based on who one likes or dislikes is the best way to build a strong team, and I expect that the Habs (especially with their new analytics team) will be in the best position to determine whether player X is worth keeping or trading.

This 100000000% If Drouin puts up 150 points he still won’t be offered a contract by the Habs. There isn’t a single aspect of Drouin’s game that fits anything that HuGo described as their type of player or vision for the style of team they building. Drouin’s only high skill quality is his passing abilities and that comes with significant injury history, average skating, poor decisions with the puck and a half assed work ethic. The team that signs him to a long term contract will be disappointed.

If Drouin has a good start, is productive, and stays healthy up to the deadline, he should be traded and hopefully for a good return. Resigning him should even be a consideration.

I have confidence in Hugo making a rational decision, regardless of any media pressure.