Former Avalanche forward Jonathan Drouin will face his former team

The Colorado Avalanche found a solid player in Jonathan Drouin during 2023 free agency. He played 122 games from Colorado, scoring 30 goals and 63 helpers (assists). The Avalanche re-signed Drouin for another year after his first contract expired. He ended up having a worse year, riddled with injuries.

That led to his decision to leave the Avalanche the following offseason to sign with the New York Islanders. Right up against the trade deadline, the Islanders decided to include Drouin in a deal. He has been shipped to the St. Louis Blues in one of the bigger trades of Friday’s deadline day.

Now, Drouin gets to “stick it” to the Avalanche twice this season. The Avs face the Blues on April 5 and 7. It was obviously his decision to leave in free agency instead of taking a deal from Colorado, but the Avalanche went a different way, as they previously acquired Brock Nelson. Nelson has since signed a three-year extension with Colorado worth $7 million per year.

That contract seemed a bit silly considering Nelson’s age and how Colorado could have potentially signed Drouin for less. Then again, I think that Drouin probably expected to get more money in free agency.

This season with New York, Drouin played 55 games, recording three goals and 18 assists.

The Blues are in the toilet, as they say, as they sit dead last in the Central Division. The move to add Drouin in the deal probably doesn’t change their outlook a whole lot—at least for this season. Even the bigger piece they got in the trade, Brayden Schenn, won’t be able to help them this year.

Additionally, the Blues acquired a first-round pick in the trade from Friday. That first-round pick was the pick that Colorado traded to the Islanders to acquire Nelson. There’s no guarantee that the pick will turn out to be a good player, but the fact that a pick that was originally Colorado’s ended up back in the division stings a little bit. That will be interesting to monitor in coming years.