The Islanders announced they’ve signed winger Jonathan Drouin to a two-year contract. The deal is worth $4MM per season, Frank Seravalli reports.
Similarly to their recruitment of winger Anthony Duclair last offseason, the Islanders have looked to the second-tier options for forwards to fix their offensive woes. In Drouin, they’ll add a silky playmaking winger into their top-six.
The former third-overall pick has played for the Colorado Avalanche for the past two years, though he struggled with injuries last season. Throughout his two-year stint, Drouin scored 30 goals and 93 points in 122 games with a +16 rating, averaging 18:11 of ice time.
Remarkably, even after ten years in the NHL, Drouin’s first season in Colorado was his best individual campaign yet. Besides him achieving a career-high 56 points during the 2023-24 campaign, Drouin averaged a 57.0% CorsiFor% at even strength during his tenure in Denver. It’s hard to imagine that he’s capable of driving his line, but the Islanders can place him next to Bo Horvat or Mathew Barzal and expect quality production.
If they have any hopes of contending during the 2025-26 season, New York desperately needed to add more offense. They faced financial constraints due to the number of restricted free agents they needed to sign. Drouin gives them the best of both worlds, offering quality secondary scoring production while leaving enough room for the Islanders to have enough space to re-up their remaining RFAs.
PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed significantly to this article.
Islanders quietly having a very good off-season.
I was afraid the Islanders would sign him. I don’t know that he has much left.
Someone should tell the Islanders management that they don’t have to spend every penny.
It’s short term middle-6 money for a guy who has shown he can give you top-6 production. Also would hopefully help out on the power play, they need more offense there and Drouin fills that need well.
But 4 million per season? I just don’t see him having that kind of production.
the cap rising has made a $4M cap hit more of a middle-6 type of contract, so it’s not like he needs to be a PPG guy to have positive value on it.
Some current $4M forwards from last season:
Patrick Kane (21-38-59 in 72 GP)
David Perron (9-7-16 in 43 GP)
Marcus Foligno (14-15-29 in 77 GP)
Nino Niederreiter (17-20-37 in 82 GP)
Ryan Hartman (11-15-26 in 69 GP)
Robby Fabbri (8-8-16 in 42 GP)
Viktor Arvidsson (15-12-27 in 67 GP)
Ross Colton (16-13-29 in 61 GP)
Alex Iafallo (15-16-31 in 82 GP)
Dawson Mercer (19-17-36 in 82 GP)
On an 82 game basis, that works out to a line of 17.6 – 19.5 – 37.1; Drouin in Colorado scored at a 20.2 – 42.3 – 62.5 points/82 GP pace over the past two years. If he can keep up about 75% of that production with the Isles, I would call it a solid value on that contract.
I hear you but the fact that those other guys you listed are getting 4 million per season doesn’t make it right. It doesn’t mean they’re not overpaid.
We’ll see but for this to work out I think Drouin needs to have about 50 points in an 82 Game season