Cam Russell grew up in Cole Harbour, a Nova Scotia town now famous in the hockey world for producing two of the sport’s best players from the 21st century, Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon.
Russell played nearly 400 games in the NHL, including his final 35 with the Colorado Avalanche. He returned to his native province, and is in his 16th season as general manager of the Halifax Mooseheads, the QMJHL club about 20 minutes west of Cole Harbour.
The crowning achievement of Russell’s time in Halifax came 10 years ago, when MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin led the Mooseheads to the franchise’s first QMJHL title and the Memorial Cup, the champion of all three major Canadian junior leagues.
Russell had a chance to relive some of those memories when the Mooseheads raised MacKinnon’s No. 22 jersey to the rafters on Sept. 22 at Scotiabank Centre. MacKinnon and Drouin are staging their own 10-year reunion of sorts with the Avalanche.
The Avs signed Drouin to a one-year, $825,000 contract this offseason, reuniting him with his former Mooseheads linemate.
“It was good for both of them,” Russell said about his dynamic duo from a decade ago. “You had two extremely talented players. Sometimes it is difficult because you don’t have players good enough to play with them. They were both at such a high caliber. They pushed each other. They played together all the time. They really did support each other.
“A lot of times with players that good, there might be some jealousy, but honestly they were best friends. They helped make each other better every day. We were so fortunate to have two talents like Jonathan and Nate together. It was a win-win for everyone.”
MacKinnon was the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NHL draft by the Avalanche, and has spent the past decade returning Colorado to the top of the league as one of the best players in the world. His trajectory, aside from a couple of frustrating seasons after being rookie of the year, has been exactly what was expected from the second phenom from Cole Harbour who grew up with Crosby memorabilia in his bedroom.
Drouin didn’t wait long to make the same walk to the stage at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. He was the No. 3 pick in the same draft, by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Their paths diverged immediately – while MacKinnon was en route to the Calder Trophy, Drouin returned to Halifax for another season.
He wasn’t an instant NHL star, but Drouin did have two 50-plus point seasons before his 25th birthday and a lucrative six-year contract from his childhood team, the Montreal Canadiens, after a high-profile trade with Tampa Bay.
The first two seasons in Montreal were solid, but the final four were not. Injuries were a problem, including surgeries on both wrists. At one point struggles with anxiety and insomnia led to him taking an excused break from the team.
His production never quite lived up to his immense potential.
“The overall pressure in Montreal is pretty big, obviously,” said Avs forward Tomas Tatar, who played with Drouin in Montreal. “French-Canadian players have it even tougher maybe. There’s double the media in both languages all over you, so that’s not making it any easier. Maybe playing in the U.S., that’s going to take a little attention off him, and he can be more confident on the ice. It’s not easy for anyone there. Trust me.”
After completing his contract with the Canadiens, Drouin became an unrestricted free agent this past offseason. The market for him was clearly not robust, and his new contract is at a far reduced rate than his six-year, $33 million deal in Montreal.
But there is hope that Drouin will be an impact player again in Colorado. While everyone involved, from coach Jared Bednar to both MacKinnon and Drouin, has said that this reunion is not solely because they were junior teammates a decade ago, the Avs clearly won’t mind if the pair can rekindle some of their QMJHL magic.
Bednar said a spot on the team’s top line will be earned, not given. Drouin has been next to MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen for every practice, save for the ones MacKinnon missed after returning to Halifax for the jersey retirement ceremony when Ryan Johansen filled in as the top center.
“I’ve known him as a teammate in juniors and for the last 10 years as a person,” MacKinnon said. “I think he’s a great guy, and another guy that is fitting really well with this group. I wasn’t telling him to come here to play with me or anything.
“I think he’ll be very versatile. He’s such a talented player, works really hard and it’s been really fun being back on the ice with him.”
Drouin played for youth hockey teams near Montreal before joining the Mooseheads. Their first season together as 16-year-olds was a strong one, with Halifax reaching the league semifinals and the pair combining for 22 goals and 54 points in 17 playoff games.
The next year Halifax became a juggernaut. The Mooseheads won 58 of 68 games in the regular season, then went 16-1 in the QMJHL playoffs. MacKinnon and Drouin combined for 23 goals and 68 points in 17 contests.
Then they combined for eight goals and 22 points in four games at the Memorial Cup.
“After two days, I could of told you – we just connected, hockey-wise,” Drouin said. “We both loved the game so much. We would watch hockey. We would talk about hockey. He’d pick me up for school, and we’d spend our whole day together pretty much. He’d drop me off for dinner and pick me up the next day. It didn’t take long to see we had some kind of connection there, and it just grew from there.”
MacKinnon and Drouin haven’t played in a preseason game together yet for the Avalanche, but that will likely happen this week. Unless something changes, they are on track to play together opening night in Los Angeles.
Bednar has praised Drouin’s work in camp, calling him a player he thinks the club “will be able to lean on.” Drouin said there were other reasons for wanting to play here besides reuniting with his old pal.
“It’s this hockey team and how they play,” Drouin said. “Playing against them the past couple of years, it is not fun. It’s hard. They’re so fast. I’m not saying they’re the most physical group, but they play so fast that you’re chasing them all night, you’re working so hard to chase them and it gets annoying.
“It’s the way I want to play. I think my brain is at a level that I want to play fast. People always talk about playing fast. It’s not just your feet. It’s your brain too. Can you move the puck? Can you make that little play? I think I have that. I know this team has that. It’s something I’m very excited about.”
In many ways, MacKinnon’s career has played out exactly the way it was expected to after helping Halifax to the Memorial Cup. Drouin’s career has not, though he has battled plenty of adversity and still been a solid NHL player.
Drouin and the Avalanche still believe he can be more than that, and this could be an opportunity to make that happen. It could turn out to be quite the reunion.
“I think Jonathan is one of the greatest talents we’ve ever seen come through Halifax, and I think he’s going to do great in Colorado,” Russell said. “Things don’t happen overnight. Patience can be a virtue for GMs and coaches, but they’ve got to understand that they have a great player with Jonathan. It could take some time, but I think it was a great move for Colorado to bring him in there.”
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