Jonathan Drouin will become an uncompensated free agent on July 1 and, barring a surprise, he will not be back with the Canadiens. With the talent he possesses, there is no doubt that he will find a position in the NHL fairly quickly, with a considerable pay cut. As for Alexis Lafreniere, his first three seasons in the league have fallen well short of expectations, especially for a first overall draft pick. Former goalie Eric Fichaud looked at the two Quebecers' failures and even dared to compare them: <q>For me, Jonathan Drouin has more pure talent than Lafreniere. As for the rest on the other hand, Lafreniere is more combative, he is more involved. He does more things on the ice. He may not have Jonathan's talent, but I wouldn't necessarily worry about him. He has the skills to produce in Montreal.</q> So Jo would be more talented than Laffy, which is questionable. Nonetheless, we agree that Lafreniere is not an elite player, but he can do his share of scoring when placed in the right chair. <q>He's not an elite player, but he's a good player. Tim Stützle is an elite player, though. That doesn't mean Lafreniere will never be a 25-goal or 50-60 point guy in the National League. As long as you analyze Lafreniere the right way, he can certainly help the Habs in the right situation. - Eric Fichaud</q> <blockquote class=twitter-tweet><p lang=en dir=ltr>TO SEE | He may not have the talent of Drouin, but I wouldn't be worried about him <a href=https://t.co/xEli9Lo8Ia>https://t.co/xEli9Lo8Ia</a>- TVA Sports (@TVASports) <a href=https://twitter.com/TVASports/status/1654171180159336541?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>May 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js charset=utf-8>