Habs forward Jonathan Drouin admits leave of absence from team was due to stress and anxiety

Montreal Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin is back and ready to prove the doubters wrong after walking away from the team midway through last seasons for unknown reasons.

Earlier this week, the 26-year old sat down with RDS’ Chantal Machabee for an exclusive interview to explain what exactly caused his sudden leave of absence.

“I’ve had anxiety problems for many years. Insomnia problems that relate to my anxiety…That week in Calgary where we played three games (April 23 to 26) – I missed all three of them and wasn’t feeling good.” said Drouin.

“It was where I hit a wall for me, and it was time to step away from the game and literally take a step back from everything and kind of enjoy life. I needed it, and it was hard for me to do at that time and obviously, playoffs were coming around…It wasn’t an easy thing to do and I’m proud of what I’d done and I’m happy I did it. I’m 26 years old, so I wanted to do that at that point in my career and feel good for the next years.”

Drouin was placed on long-term injury reserve on April 28th, and sat out the remainder of the season and the playoffs. He amassed just two goals and 21 assists in 44 games during the pandemic shortened 2020/21 campaign.