Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers Jersey Card

I was wondering what happened to Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers recently, finding it hard to believe that a player who was a 31st overall pick (Edmonton Oilers, 2002) and played last season in Germany (with the Augsburger Panther) would be out of work at 33 years old.

Well, I found him when perusing stats from the Chinook Hockey League, as he played 3 games with the Lacombe Generals (posting a high 2.98 goals-against average but a decent .917 save percentage). If you remember this story about Ryan Smyth, they're the team Smyth's Stony Plain Eagles were facing in the Chinook League final. Both teams eventually made it to the Allan Cup, but the Generals made it to the final.

Justice was served, however, as the Grand-Falls Windsor Cataracts won the championship. Of note, the Generals brought no less than five goalies to the tournament: Drouin-Deslauriers, who was the third-string goalie, Steven Stanford, the backup, and starter Kramer Barnstable; Marcel Léger and Jacob Deserres were also on board.

So, yeah, that's where JDD is at these days. He hasn't appeared in a postseason game since surrendering a bunch of goals while with the Oklahoma City Barons in 2010-11...

He currently works as a sales and leasing associate at commercial real estate service company Cushman & Wakefield.

Here he is while with the Oilers, with a nice view of his mask, on card #M-25 (Black Version) of In The Game's 2010-11 Between The Pipes set and Game-Used Jersey sub-set:

It features a nice, large, two-colour game-worn jersey swatch from his days with the Oilers.

Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers Autograph Card

It looks like Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers will be playing in Europe for the foreseeable future, after stints with the Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild organizations didn't pan out.

He spent last season with the KHL's latest installment of the famed Dinamo Riga club (2.66 GAA and .903 save percentage in 13 games, in a league where the best goalies post averages below 2.00) and will be in Germany next year, manning the net for Augsburger Panther, where he'll be joined by Ben Hanowski, who just two years ago was part of a trade package that sent him to the Calgary Flames and Jarome Iginla to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Also playing for the Panther next year are former prospects Mark Mancari, Drew Leblanc and Ivan Ciernik. They should at least compete for a good position overall.

It's too bad for Drouin-Deslauriers, though, who came up with Devan Dubnyk through the Oilers' ranks and may have ended up on the wrong side of poor defensive teams long enough to stall his development. It could have cost Dubnyk his career as well, but he overcame tremendous odds and was nominated for the Vezina Trophy last season, winning the Masterton.

Here is JDL sporting the Oilers' post-lockout white (now-away) uniform that looks like a pajama had a baby with a practice jersey, in this card from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Edmonton Oilers Collection (it's card #FI-JD of the Franchise Ink sub-set, featuring a blue-sharpie on-sticker autograph):

I like his stance here, though he looks a tad nonchalant with his blocker a bit low. He's a goalie who is tremendously fast and agile with his pads, and at some point in the early stages in his career may have been on par with Jonathan Quick and Carey Price with his leg work, but he was susceptible to goals on the glove side, which is a frequent occurrence for goalies who catch with their right hand, just from a lack of practice from forwards in the lower levels being used to wanting to shoot to their right instead of their left.

He now counts as my entry for #38 in my Oilers Numbers Project.

Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers Autographed Card

In a battle with Devan Dubnyk for a roster spot with the Edmonton Oilers since 2007, the team made the tough decision to part ways with Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers - their second-round, 31st overall pick of 2002 - leaving him to pursue free agency in 2011.

He opted for the Anaheim Ducks, but with Jonas Hiller and Viktor Fasth well in place, they sent him to the Minnesota Wild last April. However, with Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding, both of their roster spots are taken as well.

It also marks the third NHL franchise he's a part of where there is another lefty ahead of him on the depth chart, Mathieu Garon having held that position in Edmonton.

This card is is from In The Game's 2007-08 Between The Pipes set (card #17, the Future Stars sub-set); it shows him playing for the Springfield Falcons in the AHL:

Ironically, I also have Dubnyk's signed.

JDD's a fine talent, and he has shown flashes of greatness at the NHL level, usually followed by long bouts of difficulties. If he can work on his consistency a bit, he might have a future as a back-up, if not, perhaps Europe will come calling. Then again, consistency goes both ways: if he could have some stability rather than keep moving from league-to-league and franchise-to-franchise, maybe that would help. In the one season he stayed in the NHL, he managed a respectable 3.26 GAA and .901 save percentage in 48 games - with an Oilers team that went 27-47-8, no less, a last-place team that scored over 100 goals less than the league's best and whose leading scorer - I repeat: LEADING SCORER - was Dustin Penner, followed by two guys who played less than 70 games. With eight players at -18 or worse.

I had sent him this card in 2009 or 2010, care of the Oilers.