Quoting: KSIxSKULLS
Did RNH not spend 50% of last season playing with Mcdavid? Drouin was forced to play (and be the best player on his line) as 1st line C for the first time last year while RNH was put on the wing beside McDavid. There is a big difference there
Nugent-Hopkins played just 13 games with McDavid last year. Thirteen.
But even putting that aside, here's a comparison of their first 4 seasons (since Drouin has only played 4):
Drouin
19: 70, 4-28-32 +3 0.46p/g
20: 21, 4-6-10 +1 0.48 (also had some AHL time)
21: 73, 21-32-53 -13 0.73
22: 77, 13-33-46 -28 0.60
Nugent-Hopkins
18: 62, 18-34-52 -2 0.84 p/g
19: 40, 4-20-24 +3 0.60 (lockout year)
20: 80, 19-37-56 -12 0.70
21: 76, 24-32-56 -12 0.74
(Age: GP, G-A-P +/- points/game)
McDavid wasn't even in the league in any of these seasons. I'm not seeing where Drouin is showing a "higher upside" or even "producing similarly" to Nugent-Hopkins.