Jonathan Drouin Requests Lightning Trade
It was announced on Twitter that 2013’s third overall draft
pick Jonathan Drouin wants out of Tampa Bay, the situation being described as ‘untenable’
by his agent. It’s probably no coincidence that the statement was released as
the 20 year old forward was assigned to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, although the
trade request was made back in November.
It’s nice to hear Lightning news that doesn’t involve wild
speculation about Steven Stamkos’ future in Toronto , but this isn’t really news. Drouin
is in contract until 2017, even then he’ll become a restricted free agent so
the Lightning hold the upper hand whatever happens.
We can only speculate as to why this trade has been
requested, although Drouin’s limited ice-time is probably a factor, and
reportedly there’s no love lost between Drouin and Lightning head coach Jon
Cooper either.
Lack of ice-time is the reason that GM Steve Yzerman sent
Drouin down to the AHL, he’s not playing at his best, so the Crunch will give
him more game time to get back to the level he needs to be at. This is a
reasonable response to his current production, but this just happened, the
request went in two months ago.
The problem is bad timing. Releasing the statement now makes
Drouin look petulant, and a quick read of any comments section will back that
up. The perception of the young man isn’t positive right now. That hurts
everyone. Of course Yzerman and Cooper want to see Drouin enjoy a long and
fruitful career with the franchise, but since that is clearly not going to be
the case; the Lightning will want to get the best trade possible when he does
go.
Let’s pretend for a moment that the Lightning were willing
to trade now, I don’t see any teams who’ll be willing to give up big draft
picks or any of their current prospects to add the forward to their rosters. Drouin
is still a relatively unknown quantity and that makes him a risk.
I asked Alex if he wanted to see Drouin playing in Vancouver , and he said
no, he hasn’t really proved himself yet. I feel the same about him in Detroit . I think he could
potentially be a good investment, but I don’t want to give anyone up for him. I’m
also worried about what sort of game his agent is playing.
I’m sure this will resolve itself soon although whether or
not we’ll see Drouin in a Bolts jersey again remains to be seen.
Comments
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated and may take a while to appear. This is because the authors are busy/lazy/away.