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. 

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