Jonathan Drouin requests trade

[Frank E]

It's been 3 weeks now since Drouin was suspended, wow.

I figured they'd delay.  Yzerman is no push-over.  The owners of multi-million dollar enterprises don't tend to react favourably to intimidation tactics.  It's also likely the league's ownership group would prefer the Lightning to sit him out for a bit as well, just to ensure that this sort of thing doesn't start happening more often. 

I really don't think it'll damage his value by much. 

 

[Kin]

Yzerman says he'll try to trade Drouin by the deadline:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/lightning-gm-yzerman-hopes-to-move-jonathan-drouin-by-trade-deadline/

For all the tough talk in the world, there's not much the Lightning can do other than trade him. I'm sure they'll still get a decent return but ultimately I bet all of this delay will gain them exactly nothing.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Yzerman had his choices with Drouin (and still does):

?My feeling was, if it?s not going to help me now, I?m better off keeping my options this summer,? Yzerman told theTampa Bay Times Monday. ?What we were looking for wasn?t there today. Anything that would involve future draft picks or prospects at this time, it didn?t make sense to do that. We?ll have more certainty, more clarity on the salary cap and make a decision at that time.

?I wasn?t trading Jonathan Drouin for an unrestricted free agent that I couldn?t or wouldn?t want to resign. That made no sense.?

A player accumulates a season toward unrestricted free agency if he is on a team?s active roster for 40 games. Drouin was demoted by the Lightning 38 games into this season...As a result, instead of becoming a UFA in July of 2021 as scheduled, Drouin ? who is skating in Montreal ? won?t be a UFA until 2022 if he can?t get on an NHL roster for two games this year.

A non-playoff-bound club acquiring Drouin in March would be faced with a decision:

1.) Recall Drouin as a sign of good faith and to give him a look in the big-league lineup allowing him accrue a year of his entry-level deal.

2.) Help its own bottom line and delay the player?s free agency by keeping Drouin in the minors.

Yzerman will bide his time and make his moves when the time is right.


http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/jonathan-drouin-traded-after-nhl-deadline-tampa-bay-lightning-feb-29-steve-yzerman-holdout/

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Pretty surprised he wasn't dealt by the deadline.

 

[Kin]

Considering that it seems like the relationship is beyond repair at this point I have no idea what Yzerman was thinking. I don't buy that he would have only been offered expiring contracts for Drouin and if the bulk of the offers still weren't up to what he wants for Drouin then, sure, maybe someone offers more over the summer but you may have wasted an opportunity to get immediate help for a team with a real chance of going somewhere this year(and who very well might lose their best player regardless).

Pretty much everyone in the media, who seem first and foremost interested in protecting and cultivating team sources, talk about all the leverage Yzerman has here but the reality is he's got very little. Drouin isn't going to report to the AHL team and sitting around makes teams less inclined to trade for him. He's a valuable asset with potential but clearly other teams aren't interested in hitting whatever arbitrary sort of threshold Yzerman has set for a return. 

So it's bad for the present of the team and bad for the future. I hope "looking tough" is a good consolation prize.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

So basically, he wants a 20-22 year-old that still has many years of team control at a reasonable number, who can play for the Bolts now and who is about as good as Drouin.

Yeah, good luck Stevie, I'm sure there are a lot of teams looking to trade their young potential superstars for your problem child.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

The only real positive I see for Yzerman to wait is that there's talk the Lightning will attempt to have his contract tolled if he's suspended for the rest of the season. That way there will be 2 years left on his ELC instead of 1. I'd imagine that would make him more valuable to a team looking to acquire him. Although there's no guarantee that happens and if it does I'm sure Drouin's camp will fight it.

 

[cabber24]

I don't blame Steve, if he's getting low balled what's the urgency? Who knows maybe he comes around and decides he's willing to go back to the AHL and work his way back to the team. There is more value in that possibility then what he got offered because he didn't trade him. I would never say never. He is a great prospect, you don't just give those away.

 

[bustaheims]

The only real positive I see for Yzerman to wait is that there's talk the Lightning will attempt to have his contract tolled if he's suspended for the rest of the season. That way there will be 2 years left on his ELC instead of 1. I'd imagine that would make him more valuable to a team looking to acquire him. Although there's no guarantee that happens and if it does I'm sure Drouin's camp will fight it.

I'd say it's probably unlikely that happens, since he did actually play 19 games for the Lightning before being sent down. That's more than enough to burn the season, suspension or not.

 

[bustaheims]

Pretty surprised he wasn't dealt by the deadline.

I am and I'm not. If there had been more movement, I would really have been shocked, but, considering how things played out, I think it made sense to wait. I doubt the offers will drop in value much before the draft, and it's possible they could improve. If there wasn't offers that would have improved the Lightning for this season, might as well wait.

 

[Rebel_1812]

I think he will go to the KHL next year if not dealt over the summer.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Pretty surprised he wasn't dealt by the deadline.

I am and I'm not. If there had been more movement, I would really have been shocked, but, considering how things played out, I think it made sense to wait. I doubt the offers will drop in value much before the draft, and it's possible they could improve. If there wasn't offers that would have improved the Lightning for this season, might as well wait.

I would doubt they would improve the longer he goes without playing hockey at any level.

 

[Kin]

I don't blame Steve, if he's getting low balled what's the urgency? Who knows maybe he comes around and decides he's willing to go back to the AHL and work his way back to the team. There is more value in that possibility then what he got offered because he didn't trade him. I would never say never. He is a great prospect, you don't just give those away.

The urgency is two-fold. One, it's a team with a real chance to make noise in what should be a relatively wide open Eastern conference. Secondly, it's a team that's apparently trying to retain the services of their best player. If Drouin is sitting on his butt in Montreal and the Lightning get knocked out the ECF in the 7th game, how is Yzerman going to make the argument to Stamkos that he went all in on trying to win?

Also, there's a difference between Drouin not being worth what Yzerman thinks he's worth and getting low balled. As Patrick said, if Yzerman thinks that Drouin is worth someone as good and as cheap as Drouin only without the headaches, then he's dreaming.

 

[cabber24]

I don't blame Steve, if he's getting low balled what's the urgency? Who knows maybe he comes around and decides he's willing to go back to the AHL and work his way back to the team. There is more value in that possibility then what he got offered because he didn't trade him. I would never say never. He is a great prospect, you don't just give those away.

The urgency is two-fold. One, it's a team with a real chance to make noise in what should be a relatively wide open Eastern conference. Secondly, it's a team that's apparently trying to retain the services of their best player. If Drouin is sitting on his butt in Montreal and the Lightning get knocked out the ECF in the 7th game, how is Yzerman going to make the argument to Stamkos that he went all in on trying to win?

Also, there's a difference between Drouin not being worth what Yzerman thinks he's worth and getting low balled. As Patrick said, if Yzerman thinks that Drouin is worth someone as good and as cheap as Drouin only without the headaches, then he's dreaming.

Well maybe Yzerman is hoping that Drouin can be the guy who can be as good as he is without the headaches.

I doubt the Drouin situation contributes to what Stamkos decides to do.

 

[Kin]

I doubt the Drouin situation contributes to what Stamkos decides to do.

Ordinarily I'd agree except the Drouin situation and its relation to his clashing with Cooper mirrors Stamkos' own issues with Cooper which is said to be a major reason why he's considering leaving.

 

[bustaheims]

I would doubt they would improve the longer he goes without playing hockey at any level.

Probably not. I suppose the better way to put it is that trades that involve picks/prospects may become more palatable than they were at the deadline - so, they'll look better in the eyes of the Lightning, I guess.

 

[cabber24]

I doubt the Drouin situation contributes to what Stamkos decides to do.

Ordinarily I'd agree except the Drouin situation and its relation to his clashing with Cooper mirrors Stamkos' own issues with Cooper which is said to be a major reason why he's considering leaving.

If your saying Stamkos and Drouin or Cooper... I would say that is a very easy decision to make. I think Stamkos is fine with Cooper, he's pro enough to play some wing when asked to.

 

[Kin]

If your saying Stamkos and Drouin or Cooper... I would say that is a very easy decision to make. I think Stamkos is fine with Cooper, he's pro enough to play some wing when asked to.

I'm not saying that. I'm saying that basically all of the reports about Stamkos' being moved and de-emphasized in the team's offense was not a decision he was happy about and contributed heavily to his interest in going elsewhere. So when he sees that Cooper is clashing with another player and the end result is a team that's not as strong as it could be I think that will almost certainly feed into Stamkos' own issues with the Team/coaching staff to say nothing about it just making it harder to win.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

http://twitter.com/TBLightning/status/706891952210497536

 

[Frank E]

So playing hardball didn't really work as planned?

I'm shocked.