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The standoff between Jonathan Drouin, agent Allan Walsh, and the Tampa Bay Lightning is finally over. For a little bit, anyways. A month and a half after Lightning general manager and vice president Steve Yzerman suspended Drouin without pay for his failure to report for a Syracuse Crunch game, the Bolts have lifted the suspension, and Drouin will report back to Syracuse.
And on the heels of the Bolts setting a new franchise-best with their ninth straight victory this past Saturday, Drouin’s return to the organization is the temporary resolution that ultimately makes sense for both parties involved. With the way their NHL roster is clicking right now, it’s obvious that the Lightning do not need Drouin as much as one would think. And it’s obvious that Yzerman could not or did not feel he was able to get the proper return for Drouin -- most of what teams were willing to offer the Lightning centered around futures (draft picks) -- at the deadline with Drouin sitting back at home in Quebec. And who knows if that would have changed all that drastically, or at least enough for Yzerman to pull the trigger, had Drouin opted to stay at home ‘til this summer’s NHL Draft?
It also gives Drouin, with stronger play and a rededicated work ethic (read as: willingness to compete in the AHL), the chance to return to Tampa Bay and be part of the team’s upcoming playoff run.
In a way, you understood the frustrations of Drouin, who was never really given the same opportunities on the big club following an injury that took him out of the lineup early in the year, and was ultimately sent down to the minors with just two goals and eight points in 19 NHL games. And you understood how those frustrations increased when his arrival in the minors came with limited success to the tune of just two goals and three points in seven games for the Crunch. Those were not the numbers you expected out of a player that to that point had six goals and 40 points in just 89 NHL contests.
But now comes the hard part, and that’s rebuilding his own reputation.
No matter his frustrations, coaches and teammates are never quite fond of a player quitting on them. Drouin, whether you want to see both sides’ point of views or not, quit on the organization ‘cause he wanted out. And while the Lightning extended the olive branch at the deadline and told Drouin that ‘the door was open’ if he wanted to come back, it’s not going to be there without the former No. 3 overall pick working his way back into their good graces. And for better or worse, that begins in Syracuse.
At the NHL level, the finally division-leading Lightning are back at it again, this time in Philadelphia, as they look for their 10th win in a row, this time against the Flyers.
Four points out of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, with wins in four of their last five and six of their last 10, the Flyers are a team in desperation mode and presents perhaps the toughest test the Lightning have faced throughout this nine-game win streak.
The Lightning will give the start to Andrei Vasilevskiy. The 21-year-old stopped 31-of-32 in a 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs last Monday, and comes into action with 11 wins and a .914 save percentage in 16 starts this season. The Russian netminder has one win in as many career games against the Flyers, too, and stopped 23-of-24 in that game back on Dec. 16, 2014.
Philadelphia counters with Steve Mason. The zombie enthusiast stopped 19-of-19 in his last start (and his first in over two weeks), a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets this past Saturday, and comes into this one with 14 wins in 38 games this season. It’s been a deviation from the highly successful 2014-15 campaign Mason put together for the Flyers, but Mason has remained pretty strong at home, with eight wins and a .928 save percentage in 20 games at Wells Fargo this season. But the 27-year-old has struggled against Tampa in his career, and enters tonight’s contest with just one win and an .873 save percentage in six career head-to-heads with the Bolts.
Ex-Flyer Braydon Coburn (lower-body) is considered day-to-day for Tampa Bay.
On Sunday, the Lightning recalled d-man Slater Koekkoek from the AHL.
This will be the first of two meetings between the Bolts and Flyers in the next five days, and their first since Tampa Bay downed the Flyers by 3-2 final back on Opening Night (Oct. 8, 2015).
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.