Be sure to 'like' Hockeybuzz on Facebook!
There is an excellent hockey game that will happen at Amalie Arena tonight.
In a rematch of last summer’s Stanley Cup Final, the Tampa Bay Lightning will play host to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Bolts, led by the resurgence of nearly every familiar face from a year ago, come into tonight’s game winners of six games in a row. Meanwhile, the defending champion Blackhawks come into Tampa Bay having won 12 in a row. This is one of the absolute best heavyweight bouts -- as much as one can be in the middle of January, anyways -- of (recent) Cup Final regular season rematches.
But we’re not talking about that.
Instead, the focus is on the plight of a frustrated Jonathan Drouin, who with the help of NHL superagent Allan Walsh, has decided to take his puck and go home while general manager Steve Yzerman’s Lightning figure out how, when, and where to trade him to.
Drouin, frustrated after a seven-game stint with the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League that’s yielded just two goals and one assist (not the domination that Drouin would have predicted upon his reassignment, I’m sure), has decided that he’s effectively done having any involvement with the team that drafted him with the third overall pick back at the 2013 NHL Draft in New Jersey.
This, of course, on the heels of Drouin’s frustration with the fact that he was still in the Lightning system after being told that a trade was ‘near completion’, something Yzerman has since refuted.
In essence, Drouin is looking to force Yzerman’s hand to move him out of town on the first, not best, offer thrown their way or have the 20-year-old become a ‘diminishing asset’ for the organization.
Or, in other words, Drouin is acting like a petulant child.
This isn’t to completely demolish Drouin. For two years, I was on Drouin’s side. I understood his frustration as he sat back in Halifax and watched former teammate Nathan MacKinnon light it up as an exciting rookie. I agreed that Drouin deserved a larger role on the Lightning’s NHL roster a year ago.
I even thought, ‘Huh, that makes sense’ when it came out that he requested a trade out of town.
But does Drouin believe that he’s the only player frustrated with his role in an organization? (Veteran defenseman Matt Carle, contract aside, would probably prefer to be in the lineup right now.) Or that he’s the only player that believes a trade would benefit his career? Does he actually believe that he’s above working his way into a better situation (read as: city, coach, organization, whatever) through strong play in the minors? Is such a task just so below Drouin, a highly touted prospect?
When you watch the Lightning this year, you watch guys like Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Vladislav Namestnikov shine with the minutes they have earned. Johnson, an undrafted talent, skated in 137 AHL games before getting the call. Palat, a seventh-round choice by the Bolts, skated in 117 AHL contests. And Namestnikov, a top-liner for Tampa this year, played in 134 minor league contests before carving out a full-time role with the Lightning this year. The Lightning coaching staff themselves even remarked how Namestnikov’s play made it impossible to take him out of their lineup.
Maybe they don’t have the pedigree of a Drouin (Namestnikov was the only first round choice of the aforementioned three, drafted 27th overall by Yzerman back in 2011), but they understood the message and worked their way to their current roles with the club. But 89 games into an NHL career, many of those games spent in roles and situations unfamiliar to Drouin, and after nine AHL games between this year and last season, and Drouin is done proving his worth? That’s embarrassing.
Let’s say Drouin does indeed get his wish and gets traded within the next day or two. What happens when his new coach determines that a 20-year-old winger isn’t suited for his top-line minutes just yet, especially if it’s a division like the Central? What happens when he gets dropped to the third line or taken off a power play unit? Does Drouin pout and mope to Walsh and plan his next exit? Adversity exists outside of Tampa Bay, and your spot isn’t guaranteed because you think it should be.
Even if the greener pasture does exist for Drouin, just look at his handling of this situation. It’s absolutely pathetic.
Lightning legend Vincent Lecavalier, a player who’s accomplished just about everything at this level and beyond, desperately wanted out of the situation he was in with the Philadelphia Flyers. But he dealt with it like a professional up until his trade to Los Angeles was completed. ‘Til the bitter end, Lecavalier kept his cool. Travis Hamonic, citing personal reasons, has wanted a trade out of New York since before the season began, but is aware of the difficulties that trading present to a general manager and has remained patient throughout the process, even if it’s not what he wants. Drouin? Not even close. He’s made Denis Lemieux from Slap Shot look like a saint. “Trade me right [expletive] now!…
Sure, Drouin’s wanted out since November (probably even earlier). I get that. But if he understands his value -- which he undoubtedly does by oh, I don’t know, having the audacity to pull himself from minor league games and go home -- he should understand that it’s not a deal that Yzerman is going to rush. And what’s Yzerman’s motive to make the move at this very moment? To appease a malcontent that’s basically spit on the idea of helping your organization in any sort of capacity until his demands are met?
Gee, with Drouin straight-up quitting, I’m sure Yzerman’s feverishly working the phones as we speak.
Instead of panicking over what Drouin’s camp will suggest next (I mean, do they really think they have any ground to stand on at this very moment? The Bolts hold all the cards here), I bet that Yzerman will just patiently take in what should be excellent showdown tonight between the Blackhawks and Lightning, not even giving the slightest damn that a frustrated Drouin pouts from afar.
At least Drouin is familiar with such a scenario.
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.