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The Tampa Lightning have issued a statement from VP and GM Steve Yzerman regarding the messy Drouin matter:
“We acknowledge, via communication from his agent, Jonathan Drouin’s request to be traded. Moving forward, my sole intention is to act in the best interest of the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey club. In the meantime, Jonathan has been assigned to our American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, and we expect him to report for practice with the rest of his teammates this Tuesday morning.”
Translation:
Make Yzerman an offer that he cannot refuse and Drouin will be traded. I see this trade happening sooner than later. The NHL trade deadline is on February 29.
Yzerman has bigger fish to fry right now. Trading Drouin will eliminate some of the bitchin in t elitchen that has been happening in Tampa this season.
Yzerman needs to focus all of his available and cap space on re-signing Steven Stamkos to a ginormous contract extension. It's January and Stamkos has not been re-signed yet. Yzerman must clear out some salary cap space in order to create $9 million per season for Stamkos.
Drouin will thrive under different circumstances in another organization.
Hopefully for Drouin the Tampa Bay door will close and another one will open.
I like to think that Buffalo can benefit greatly from an infusion of youthful offensive talent in the form of Drouin. The kid is only 20 years of age and has 10-12 solid seasons of NHL hockey ahead of him. When Sabres GM Tim Murray was AGM in Ottawa , he scouted Drouin in juniors.
Murray's Sabres are a better team right now than their record indicates. Their offense needs an infusion of talent STAT.
In the first 39 games of this next chapter season, the Sabres have lost 13 games by one goal. Think about that. The Sabres have lost 33% of their games by one measly goal. If only they had a natural born goal scorer to augment new Sabres scoring leaders Ryan O'Reilly, Jack Eichel, Samson Reinhart, Evander Kane, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Jamie McGinn. Dan Bylsma has waited patiently for Matt Moulson, Brian Gionta, Tyler Ennis, Zemgus Girgensons and Johan Larsson to light the lamp. We are at the mid-term marking period and the Sabres are barely earning a C- grade for goal scoring. Tim Murray isn't satisfied with his team's lack of offense. Dan Bylsma certainly isn't thrilled about it either.
Does Murray say "Ah, screw it, let's tank for a lottery pick?" Or, do they make a trade to inject new life and offensive potential into his struggling team?
Diehard Sabres fans spent two and a half seasons in 30th place in the NHL standings. They will not tolerate another 30th place tanking season. Auston Matthews be damned, the Sabres should not be thinking about tanking. Murray should be focused 100% on adding a goal scorer who can swing the pendulum in the favor of wins, not losses.
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The frosty relationship between Jonathon Drouin and the Tampa Lightning just got sub zero.
On Saturday, the Bolts demoted the third overall pick from the 2013 NHL Draft to AHL Syracuse.
On Sunday morning, Drouin's agent Allan Walsh released this statement. In it, Walsh made public the request for trade that he made in November on behalf on his client.
I agree with Walsh. He is doing what is best for his client. Yzerman and Jon Cooper are not open to embracing Drouin so it appears that its time to move on.
Drouin is the only member of the top ten selection from the top ten selection of the class of 2013 NHL Draft that is not playing in the NHL today.
Nathan MacKinnon, Sasha Barkov, Seth Jones, Elias Lindholm, Sean Monahan, Darnell Nurse, Rasmus Ristolainen, Bo Horvat and Valeri Nichuskin are all enjoying success to varying degrees in the NHL today.
Jonathon Drouin is conspicuous by his absence from this this club. I find it laughable and maddening at the same time that Jon Cooper has taken such a rigid, hard ass tack with Drouin's NHL development. In 70 games played in Tampa last season, then rookie Drouin scored 4 goals and added 28 assists. In 19 games in Tampa this season, Drouin has scored 2 goals and has chipped in 6 assists.
Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper has been critical of Drouin's work ethic in the past.
The left winger seemingly has been a square peg trying to conform to the round hole of Cooper's expectations of him. There is no secret that Cooper is partial to the whiz kids Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov that he coached in AHL Norfolk. Cooper, to a fault, rides his "Triplets". Cooper has his personnel grouping that he trusts and believes in and if his players don't like it, too bad.
Ask captain Steven Stamkos about Cooper's insistence to play him on the wing rather than at his natural center position. Wonder why it's January and Stamkos still hasn't been re-upped to a $90 million contract extension yet?
Remember when Marty St. Louis requested a trade out of Tampa? Great diplomacy on the behalf of Yzerman. Not.
It has to be sticking in the craw of Drouin that he cannot get a legitimate shot to crack the top nine after countless attempts. The Lightning enter Sunday's action in 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings. They are just 3 games over .500. From what I have seen of the Bolts this season they are at best a wild card team that won't advance past the first round of the playoffs. No return to the Stanley Cup Finals for Cooper's Bolts this season.
So why not play Drouin in a top six role, for an extended period of time to see if the kid can infuse scoring and energy to a lackluster lineup?
Drouin is a slick skating scoring winger. He and Nathan MacKinnon tore up the QMJHL and led the Halifax Mooseheads to the Memorial Cup victory after the 2013-14 season. In his 128 game career at Halifax, Drouin scored 77 goals and added 165 assists.
Some glass-half-empty guys and bar stool prophets would say that MacKinnon made Drouin who is today. In other words, Drouin gravy trained MacKinnon to get himself drafted third overall. I don't see it that way. Drouin deserves respect for his body of work that he has produced in juniors and the NHL. Is he the best prospect in the world? No, he isn't. Is he the worst prospect in the world? No. He is not. Drouin needs to add strength to his 6'0 190 lb. frame. He won the fastest skater event at the 2015 NHL All Star Game. The kid can flat out fly. His brain, eyes, hands and feet are always moving fast. What Drouin needs is a head coach who appreciates and can cultivate his unique hockey skills. Drouin is in desperate need of a coaching staff that will pump his tires and make him feel good about himself.
In an NHL that is so defensive-systems oriented and sadly lacking in goal scoring, I'd gladly take a left winger who can score me 242 points and 1.8 points per game in juniors. In 50 career Halifax playoff games, Drouin scored 34 goals and added 68 assists.
Hell, I'd take Drouin and fellow left winger Adam Erne off Yzerman's hands today. It's clear that Drouin and Erne, a 2013 second rounder (33rd overall, Quebec Remparts) don't appreciate being buried in AHL Syracuse.
Drouin, 20, has two years remaining on his entry level deal at an $894,166 AAV.
The Tampa Lightning have played the Buffalo Sabres four times this season. In fact, their four game season series was completed in November. Why then have the Lightning been scouting the Sabres since November? I've seen Tampa AGM Pat Verbeek and one of their pro scouts at Sabres games in the past couple of months.
Are Tim Murray and Steve Yzerman talking trade?
Tim Murray is always talking trades.
Yzerman now has to trade Drouin since he will never be able to get back in the good graces of Cooper and Yzerman again after his request for trade. The best thing Drouin to do is report to AHL Syracuse and put on a show for the dozen or so NHL scouts who will be eye guzzling him in the next week or two.
Yzerman would love to trade defenseman Matt Carle's $5.5 million salary cap hit in order to open up needed salary cap space to sign pending UFA Steven Stamkos to a ginormous Jonathon Toews/Patrick Kane style contract extension. Carle has been a healthy scratch many times this season.
Carle's contract will expire after the 2018 season.
Tim Murray has been searching high and low for a left-shot defender who can play 5 on 5, PP, and PK. Carle may just be his man. The Buffalo GM is also scouring the NHL in search of a goal scoring left winger. Evander Kane has cooled off considerably since he started the season hot. Tyler Ennis is injured once again. Matt Moulson, a former 30 goal scorer has just 17 goals in the past year and a half. Murray has organizational depth in Rochester on right wing, however, his left side of the cupboard is nearly bare right now.
The Sabres are in 29th place in the NHL right now and are in desperate need of scoring from the left side of their roster. Drouin would be an immediate improvement. Murray also needs to add a left defenseman to distribute the puck and produce on the power play.
Murray's modus operandi is to reach out to players who are disgruntled in their current locales and to offer them sanctuary in Buffalo. Ryan O'Reilly and Evander Kane are two prime examples of young NHL players who were in desperate need of a change of scenery and found refuge in Buffalo.
Murray has $9.5 million in available salary cap space and is eager to invest some of it.
If I'm Murray, I'm taking Carle's contract of Yzerman's hands as long as the Bolts eat 30% of the deal. For Drouin, I'm offering a right handed D and PP specialist Cody Franson and a second round pick. Franson is a $3.325 cap hit this and next season. Franson's all around game has improved considerably this season under the tutelage of Sabres D boss Terry Murray. If Yzerman balks at taking on Franson's salary, I'd offer a 2016 second round draft choice and a 2016 third rounder for Drouin.
Drouin and his agent would be wise to seriously consider a career detour to an exciting, young, improved hockey port that is 3 hours west of AHL Syracuse.
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If Murray takes a pass on making a trade for Drouin, I can see Marc Bergevin, Rick Dudley and the Montreal Canadiens taking a shot at Drouin, who is very close friends and former Halifax teammate with Habs goalie prospect Zach Fucale.
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St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong was in the Buffalo press box for the Sabres-Red Wings on Saturday.
The Blues have sent their director of player personnel to watch the Sabres several times in the past two months. Tim Murray is looking for a left D and a scoring winger.
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