Do us all a favor and stop with the socialism/ income disparity BS! The MSM has that covered pretty well. Lets talk hockey, and leave it there.
1. this kid is neither big enough or good enough to stay in Tampa's line up
2. There is no rule that states that management is responsible for the happiness of this or any 20yr old player in the NHL
3. Playing in the NHL is by INVITATION, it's not a right no matter where you were drafted
4. Management reserves the right to make decisions based on what's best for the team
5. With out the "greedy wealthy owners" there would be NO NHL, and how would these kids who have done nothing but play a game make the obscene kind of money they make at such an early age?(Talk about income disparity)
6. How an owner makes his fortune, how he spends it, who he chooses to hire, fire, and play are all up for discussion, but ultimately are his decisions alone.
7. If Tampa chooses to trade or keep Drouin in the minors is based purely on how he can help the parent club both now and down the road. He doesn't have a bulls eye on his back, nor did the club draft him to ruin his career. He signed a contract and should live up to his end of the deal. The greedy rich hedgefund owner took the risk and right now is on the losing end of the deal. Yes, greedy rich NHL franchise owners take losses as part of the process of entertaining you and me. Nothing is guaranteed for the owner.
8. The road to building a successful business or team is to take the skills of those you hire and mesh them into a cohesive unit that performs better than the competition. This kid has skill, but is not cohesive, so he doesn't have a place on this team right now. Remember the name on the front of the jersey in more important than the name on the back. He hasn't figured that out yet. See Bob Gainey, Eric Nesterenko, Dave Bolland, Denis Savard, Brad Richards, and quite a few more whose roll changed to fit into the team they played for, inspite of the talent and trophies they won along the way.

i think the a probably some legal hurdles in place to him going to many of these leagues now that he has signed an nhl contract ... but i don't know for sure.

my guess is what he wants most is to play in the nhl. Probably both as a personal goal and to maximize is upcoming contracts.

personally, i think auston mathews made one of the best career decisions a young player has made in a long-time. Gets paid well, lives is a country with a high standard of living, easy travel schedule, avoids the chl contract trap etc. But different topic, and not a parallel to what drouin could do now.
- Tumbleweed

Indeed, great career move. Not as much monetarily, in the short term, but long term as Matthews isn't tied to the Indentured Servitude Clause and can therefore develop in ANY league his game sees fit after he's drafted. If he needs the AHL development as a 19 year old he's free to go there, a choice Drouin didn't have.

If Walsh, or anyone else, wants to sue take on the Indentured Servitude Clause. How any court, besides the Roberts court of course, can say a 19 year old MAN can't take his wares anywhere he chooses to improve his lot is by definition anti FREEDOM/choice for the dregs/earners.

This blog looks awfully similar to an article on yahoo sports saying football players don't make enough because of the limitations imposed on the draft and entry level contacts and then are susceptible to retire with nagging injuries or have their careers prematurely end.

Bottom line , entry level contracts seem to be a norm in the industry called professional sports , if it's a problem then Drouins agent should of pointed this out . Also with how Drouin has been playing I kinda sorta maybe understand why Stevee Y did what he did and validates that move.

As someone mentioned , no one forced Drouin to sign or play for the lightning initially.
- Alexzanki

And the NFL just adopted that semi-recently.

So you get what you want if you are not rich but should not get what you want if you are rich?

That is essentially in your argument. That makes your argument fallacious.


I understand what is happening here but you must understand precedent. And you must put perspective on this....he is in the entertainment business and getting to play a kid's game for serious money. He wants teams to play him and then pay him but at the heart of contracts is consideration for a player's charcter, pat kane not withstanding.

you act like this is all drouin's doing and you better believe that it is the agent. the agent if he were to win this battle just made a bigger name for himself. also then any kid who gets drafted for a team they do not want to play for or is a good team and he has to earn a spot and it might be possible the team is concerned about his injury history should have to play a kid because it is in his best interest? you could make the same argument for every single player in the league or trying to get into the league sans some numbers that are what some mght call an extremely small sample size. butonce again you fit the numbers to the argument. that is why stats must be carefully applied and in themselves require analysis and argument to prove their validity.

while i think yzerman is stupid and screwed up with this kid, the kid just stepped in an even deeper pile of cow dung.

bc its the hockey hipster thing to do,
- DDM-Coga

I know right? Let's defend the guy who has proven absolutely nothing and has earned nothing and demands a trade and then refuses to play because he is afraid to get hurt.

So you just generalized a group of people want to vote for somebody, but then will get offended when a group of people don't like what you write about Jonathan Drouin, the QMJHL all star.



- tomburton99

I am in no way offended when people disagree with me.

Do us all a favor and stop with the socialism/ income disparity BS! The MSM has that covered pretty well. Lets talk hockey, and leave it there.
1. this kid is neither big enough or good enough to stay in Tampa's line up
2. There is no rule that states that management is responsible for the happiness of this or any 20yr old player in the NHL
3. Playing in the NHL is by INVITATION, it's not a right no matter where you were drafted
4. Management reserves the right to make decisions based on what's best for the team
5. With out the "greedy wealthy owners" there would be NO NHL, and how would these kids who have done nothing but play a game make the obscene kind of money they make at such an early age?(Talk about income disparity)
6. How an owner makes his fortune, how he spends it, who he chooses to hire, fire, and play are all up for discussion, but ultimately are his decisions alone.
7. If Tampa chooses to trade or keep Drouin in the minors is based purely on how he can help the parent club both now and down the road. He doesn't have a bulls eye on his back, nor did the club draft him to ruin his career. He signed a contract and should live up to his end of the deal. The greedy rich hedgefund owner took the risk and right now is on the losing end of the deal. Yes, greedy rich NHL franchise owners take losses as part of the process of entertaining you and me. Nothing is guaranteed for the owner.
8. The road to building a successful business or team is to take the skills of those you hire and mesh them into a cohesive unit that performs better than the competition. This kid has skill, but is not cohesive, so he doesn't have a place on this team right now. Remember the name on the front of the jersey in more important than the name on the back. He hasn't figured that out yet. See Bob Gainey, Eric Nesterenko, Dave Bolland, Denis Savard, Brad Richards, and quite a few more whose roll changed to fit into the team they played for, inspite of the talent and trophies they won along the way.
- Weakglovehand20

JD: 5'11, 188lbs. Patrick Kane: 5'11, 177lbs...

Not parallel at all, I know that. And you're right. For Drouin to go play in another league, he, his leagal team and the Lightning would have to agree to terminate his contract. Of Course he could he wants to play in the NHL. So I give him this option. If he feel he's been deceived by Yzerman at the end of ELC he needs to hold. Train on his own time stay in shape. Force Yzerman to trade his right. He has options.

My problem isn't with Drouin. It's with Tanner making him a martyr and an NHL all star with zero factual evidence behind any of it.
- tomburton99

fair enough.

to go back to your original question, I'm not sure why more canadians like drouin don't do what mathews did.

my best guess is the chl makes it impractical for them. I'm not sure they can move once they've committed to the chl ... which they have to do before they are old/good enough to play in men's league in Switzerland.

Indeed, great career move. Not as much monetarily, in the short term, but long term as Matthews isn't tied to the Indentured Servitude Clause and can therefore develop in ANY league his game sees fit after he's drafted. If he needs the AHL development as a 19 year old he's free to go there, a choice Drouin didn't have.

If Walsh, or anyone else, wants to sue take on the Indentured Servitude Clause. How any court, besides the Roberts court of course, can say a 19 year old MAN can't take his wares anywhere he chooses to improve his lot is by definition anti FREEDOM/choice for the dregs/earners.
- Mr Ricochet

now this is a valid argument concerning the matter. if the player thinks there is a place that is better suited to their defelopment they should be able to argue that. but as to the entry level deals the argument is not legitimate. perhaps the length until free agency is iffy but one also must remeber that the nhl teams expend considerable respurces developing players as well.

JD: 5'11, 188lbs. Patrick Kane: 5'11, 177lbs...
- lumlums

how big is tyler johnson?

fabbri on the blues right now is considerably smaller.

Let's get to the main reason Drouin doesn't want to play in the AHL

1) Bus travel
2) Accommodations aren't as swanky as NHL
3) Girls don't like Motel 6's
4) The other kids make fun of him and call him "Hot Shot"
- Glak18

And he makes 70k down on the farm as opposed to 895k in the NHL.

I am in no way offended when people disagree with me.
- James_Tanner

Really because it seems like in this blog.

I am in no way offended when people disagree with me.
- James_Tanner

I do disagree but also curious still as to why you think Drouin has proven himself in the NHL when nearly everyone else thinks he has not.

how big is tyler johnson?

fabbri on the blues right now is considerably smaller.
- BluemanGuruu

5'10 on skates??? Nuge started out playing NHL at about 170lbs also. Hell, Jared Spurgeon is an excellent D-man and he's 5'9, 176lbs...

As they say, it's not the size of the dog in the fight...

Drouin,Walsh and Tanner all should go live and work in russia..
that was the second and last blog i've read by tanner..

fair enough.

to go back to your original question, I'm not sure why more canadians like drouin don't do what mathews did.

my best guess is the chl makes it impractical for them. I'm not sure they can move once they've committed to the chl ... which they have to do before they are old/good enough to play in men's league in Switzerland.
- Tumbleweed

I know it's difficult and impartial. But Drouin put up almost 2 point a game in Halifax during the regular season of his Q career, and over 2 points a game in in the playoffs. But if he wanted to go to the Swiss league. I'm sure the team holding the first overall pick would have gladly taken him, found him a live in family and made sure he was given every chance to succeed.

No matter how talented he is Drouin should not be given special treatment. He needs to do work and shut his mouth like the rest of the young players who are trying to earn spots in the NHL. Suggesting anything else is just promoting the BS sense of entitlement that has already caused Drouin problems and could possibly be the reason he is sitll down in the minors, to self-reflect and work on his attitude.

Attempting to compare his moral standards to those of the team owner is completely irrelevant and really just a pathetic attempt at trying to fabricate an argument from two things that are not related. Yzerman is the one making the personnel decisions, not the owner.

how big is tyler johnson?

fabbri on the blues right now is considerably smaller.
- BluemanGuruu

Tyler Johnson isn't very good no matter what his size is.

Indeed, great career move. Not as much monetarily, in the short term, but long term as Matthews isn't tied to the Indentured Servitude Clause and can therefore develop in ANY league his game sees fit after he's drafted. If he needs the AHL development as a 19 year old he's free to go there, a choice Drouin didn't have.

If Walsh, or anyone else, wants to sue take on the Indentured Servitude Clause. How any court, besides the Roberts court of course, can say a 19 year old MAN can't take his wares anywhere he chooses to improve his lot is by definition anti FREEDOM/choice for the dregs/earners.
- Mr Ricochet

best i could come up with is he's making $400k over there.

not sure the above referenced law or roberts court would have much sway in canada

I know it's difficult and impartial. But Drouin put up almost 2 point a game in Halifax during the regular season of his Q career, and over 2 points a game in in the playoffs. But if he wanted to go to the Swiss league. I'm sure the team holding the first overall pick would have gladly taken him, found him a live in family and made sure he was given every chance to succeed.
- tomburton99

i agree, i'm sure the swiss league would take him.

i wonder if the swiss league has an agreement to honor chl contracts. I'm not sure why else players like drouin don't do this.

This is the kind of reaction I expected. But its based on a false premise. He already proved he is NHL quality. The Lightning are acting like immature babies. It's his only move. I find the judgement so sad - just think about it for a bit.
- James_Tanner

That's not for you to say James, regardless of whatever limited stats you want to use to make a case that it is true. Plenty of players get a short stint in the NHL, prove that they belong, and are still sent down to the minors for whatever reason the team controlling them chooses (i.e., managing the cap/roster/development). And unlike what you said in this blog, all of these players have a choice, if they don't like it they can choose not to sign the contract and go play in a different league instead.

Whether or not Drouin has proven he is NHL quality is for Yzerman to decide, and if Yzerman thinks he could use some more work in the AHL then that's what Drouin should do. Even if Yzerman thinks Drouin is ready but he is just trying to manage his assets in a strategic manner Drouin should still accept that and go play in the AHL until he is told otherwise. He shouldn't pull all of this bullpoop that you are promoting. Drouin is the one acting like an immature baby who deserves special treatment.

i agree, i'm sure the swiss league would take him.

i wonder if the swiss league has an agreement to honor chl contracts. I'm not sure why else players like drouin don't do this.
- Tumbleweed

I have no idea, this is now out of my scope. Was Matthews rights owned by a team in the CHL?

Really because it seems like in this blog.
- tomburton99

It only offends me that some of the worst posters think I would write anything for hits or to get attention. But that isn't about my feelings, that is just a scary way to treat ideas, as I have said.

It only offends me that some of the worst posters think I would write anything for hits or to get attention. But that isn't about my feelings, that is just a scary way to treat ideas, as I have said.
- James_Tanner

Any more information on the Drouin has proven himself in the NHL comment?

It only offends me that some of the worst posters think I would write anything for hits or to get attention. But that isn't about my feelings, that is just a scary way to treat ideas, as I have said.
- James_Tanner

Any more information on the Drouin has proven himself in the NHL comment?