It appears as though the Philadelphia Flyers are interested in Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin.
League source tells me #Flyers “among 12 teams making offer for Drouin, Hextall pushing hard, may not be willing to meet return demanded.”
— David Strehle (@DStrehleTFP) February 25, 2016
Strehle is definitely trustworthy, so if he says it there’s probably some truth to it.
The 20-year-old was the third overall pick in the 2013 draft, and while his talent is unquestioned, he’s certainly had a tumultuous NHL career thus far. He’s butted heads with coach Jon Cooper and hasn’t been happy with his role on the Lightning. His agent, the bombastic Allen Walsh, called Drouin’s future in Tampa Bay an “untenable situation,” and when the Bolts sent him down to the AHL in Syracuse earlier this season, Drouin decided it was in his best interest to not report to team. That was late January, and he’s been suspended since. He and Walsh have requested a trade and that’s where we sit now.
Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman seems content on allowing Drouin to sit out, while it’s clear that Walsh and Drouin want a trade as soon as possible. Yzerman is asking a high price for Drouin though, and seems will to wait until the summer for a deal. Here’s ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun talking about this today:
“We’re close to the trade deadline, we’re trying to make the playoffs, if I can trade him and put a player on my team and make us better, isn’t that common sense?” Yzerman said over the phone I’m not going to wait just to wait, but I’m not going to trade him just to trade him. If there’s something in the next four to five days that helps us now, sure, that would be my preference.”
But — and there’s always a but — Yzerman will not settle just for the sake of settling. He maintains that he’s only going to trade Drouin, 20, if the deal meets the standard Yzerman has set for trading Drouin. …
“I’ve been talking to teams for months, every team knows what I’m looking for, I know what they’re willing to do,” Yzerman said.
By now, nobody should question Yzerman’s patience in the matter. Drouin’s trade request went public Jan. 3, and while some people wondered if that might pressure the Tampa Bay GM into a quick trade, guess again.
Yzerman has two major concerns here: he wants to improve his team’s chances at the Stanley Cup this season, but he also doesn’t want to lose a young player who could turn into a very, very talented NHLer. Not for the right price, at least.
You have to imagine that he’s going to want a lot in return, and the question then becomes if it’s worth it for other teams. Drouin is still young and has a ton of talent and can be a big piece of the Flyers’ future, but you still have to be smart about it.
I certainly trust in Ron Hextall to make the right call there, and he’s probably going to lean towards the conservative side of the equation given his general ethos.
What would you give up for Jonathan Drouin?
