The Case for Drouin II

By Mark Pukalo

Those who traveled to Brandon Ice Sports Forum for the first practice of training camp in 2015 may have thought they were finally witnessing the true start of the Jonathan Drouin era with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

There was the former Halifax Moosehead and third-overall pick in the 2013 draft skating on the left side of captain Steven Stamkos with veteran banger Ryan Callahan on the right in the opening drills.

Little did we know, less than two years later despite a strong 2015-16 postseason performance and a solid 2016-17 campaign (21 goals, 53 points) filled with highlight-reel plays, he would be traded to Atlantic Division-rival Montreal. The road to that result was filled with drama.

Drouin was the only one of the top six picks in 2013 to be sent back to juniors. It was different, but the decision had merit with the Lightning's situation at the time.

His rookie year in the NHL showed some promise as he was near the top of the league in assists per minute while mostly playing on the fourth line and getting very little power-play time. However, that season ended with him sitting out all but six playoff games. He was even demoted to the black aces at one point with other unproven and unproductive players put ahead of him. The easy question after that campaign was why didn’t he play more during the regular season when the Bolts were rolling toward the playoffs - especially on the power play - to prepare him for a more prominent postseason role?

But all that seemed to be part of the past as he began the 2015-16 season on one of the top two lines and posted six points in the first five games with Stamkos and Callahan - also seemingly screwed out of an assist in Buffalo when his strong forecheck helped set up a tally for the trio. At some point after that fast start, coach Jon Cooper seemed to lose interest in the development of the trio after a few somewhat unproductive games. It wasn’t strange for Cooper, who changes lines like socks.

From there, Drouin could never find a prominent place in the top-six consistently for Cooper. He was injured, came back and had two brilliant games in Anaheim and Los Angeles, then was hurt again. When he came back he played sparingly against the New York Rangers and the decision was made to send him down to the minors to get some playing time. It seemed logical at the time - go down and play a few games to get back up to speed after the injuries. But it wasn’t really stated that way. The Lightning had a glut of healthy forwards and there was no telling when he would return. He had seemingly lost his spot for no good reason.

There wasn’t a place for a player who started the season with six points (should have been seven) in five games?

Every other player picked in the top six of the 2013 draft was placed in the lineup immediately, allowed to learn from their mistakes and grow with minutes, except for Drouin. Nathan MacKinnon (1), Sasha Barkov (2), Seth Jones (4), Elias Lindholm (5), Sean Monahan (6) all had things to learn and they progressed. Only Lindholm is not All-Star caliber now, but he has slowly improved.

This was a special talent. The team needed Drouin. They needed him to push forward his development and help a failing power play. They needed him in Tampa Bay after a few practice games.

Then, all hell broke loose. Drouin decided to make his trade request public and, after a deal did not happen quickly, he left Syracuse. He made a very poor decision. He was 20. My bet is he was getting really bad advice and he went with it. Perhaps those convincing him to walk away wanted him to out of Tampa Bay and closer to home. Funny how that eventually happened.

Drouin has no excuses for leaving the team. I said so at the time. I say so now. But he came back before the end of the season and seemed to mend fences. Drouin was outstanding in the 2015-16 playoffs, on both ends of the ice. He was hitting, playing gritty defense, making simple plays when needed and putting up points (14 in 17 games) while igniting the power play.

Surely, this would be the start of the Drouin era in Tampa. All seemed forgiven from the fans as the 2016-17 season began. Drouin sweaters were everywhere. But there were times during the first half of last season when he still didn’t get consistent playing time with top players. You wondered at the time if he would have even played much with Stamkos if the captain wasn’t injured. While the trio of Drouin, Brian Boyle and Val Filppula had a little success for a period of time, it was basically a third line. Drouin even played on a pseudo third line with Cedric Paquette and Joel Vermin for a few games and set up a pair of goals in St. Louis.

Was Drouin perfect? Absolutely not. He was 21 until late March. He is still developing, learning. There needed to be more production at even strength and Drouin was inconsistent other than a red-hot stretch in the middle of the season. Cooper never seemed to have faith in him, though. His playing time went up when the Lightning were behind in the third period. That raised his average time on ice, especially when the team was struggling. There was also the game against Boston when the Filppula-Boyle-Drouin line was benched for the start of the third period after they were on the ice for a late goal by the Bruins in the second. But defensemen Jason Garrison and Andrej Sustr were mostly at fault.

We should have known at the time. Drouin was not part of the team’s future. He was traded for a prospect about three months later.

I can understand part of it. GM Steve Yzerman is a hockey lifer. He is mostly a traditionalist. His style is to stay out of things - let the coaches coach and players play - with communication at a minimum with the athletes. He played under Scotty Bowman and won two Cups that way.

Yzerman had to be thinking after the season, how can I give a player that deserted his team for two months $5-6 million per year long term? What would it look like if I did? I just gave Nikita Kucherov three years and $4.7 million per. I have to sign Drouin to a bridge deal just under that or trade him.

Cooper wasn’t going to change his mind. Drouin is not his kind of player. He didn’t coach him in the minors. He isn’t a gritty grinder. Drouin is all about creativity. You have to accept a few risky passes that go array per game to get all the good stuff he can provide.

Whether it was Yzerman’s style or the coaching staff putting him over the edge, it appears the decision was that Drouin was the one to be dealt. He was ultimately never forgiven for his youthful mistake.

No doubt, Drouin could bring in the best prize in the trade market. But I believe it was more than that.

I have been around hockey locker rooms long enough to understand players. Drouin was not disliked in the room. No way. He is confident. He plays with a swagger. You can even call him cocky. But don’t you want that in your best players?

Drouin was never going to win a Selke. But his defensive prowess had nothing to do with his minus-13 last season and my head explodes when people say on the radio that he wasn’t responsible defensively. Watch the 2015-16 playoffs again. The plus/minus statistic can be deceiving at times. Most of his total last season was a minus-7 in January when the whole team stunk.

All of this contributed to a bad decision, in my opinion. It had nothing to do with the cap. I could think of two players - if discarded - that could provide almost $4 million of additional cap room right now. The Lightning have plenty of space to take him at $5.5 for six years - what he signed for in Montreal after the trade. Perhaps he would have asked for more in Tampa? Who knows? But if $33-36 mil was waved in his face by Yzerman, I doubt Drouin would have turned it down.

It could have worked here. I can’t imagine Kucherov being upset for making a little less for a few years to get 20-25 nifty saucer passes from Drouin on the power play.

But I just don’t think Cooper wanted it to work and Yzerman’s plan probably wouldn’t allow a six-year deal for him.

I find it hard to believe that the Lightning could not have improved the defense by trading Tyler Johnson or a first-round pick or by putting together a creative package with prospects.

Drouin is a special talent. He is a future All-Star if he keeps his head on straight. He can be a top-10 scorer in the league. In my opinion, you don’t trade players with that type of potential when they are 22 for a maybe. This has nothing to do with Mikhail Sergachev. He’ll probably turn out to be a nice player. But we don’t know for sure. We know how good Drouin is. We saw a glimpse this season and you can only imagine what he could have been with Stamkos and Callahan in the lineup. But we never got to see that on a consistent basis, even when they were all healthy.

Cooper has done a lot of good things since he came to the Lightning organization. Yzerman has done just about everything right since taking over the Lightning. But the decisions made in the development of Drouin led to a poor outcome, something that could have been avoided.

Yzerman may pick up the pieces and turn the Lightning back into a Cup contender. He’s that good. But it is hard to lose a player that creates goals like Drouin. Whether he becomes a superstar is up to him, and fate.

It could have been done another way. Drouin could have fit into the plan. They should have made it work.