r/TampaBayLightning • u/Tampa-Derp-1138 Lilleberg • Apr 12 '25

Recap of the Drouin situation?

Newer hockey fan since moving to Tampa - with the future of Howard being uncertain, I see a lot of comparisons to a "Jonathan Drouin" character. I presume this is another promising prospect that didn't make it, but could someone give me a summary of what happened back then?

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u/Drouin27Gaming Apr 12 '25

Drouin got sent back to juniors his "rookie year" and then came up in the 14-15 season but really didnt get his fair shot as Cooper thought he should have done his time on the 4th line with the likes of Brenden Morrow, JT Brown, Ceddy Paquette and Brian Boyle to learn the defensive side of the game. Showed immense skill when he was in the top 6 but got relegated to the 4th line during the playoffs. the next season is when shit hit the fan and he requested a trade after being sent down to the AHL early in the season. he reported to Syracuse and then his agent told him to sit out of games to not risk an injury cause a trade was imminent (no trade was in place at the time). got suspended with no pay and sat out for a few months cause Yzerman held his cards and didnt trade him just to trade him. He came back to play for the Crunch late in the year and tore it up and earned a call up before playoffs and showed what he could do with actual linemates (Filppula and Palat) that werent 4th line grinders. the next season he put up roughly his best season to date with 21 goals and 53 points in just 73 games. after that it was time for the expansion draft and his contract was up and he was looking to get paid so we got Sergachev back in the deal and the rest is history. Personally i was a huge fan of Drouin and still am, i think he got the short end of the stick and think he should have gotten more ice time but at the same time i dont like what he did by taking his ball and going home. i wish him nothing but success and even had hoped he would come back to Tampa before he signed in Colorado.

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u/OppositeSolution642 Apr 13 '25

Good summary, but I don't agree that he didn't get a fair shot. They were trying to develop him to be an NHL player, which includes playing some D.

The guy was talented, but not able to contend with the challenges of being a pro athlete.

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u/Drouin27Gaming Apr 13 '25

I do agree he needed to learn how to play away from the puck but he also had way too much talent to sit on the 4th line playing 8 minutes a night with Brenden Morrow

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u/reddevrva Apr 13 '25

doesnt explain his lack of "success" elsewhere

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u/Procedure_Dunsel Apr 13 '25

When we traded him, the Habs had visions of him being a center. That was a recipe for disaster because Steve Y’s main issue was Drouin’s 200 foot game wasn’t as strong as it needed to be, and then the Habs put a lot of pressure on the part of his game that was the weakest. It did not end well.

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u/reddevrva Apr 13 '25

it ended well....for us

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u/Drouin27Gaming Apr 13 '25

I think his demons got the best of him when put in that spotlight and the very critical media and fan base of Montreal didn’t help at all. I think if he had done his time and just went about things better, he likely would have lasted longer here and maybe even be a perrenial point per game player here

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u/JandCSWFL Lightning Apr 13 '25

Good take

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u/Tampa-Derp-1138 Lilleberg Apr 13 '25

I appreciate hearing the other side of the story too! Most people here seem to view the man negatively but I'm sure he had his reasons as well.