It’s been nearly five months since Jonathan Drouin was traded away by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But the forward only recently completed his final piece of business with the organization after going to arbitration with the Lightning over the payment of a performance bonus, Sportsnet has learned.
The sides settled at 90 per cent of the $212,500 Drouin felt he was owed last season, according to sources, before the arbitrator could deliver a ruling.
At issue was a provision in the “Schedule A” bonus section of his entry-level contract. It dictated that Drouin needed to register at least .73 points per game to claim the bonus, and it appeared that he hit the threshold on the number last season with 53 points in 73 games.
However, the Lightning contended that he fell short of the criteria because his points per game average worked out to .726 if taken to another decimal point.
An arbitrator heard the case in New York City last month. The parties signed off on their own settlement a couple weeks later.
Drouin was drafted third overall by the Lightning in 2013 and was dealt to the Montreal Canadiens on June 15 along with a conditional sixth-round pick for defenceman Mikhail Sergachev and a conditional second-round pick.
His tenure with the team had some rocky periods, including a 47-day suspension without pay during the 2015-16 season after Drouin failed to report to AHL Syracuse.
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