Whenever a player demands a trade, it puts his team in a precarious position and that’s where we find ourselves with Jonathan Drouin and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Steve Yzerman said Thursday he is “actively and aggressively” pursuing a trade but also admitted that when Drouin’s trade request went public it changed everything.
Drouin’s stock is “dropping by the minute,” one NHL executive told Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News.
A GM from a non-Atlantic Division team added: “He’s a talented player, but I don’t think anyone would condone the manner in which he’s doing this. It gives you pause. Will somebody pay up? Probably…but it gives you pause.”
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman told Edmonton’s 630 CHED Friday teams like the St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks have backed off in their pursuit of Drouin. Ducks GM Bob Murray is even on record raising an eyebrow to an entry-level player requesting to be traded.
The 20-year-old has recorded six goals and 34 assists in 89 total NHL games following a tremendous junior career with the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL. The third-overall pick from 2013 does not plan on playing a game – either for the Lightning or AHL’s Syracuse Crunch – until he is moved, according to a statement released by his agent, Allan Walsh.
