Philadelphia Flyers: Tough Fit for Drouin Trade
By Marc Naples
Like nearly every other team in the NHL, the Philadelphia Flyers will investigate making a deal for the disgruntled Jonathan Drouin of the Tampa Bay Lightning, but fitting the pieces together between these two teams would be tough
One of the biggest league stories over the holiday was Jonathan Drouin’s going public with a trade request to the Tampa Bay Lightning. In a statement, his agent Allan Walsh announced that he formally requested a trade in November, and apparently Drouin’s recent demotion to the AHL pushed them over the edge to go public.
The tension between Drouin and Tampa Bay goes back even further. The problems were visible and publicly reported during the Lightning’s playoff run last spring when Drouin was shuffled in and out of the lineup. Drouin played 70 regular season games for the Lightning last year and scored 32 points, but only dressed for 6 playoff games as the Lightning went all the way to finals.
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For some background on Drouin, he was the number 3 overall pick in the 2013 draft. His stick-handling and playmaking abilities are off the charts, although he’s not very big or tough. The 2013 draft is looking like it will produce a few nice players, but Drouin is noteworthy because he was the only guy among the top-6 picks that year who didn’t immediately become a full-time NHL player.
Drouin has been a bit frustrated about his limited chances with the Lightning, and he appeared determined to change all that this season. He came into camp in top form, and led the team in scoring during the preseason. This led to Drouin starting the season on the top line alongside Steven Stamkos, but he ran into some injury problems and hasn’t gotten that spot back. As it stands, he has 2 goals and 6 assists in 19 games this season, with his possession numbers down from last year.
It’s tough to put your finger on what exactly the problem is between Drouin and the Lightning, but rightly or wrongly Drouin thinks he’s not getting a fair shake. This has really been a season of discontent for the Lightning. After last spring’s playoff run with a mostly young lineup, it appeared the sky was the limit for this team. Instead, they are currently 17th in the NHL in points per game and are now dealing with trade talks surrounding both Drouin and franchise center Steven Stamkos. Stamkos himself was deployed in some odd ways during the playoffs last spring, and there have been some minor tiffs between he and coach John Cooper about playing center versus the wing.
Meanwhile, NHL teams are surely huddling up to consider making an offer for Drouin. Even if Drouin is lagging behind his draft peers like Nathan MacKinnon, Alexander Barkov or Sean Monahan, his talent level is obvious. The rumors are already beginning to fly.
Figuring out what the Lightning may want in return is harder to identify. They are pretty tight against the cap, so there must be some extent of salary matching in any trade. It is possible that a package of a young player, picks, and taking a bad contract back (ie Matt Carle or Valtteri Filppula) would get the deal done. Alternatively the Lightning could seek defensive help as they are currently leaning heavily on their top pair.
As a trade partner, the Philadelphia Flyers can’t afford to take a bad contract back. They are already saddled with bad deals for Andrew MacDonald, RJ Umberger, and Vincent Lecavalier. Certainly the Flyers have defensemen to spare, but whether the Lightning want any of them is another issue. About the only approach that strikes me as remotely realistic is trading Mark Streit and picks or prospects for Drouin and taking the Filppula contract. Filppula and Streit have very similar cap hits but Filppula’s deal is one year longer.
Of course the Lightning are perfectly free to stand pat. Every NHL player has the right to request a trade, but the Lightning don’t need to accommodate him. Drouin really has no choice but to take his demotion to the AHL and excel in the minors. Playing poorly in the AHL will neither expedite a trade nor a return to the Lightning’s NHL lineup. When you get down to it, the Lightning really aren’t under much pressure to trade him before the trade deadline in two months.
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Certainly the Flyers have an organizational need of scoring talent on the wings. That applies to both their current roster and their prospect pool. Would Drouin run into similar issues with Philadelphia Flyers coach Dave Hakstol as he is currently having with Lightning coach Jon Cooper? Possibly. Hakstol is certainly not going to hand him a top-6 spot.
Personally, I think the Flyers best chances of landing Drouin would come in an offseason trade. If the Lightning still have a disgruntled Drouin on their hands come summer time, it would be a natural hockey fit for the defense-rich Flyers to send a top defensive prospect to Tampa Bay in return for a top winger prospect.
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I’m getting tired of writing this about every trade rumor, but it still remains true; a Drouin trade to any NHL team is not imminent. If the situation does fester enough in Tampa for them to ship Drouin out, I think the two possible avenues for a deal with the Philadelphia Flyers would be a Mark Streit trade this season, or a prospect swap in the offseason. For the time being, Flyers fans will just have to use their imagination and hope for the best.