Jonathan Drouin: Two Sides to Every Story
By Ryan Ritchie
Jonathan Drouin Situation: A Different Perspective
As the Jonathan Drouin saga continues with the most recent news, media and fans continue to label the young man. For a kid still on his entry-level contract, his behavior is being deemed immature and outrageous.
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He’s not the first young guy to have scuffles with an organization. Whether you go back to a pair of messes with Eric Lindros, or fast forward to Blake Wheeler and Kyle Turris, these situations have happened before, and will surely happen again. No scenario is exactly alike, but they share many common traits.
When it came to Kyle Turris, many put similar labels on the then Phoenix Coyotes prospect that Jonathan Drouin is being tagged with. Who questions Kyle Turris now? Have we not learnt from history? Why are we so quick to make assumptions and criminalize one side with nothing more than pure speculation? Fans and media did the same thing with Patrick Kane heading into 2015-16 before he was cleared of all charges.
Let’s not forget there’s always two sides to every story.
Touching on the most recent bit of news about Drouin sitting out. Many call it bad advice from his agent Allan Walsh. There’s legitimate reasoning behind this. Drouin’s NHL contract is worth $894,166, expiring at the end of 2016-17. His AHL salary is roughly $90,000. 40 points in 84 career NHL games suggests a quality NHLer. It’s about the same scoring pace of most young stars breaking through (except that it’s over the course of two seasons).
If he gets hurt playing for Syracuse, he continues to earn his AHL salary. However, if he’s traded (we know he’ll get top six minutes wherever he goes), he earns his respective NHL salary. This is a guy that has one more season (2016-17) to prove his worth and earn that big contract that many other 3rd overall picks have gone on to earn. A season-ending injury in the AHL has terrible repercussions for both this season and next.
Jonathan Drouin averaged just 11:15/game even-strength ice-time in 2014-15, and 12:05/game in 2015-16. While at the same time, he averaged 1:54/game powerplay time in 2014-15, and 2:00/game in 2015-16? How do you take the third overall pick and tell him you’re a bottom six forward until you earn top six minutes? Oh, but we recognize your talent – enough to entrust you on the second powerplay unit. Sounds like Jonathan Drouin is getting the Barry Melrose treatment Stammer got when he entered the NHL. We remember how well that worked out for Steven Stamkos in his rookie season.
He wasn’t drafted first overall such as counterpart Steven Stamkos, but let’s not forget who Jonathan Drouin is. Playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon in Halifax, Drouin was arguably the most exciting CHL player we’ve seen in recent history. This is the same guy that plastered himself on highlight reels over-and-over again on sports networks in junior.
In the last 15 years, only two 3rd overall picks are busts to date, Alexander Svitov (TB, 2001), and Cam Barker (CHI, 2004). Among notables are Henrik Sedin (1999), Marian Gaborik (2000), Jay Bouwmeester (2002), Jack Johnson (2005), Jonathan Toews (2006), Matt Duchene (2009), Jonathan Huberdeau (2011), Alex Galchenyuk (2012), and Leon Draisaitl (2014).
How many of the above players were forced to earn top-six minutes, opposed to having them handed to them? Most of those guys got a crack at NHL action in their first season, without being demoted back to junior. How many of those guys walked into their respective franchises and become immediate core pieces, opposed to outsiders that needed to earn their spot? Jonathan Drouin was not brought along correctly in development, and continues to be misused.
Sharing the Blame: GM Steve Yzerman and Head Coach Jon Cooper
Steve Yzerman
It’s funny how Steve Yzerman can do no wrong as a first time General Manager. His legendary status as a player somehow created the illusion of a man incapable of making mistakes. We’d be extremely naive to believe that Steve Yzerman is destined to make all the right decisions as a first time GM. Ask any NHL manager and I’m sure they’ll admit the most mistakes occurred in their first position. It’s human nature, and a part of life, we have to learn in new experiences, and learn from our mistakes.
Unfortunately, Steve Yzerman must bear partial blame in this situation. Whether Jonathan Drouin’s scuffle is with the coach or not, Yzerman is backing the wrong horse.
This is where hockey and business mentality collide. Hockey teaches you to protect your own – your teammates at all costs. It seems Yzerman has adopted this in his managing, protecting his front office staff and coaching team.
The worst thing a general manager can do is to start siding with those making fractions of what players make. Coaches have gone head-to-head with players before, and usually end up jobless afterwards. When Steve Yzerman chooses to back his coach, you should expect to have unhappy players walking into free agency for nothing, or, putting you in uncomfortable situations with trade demands.
Are we foolish enough to sit there and lay zero blame on Tampa Bay’s GM? In his short tenure, Tampa Bay Lightning lifer Martin St.Louis requested a trade to finish his career elsewhere. Steven Stamkos is rumored to have issues with the coach, and may walk into free agency for nothing. The offers Stamkos is receiving from Steve Yzerman start with an eight in terms of dollars per year, per reports from Sportsnet.
Instead, Yzerman extends coach Jon Cooper earlier this season, opposed to signing his superstar forward. Then, soon after we have the Jonathan Drouin situation begin to unfold.
Perhaps if Steve Yzerman cared a little more about his players, the Lightning wouldn’t have these issues. His poor management skills are largely to blame, and there’s many fingers we can point at the Tampa Bay GM.
Let’s not forget where most of the fingers should be pointed, based at the root of all these issues, the coach.
Jon Cooper
His arrival to Tampa Bay coincides quite nicely to Martin St.Louis’ desire to leave. His winning record speaks for itself. In all due respect though, he was handed this supremely talented roster.
The real credit goes to Tampa Bay’s scouting staff, as without them, the Lightning would still be bottom feeders.
How much credit can you give a coach for a team’s success when they were the most potent scoring team over the last couple seasons heading into 2015-16? Ron Wilson could have coached these guys to similar results. This team wins when its best players are going. Jon Cooper does little to help this team win – as that’s on the players themselves. Cooper can however do his part in helping this team lose, both in the short-term and long-term. If morale among players isn’t peaking, the head coach isn’t doing his job. If he can’t get his players focused and ready, he’s failing.
Coaches and players don’t always see eye-to-eye, and most of the time we hear nothing about the disagreements or scuffles. For three situations to go public in one of the NHL’s smallest markets, it raises red flags that something’s wrong. There’s clearly something that makes playing for Jon Cooper very difficult for some. Now of course, Steve Yzerman can continue to ship those players out and find guys who will buy in, but that doesn’t bode well for Tampa Bay’s reputation. How many players will include Tampa Bay as a desired destination in trade clauses? Will free agents begin to avoid Tampa Bay on July 1st in coming offseasons?
Wrap-Up
If GM Steve Yzerman isn’t careful, this could quickly unravel into a messy situation. While we spend so much time focusing on Jonathan Drouin, let’s remember that something must happen to first trigger these situations.
This is pure speculation. Based on being part of that same age group, albeit a little older, there’s a gap in older to younger generations as it pertains to outlook and perspectives in respect to basic morals and ethics.
The younger generations (late 20s and earlier) look at respect very differently from older age groups. When our parents were told to do something, they’d do it. “Respect your elders” was common practice. That type of respect from younger generations is far less prevalent nowadays. In today’s age, the younger mentality demands respect if you wish to receive it in return.
Jonathan Drouin is feeling disrespected. As he should. No other player of his stature has been reduced to such limited roles, and forced to earn much of anything. He’s earned that sense of entitlement that comes with being a top-tier pick.
Why should he be reduced to the same treatment given to mid-to-late round draft picks? It’s an exclusive class to be drafted in the top three, it suggests a supremely talented player that worked extremely hard to get there. So why is it Jonathan Drouin’s fault that Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Nikita Kucherov all emerged to essentially push him down the depth chart? The triplets line was excellent in 2014-15, but perhaps Tampa Bay should have done a better job making Jonathan Drouin and Steven Stamkos the main focus on the top-line, while having the triplets add secondary scoring with a little less ice-time?
The thing about our younger generation, we’re also not afraid to vocalize our displeasure. Surely Jonathan Drouin would have preferred this situation be dealt with behind the scenes, but he was backed into a corner. Drouin did the only thing he could do – go public, in hopes of accelerating the process. So let’s not be so quick to blame Jonathan Drouin. Rather, we should be asking who deserves more blame for backing the young star into a corner, Jon Cooper or Steve Yzerman?
Next: Jonathan Drouin Suspended for Missing AHL Game
Last time a 3rd overall pick had their sense of entitlement threatened the way Jonathan Drouin has – that player, Kyle Turris, demanded a trade. That worked out pretty nicely for the Ottawa Senators. Drouin has a higher ceiling than Turris, suggesting this scenario has a good chance at working out even better for whichever lucky team acquires him. Steve Yzerman isn’t stupid. He knows this. That’s why the asking price is so high.
Can we stop questioning this kid’s character and attitude? These aren’t labels ever known to be associated with Jonathan Drouin, and it’s pathetic that people are pointing the finger in his direction, criminalizing the poor guy. He just wants the opportunities he deserves, and is entitled to. Who are we to blame him for wanting something others like him have regularly been offered?