Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.
I don't think your example of an independent contractor is valid for multiple reasons. Independent contractors have a choice of employers they can submit bids to; players of Drouin's age can't. Independent contractors aren't bonded to companies until various age milestones; Drouin is. Independent contractors have the ability to negotiate clauses into their contracts that would allow them to quit the contract (with or without penalties) and directly accept alternate offers from competing employers; Drouin can't.
Athletes have to accept certain restrictions on employment freedoms that we do not allow outside of organized sports. I won't criticize Drouin for doing what he believes best represents his interests inside of this controlled system.
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I'm not really on either side of this, but Drouin didn't have to sign a contract with the Lightning after his draft. He did, and these are the terms of the contract.
The issues about the meat market of the transition between junior hockey and pro are kind of beside the point here. Drouin had the opportunity to refuse to sign with the Lightning, and either force a trade that way or re-enter the draft. I generally agree with your overall point, but these are the rules of professional hockey. Yes, some of them aren't very favourable for a few reasons, but they also exist for important reasons too.
Either way, Drouin isn't helping himself at this point. Not wanting to get hurt makes sense, but the optics are not great, and pro sports has a long history of looking down on players doing this. Because it's not a regular business, it's about putting together a collection of individuals willing to work together towards being champions. It's not REALLY supposed to be about looking out for how much money you can make, or how much ice time you should be getting (although of course, people will do that). Drouin doing this, to a team that was in the Cup finals last year (ie, has the chance to be a part of a potential championship, but has chosen to act for himself) is a big red flag to other teams that the guy doesn't care about winning as much as he cares about himself. That could be right or wrong, but it's the way it looks. And no one is going to pay a premium for that. As someone they blew a 3rd overall pick one (where the surrounding players have shown to be much better so far), the Lightning are also justifiably upset that he's tanking his value in this way.