[sureLoss]

McKenzie says it is more likely than not that the Lightning trade Drouin for economic reasons and to fill other holes in their lineup:
https://www.fanragsports.com/nhl/mck...-drouin-trade/

690 host Conor McKenna followed up on the Drouin angle of McKenzie’s comment, wondering if this was just the cap crunch finally catching up with the Lightning.

“Yeah, for the most part,” said McKenzie. “Listen, Steve Yzerman might pull a rabbit out of the hat here because of the expansion draft and he might cut some deals with Vegas to lose some contracts that give him the financial flexibility to sign Johnson, to sign Palat, to sign Drouin. Is that possible? Absolutely it’s possible. He got a good start on that at the deadline, moving the Filppula contract. And it seems like Tampa has got a never-ending supply of good young players who keep coming up from Syracuse and stepping in – Brayden Point, Yanni Gourde, and others – Adam Erne. These kids all came in in the pressure of a playoff race and performed extraordinarily well.

“So he’s got to try and get Johnson and Palat to take hometown discounts and do club-favorable deals. If he can get all of that done, then maybe there is enough money for Drouin. But at the end of the day, he’s still missing a huge component on the blueline. And how’s he going to get that. Who’s going to get it for him. Would Ondrej Palat or Tyler Johnson get him an elite defenseman? I don’t think so. Would Jonathan Drouin get him one? I think so.

“Is Jonathan Drouin likely to take a hometown discount and do a bridge deal coming out of entry level? If the answer to that question is yes, then I guess all things are possible in terms of Drouin staying. But I would suggest this: for a guy that got drafted 3rd overall, that didn’t get to play a single game as an 18-year-old, that finally when he did get up to Tampa they didn’t play him and he had the history that he had – and all of that controversy, I believe, is water under the bridge for the most part – but economically, Jonathan Drouin never caught a single break along the way.

“And I think Jonathan Drouin perceives himself the same as Nathan MacKinnon and Alexander Barkov and Seth Jones from his draft class, and other elite players. And that is, ‘I shouldn’t be taking a bridge contract coming out of entry level. I should be getting a five, six, or a seven-year deal at north of $6 million a year. That’s what players of my stature generally get.’

“And as I say, if he’s not prepared to take less than that, then I’m not sure how the Tampa Bay Lighting could possibly do that. And if they did manage to get him into the fold at whatever number – as I say, there’s still a gaping hole on the blueline that requires trading a forward to get an elite defenseman.”