[News] Upd: Drouin decides to sit out until trade is completed. Lightning suspend him

[Coach]

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.

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.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Being stubbornly selfish in a team sport is not showing character.

Yes, Drouin has value, but if he weren't being such a petulant, self-entitled delta bravo, he would have substantially more value.

His petulance could cost him directly, by resulting in him not hitting 40 games this season.

At this point I hope the Flames acquire him just to piss you off. You've gone off the deep end with criticisms of this kid.

[flambers]

I am sure the Flames have contacted the Lighting....

I would be shocked if the Flames GM did not.

Terrible situation for all parties, player has talent and other teams are aware of his potential.

I would bet, he will be traded by the trade deadline and he goes to the Blues or Habs

[Flames_F.T.W]

Everyone griping about this kid will be over the moon if we acquire him (unless it's a blatant overpayment---which is highly unlikely for anyone that acquires him).

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

What I've learned from all of this is that players are human beings just like the rest of us.

[Edited for brevity]

While I think what Droiun's camp is doing is foolish, I can empathize with him doing it. Do I agree with it and would I be cool with a Flames' player doing it? Probably not. But not a single person here can say they haven't done the same thing at their job at various points in their career. I read stories like that everyday on this very forum's off topic section. I think it's pretty hypocritical of some people to make a judgement about Droiun character, yet people in this city do it everyday at their jobs.

People ask to be transferred all the time. Not making enough money at your job? You're likely to jump ship if something better pops up. I've seen plenty of new graduates leave their very first career-like job within the first couple months because they think they can play a bigger role/make more money at a different place. Is what Droiun doing any different then what any of us would do? He has a short window to make as much money as possible (granted a much larger amount) and he feels he's not getting his worth or being put in a position to succeed. He feels his boss (Cooper) is holding him back. Plenty of working folks in this town feel the same about their boss.

Again, I think what Droiun is doing borders on career suicide. But I understand why he's doing it. It's a gamble, but one that has the potential to pay off quite substantially if things go how he wants.

Many people see a whiny little bitch who should be grateful to be playing in the best league in the world. I see a guy trying to take control of his career. Something literally all of us would do. But hey, he's a hockey player and those guys make millions so he should just be grateful, right?

Sorry, but I can say with certainty I have never told my boss, once I started my career, that I was not going to report to work and do what he told me to do. And if I did, I would have been fired.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by IamNotKenKing

Sorry, but I can say with certainty I have never told my boss, once I started my career, that I was not going to report to work and do what he told me to do. And if I did, I would have been fired.

Yep, same thing with most folks, however most are not members of a players association.

Its within their rights to holdout.

For example this has happened to many teams within the league.

i.e. Joe Niewendyk ( big difference Joe was an established player) was suspended by the Flames before he was traded long time ago.

In my view players agent, has provided poor direction....

[Flash Walken]

In the end, Drouin will still be traded and Tampa will receive less as a result of these circumstances.

Yzerman rolled the dice and lost.

[polak]

Could you imagine adding Drouin and Puljujärvi this season?

Oh man.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

At this point I hope the Flames acquire him just to piss you off. You've gone off the deep end with criticisms of this kid.

I hope my favorite team does something stupid just so that I can see the reaction of some anonymous poster on the internet whose posts I have (exaggeratedly) interpreted to be excessive because his opinion is different than mine.

Cool - have fun!

[Lanny_McDonald]

Backlund, Russell and Klimchuk for Drouin and Colburn. Everyone's a winner?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by flambers

I am sure the Flames have contacted the Lighting....

I would be shocked if the Flames GM did not.

Terrible situation for all parties, player has talent and other teams are aware of his potential.

I would bet, he will be traded by the trade deadline and he goes to the Blues or Habs

I am sure every GM contacted them, foolish if they didn't.

[Demetric]

i think TB is trying to package one of Carle, Garrison or Stralman with Drouin to free up cap space for Stamkos

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by MattyC

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.

I just wanted to point out that while this is true, Drouin had no reason not to sign the contract. All issues have come up after the fact beginning with every other top prospect of his class getting the 10 games (which I remember thinking was weird at the time) while he was sent to Halifax during training camp.

It's not that he has a problem with Tampa Bay, it's the cumulative instances of poor treatment.

If he feels he is performing at levels similar to his peers and getting worse treatment, it would be upsetting.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

It's not that he has a problem with Tampa Bay, it's the cumulative instances of poor treatment.

If he feels he is performing at levels similar to his peers and getting worse treatment, it would be upsetting.

Is he performing at the level of his peers?

[sureLoss]

Kind of hoping Drouin is traded to the Penguins for Beau Bennett just to see what kind of hysteria a [Trade] Drouin for Bennett title can cause.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Is he performing at the level of his peers?

I think his issue is he could be if given what he feels is a similar chance as his peers. Reading the article a poster had up a few pages back, I don't know if I disagree either. Guy seems to have gotten the shaft from Cooper for some reason.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I think his issue is he could be if given what he feels is a similar chance as his peers. Reading the article a poster had up a few pages back, I don't know if I disagree either. Guy seems to have gotten the shaft from Cooper for some reason.

Yeah, hard to say, like most things there are two sides and information is tainted or slight.


Statistically, he doesn't seem to be performing.

[Dajazz]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

In the end, Drouin will still be traded and Tampa will receive less as a result of these circumstances.

Yzerman rolled the dice and lost.

Perhaps, but he did the right thing.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

In the end, Drouin will still be traded and Tampa will receive less as a result of these circumstances.

Yzerman rolled the dice and lost.

What did Yzerman do wrong? Player asks for trade, and Yzerman went to work.

Was the player realistically expecting a trade the day after his request? Things take time. The player and agent are way out of line. Yzerman did nothing wrong, and all the player did was make the trade even harder to do now.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

What did Yzerman do wrong? Player asks for trade, and Yzerman went to work.

Was the player realistically expecting a trade the day after his request? Things take time. The player and agent are way out of line. Yzerman did nothing wrong, and all the player did was make the trade even harder to do now.

GM allowed the situation to get to this point, he has the obligation to work with the agent.

Last thing Lighting will want is to deal with Media etc on a daily basis asking about Drouin.

Its a distraction for sure.

Of course, he has to make the correct trade.... Even if it means the player is a hold out for the rest of the season.

Not a great situation.