As the Jonathan Drouin saga has continued on in Tampa Bay, more teams have started look into the situation, and that includes the Carolina Hurricanes.
According to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, the Carolina Hurricanes have started to show increased interest in trading for young forward Jonathan Drouin of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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“Now there are more teams involved, and one of those teams is the Hurricanes, who are playing tonight in Toronto,” Lavoie said on Sportsnet radio Thursday. “I think the Hurricanes are looking at Jonathan Drouin as well. We (the Hurricanes) have a chance to maybe rebuild, and not only rebuild, they’re playing well right now, but with Eric Staal maybe leaving, we don’t know about that, you can replace a guy like Eric with Jonathan Drouin right away. Many teams will do that, in a split second. Not saying that Jonathan is a better player than Eric, that’s not what I’m saying, I’m just saying when you have that chance, that window, you need to take it.”
Carolina Hurricanes
We have touched on the idea of keeping Drouin on the trade radar, and for many reasons, it makes a lot of sense for the Hurricanes to pursue him, even despite his most recent antics in Tampa.
Drouin did not dress out for the Syracuse Crunch’s, the Lightning’s AHL affiliate, last game and was fined by the Lightning because of it.
He and his agent, Allan Walsh, say it was because Drouin doesn’t want to risk injury by going out and playing in the AHL when he knows he will be moved soon. He was originally sent down to the AHL for, as Walsh said in a statement on Wednesday, “(1) conditioning due to missed games from injury and (2) provide proof that he had completely recovered from his injury. Jonathan has now played seven games with Syracuse in the past (14) days.”
Allan Walsh statement on Jonathan Drouin pic.twitter.com/mBA4txQIJN
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) January 21, 2016
Allan Walsh’s parent company, Octagon Hockey, also represents Canes forwards Elias Lindholm and Andrej Nestrasil.
It is clear that the relationship between Drouin and the Lightning is broken beyond repair, but it is unfair to place all the blame on the player. Keep in mind that Steven Stamkos, who is on the final year of his contract, has yet to sign an extension in Tampa and has been rumored to have interest in going to the Maple Leafs, his hometown team.
Drouin has undeniable skill, and the 2013 3rd overall pick would fit in very well with this young core that Carolina has. Adding talent is almost never a bad idea, and Jonathan Drouin exudes talent.
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The Hurricanes also aren’t short on assets. Their young blue line has been dominant this season, which could make players like Haydn Fleury, Roland McKeown, and Ryan Murphy, who are all young defensemen not currently in the NHL, expendable.
Carolina also has a pair of 1st and 3rd round picks in the upcoming 2016 NHL Draft.