The Tampa Bay Lightning continues to work through the Jonathan Drouin trade situation. Drouin, the former third-overall pick, requested a trade in November citing his limited usage by Lightning bench boss Jon Cooper. Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman has maintained that he'll explore any and every possibility, but that he'll ultimately do what's best for the franchise. At this point, Drouin has been linked with just about every team in the East and even several teams in the West. And while there's still no certainty who leads the Drouin derby at this point, it does sound like the list of interested parties is being slowly whittled down.
TSN's Bob McKenzie said Tuesday morning, per Chris Nichols, that he's hearing "there's at least a half-dozen teams with legitimate, serious interested and maybe even offers on the table," for Drouin.
This jibes with most of what has come out to this point. The suddenly sagging Montreal Canadiens and GM Marc Bergevin are interested. As are the St. Louis Blues, desperate for some scoring punch. Kevin Shattenkirk is available, but is he a player Yzerman wants? The Minnesota Wild are said to be considering a deal that could include Matt Dumba, which makes ample sense from the outside looking in.
The New York Rangers are said to have interest. As do the Anaheim Ducks, though Bob Murray's recent comments threw a little cold water on that notion.
Really, there's no certainty that Drouin will be dealt and for good reason - he's a talented player with a high ceiling who could very well blossom into an elite NHL forward. Yzerman is surely afraid of that happening somewhere other than Tampa Bay.
But Yzerman and Cooper also know that they need help in the defensive zone. If Dumba or Shattenkirk or one of the Ducks young defenseman come back in a deal, they'd likely be hard-pressed to say no.
