Interest in Tampa Bay Lightning property Jonathan Drouin is likely to pick up as the NHL's trade deadline later this month looms ever larger. A report late Wednesday night from TVA Sports indicated that the Ottawa Senators are "in the thick of the race" to land Drouin, while the St. Louis Blues, long viewed as a potential suitor for the talented forward and an ideal trade candidate with the blueline-needy Lightning, are "no longer part of the Drouin derby."
Of course, unless and until Drouin is dealt - assuming he is - we won't know which team or teams are really intent on landing the former No. 3 overall pick. But TSN's Darren Dreger responded to TVA's report on Thursday and said that while the Senators do have interest, saying that Drouin is "on their radar," there doesn't seem to be a clear-cut front-runner for him at this point.
"To call Ottawa the 'front-runner' could be a bit of a stretch," Dreger said while appearing on Montreal's TSN 690, via Today's Slap Shot. "I don't know that there is a front-runner for Jonathan Drouin at this stage, and I don't think that there's any sense of urgency from Steve Yzerman and the Tampa Bay Lightning's perspective to move this young guy."
Since Drouin, through agent Allan Walsh, made his trade request, Yzerman has maintained that he'd seek out a deal that will fulfill Drouin's wish to be sent elsewhere, but that he'd only enact a trade he saw as a win for Tampa Bay. With the Lightning having won seven out of their last 10 games and suddenly looking much more like the team that made a run to the Stanley Cup Finals last year, there's likely little urgency to move Drouin unless the right deal develops.
For the Senators, GM Bryan Murray already made the big splash - literally and figuratively - when he landed defenseman Dion Phaneuf from the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this week. As an in-division deal, Murray paid a fairly hefty price for the veteran blueliner, not necessarily in picks or prospects, but by taking on all of Phaneuf's mammoth contract, which has five years at $7 million per season remaining on it.
As Dreger noted, there's no doubt that the Sens and Murray have interest in Drouin. But he's not getting the sense that they're willing to "push really, really hard" for the Lightning player and, unfortunately for Sens fans, that very may well may keep Ottawa from landing Drouin because to enact a second in-division deal ahead of the deadline, that may be what it takes.
"Does Ottawa have interest? Absolutely Ottawa has interest," Dreger said. "But I'd like to see what the return package is. Because for Yzerman to trade Jonathan Drouin within the division, and in the conference, the Sens are going to pay a premium."
