To this point, Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman has acted very much like a man content to wait out the potential suitors for disgruntled forward, Jonathan Drouin. Reports and rumors have swirled that Yzerman is keeping a couple of the better deals in his back pocket while trying to play the interested parties - said to include teams like the Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild - off against each other in the hopes of sweetening the eventual pot. But appearances in this situation may be deceiving and with the NHL trade deadline looming ever larger later this month, it sounds like Yzerman is itching to deal.
Per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, Yzerman would "like to get a deal done as quickly as possible."
That, of course, doesn't mean he's just going to take the first thing that falls into his lap, but it certainly paints a different picture than the grizzled veteran NHL personnel man patiently waiting out his contemporaries.
The difficult aspects of this for Yzerman are likely two-fold: though the Lightning has played much better recently and is rounding into form at a crucial point in the season, they remain flawed, especially defensively. Teams know that and probably are driving a hard bargain on blueliners.
There's also the fact that Drouin, talented though he may be, is nothing more than untapped potential at this point. Teams want him for what they believe he can be, not what he is.
Already, per Garrioch, Yzerman has dropped his asking price from a roster player that could help them with their playoff run this year to a "top prospect or two."
The Senators, for example, don't seem to want to do either of those, though Garrioch suggests they do have interest in Drouin. If Yzerman wants Thomas Chabot or Colin White, the Sen's two top prospects, it's not a deal that's going to get done.
If he's willing to lower his asking price, the deal will, of course, get done quicker. But for Yzerman it's a balance - value overall versus value for the current playoff run.
