Jonathan Drouin sent to AHL by Lightning for more playing time
The Tampa Bay Lightning assigned young forward Jonathan Drouin to the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League.
According to general manager Steve Yzerman the decision to send Drouin, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, to the AHL had to do with getting the youngster more playing time. Yzerman reportedly noted Drouin has played nine games in nine weeks.
During the season Drouin has missed a total of 19 games with two separate injuries.
A story by the Tampa Bay Times described Drouin as “unhappy” as he walked out of Amalie Arena carrying his equipment Saturday morning.
Raw Charge tried to further explain why Drouin was sent to the minors.
It appears as though Drouin is the victim of a numbers game. Tampa Bay had 14 forwards as of this morning with Ondrej Palat back on roster, while the Crunch has been languishing up front. At one point in time before the holiday break, Syracuse was down to just 7 healthy forwards and was regularly rotating defensemen in up front to close the gap. Every other forward on the Lightning roster - including Jonathan Marchessault, who has 11 points in 21 games with the Lightning - is waiver-eligible, which technically left Drouin as the only viable send-down.
The 20-year-old Drouin has just two goals and six assists in 19 games this season. He’s also averaging 14:07 of ice-time per-game. During his career, Drouin has struggled in comparison to other high picks from the 2013 draft year.
He has played in just 89 NHL games, while the rest of the top five picks from 2013 have played in at least 152. The 5-foot-10 Drouin has 40 points in his NHL career and just six goals.
After a run to the Stanley Cup Final last season, the Lightning have struggled this year with an 18-16-4 record. Tampa's 40 points puts them three behind the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
