Jonathan Drouin back in NHL after being recalled by Lightning
Jonathan Drouin is back in the NHL after the Tampa Bay Lightning recalled the 21-year-old forward on Thursday morning.
Thanks to a slew of injuries, Drouin will get an opportunity to get in an NHL game for the first time since Dec. 30.
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In 17 AHL games this season Drouin has 11 goals and 13 points. In his last nine games with the Syracuse Crunch, he’s scored nine times, all following his decision to return to the Lightning’s minor league affiliate following a January suspension for failing to report.
Despite Drouin’s actions failing to force Steve Yzerman to trade him before the Feb. 29 deadline, the Lightning GM said the door was open for the No. 3 overall pick from the 2013 draft to be recalled if it would help the team. Well, injuries to Steven Stamkos and Ryan Callahan have opened that door.
As General Fanager noted, having already burned a year off his entry-level deal, two more games on the Lightning roster would move Drouin one year closer to hitting unrestricted free agency status (2021).
This could be a good first step in the mending of the relationship between Drouin and the team. Depending on how he performs and what the Lightning roster looks like next season could determine whether Yzerman decides to pursue a deal in the summer.
When he finally reported back to Syracuse last month, Drouin felt confident the relationship could be salvaged.
“I think we're going to fix this in the summer and see how it goes from there,” Drouin said..
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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