Young players, beware – avoid the dark side, you must!
By now, every non-cave-dwelling person who follows professional hockey has heard about – cue dramatic music – The Jonathan Drouin Saga.
Whether or not the Buffalo Sabres will ever actively pursue this kid is not relevant right now; there are too many teams currently interested in Drouin’s services who have more to offer the Tampa Bay Lightning, and until that changes, it’s not worth discussing.
And whether or not Drouin has outed himself as a selfish, locker room cancer is also not relevant, since he’s only 20 years-old, not exactly an age known for making the smartest decisions.
Still, even if the Sabres never get involved in the life of this kid, there is a lesson for the Sabres’ front office and coaching staff to learn, and that is simply this: welcome to the next generation of players. Fail to coddle them at your own risk.
Let’s make one thing clear: publically demanding trades and refusing to play for your club’s AHL affiliate are entirely unacceptable for a 20 year-old player with only six career goals and zero leverage at his disposal. No one is arguing that this is the blueprint any sane young man who actually wishes to enjoy a long and prosperous career in the NHL should aspire to follow.
More from Sabre Noise
- 3 biggest standouts at Buffalo Sabres 2023 Prospects Challenge
- 3 takeaways from the Buffalo Sabres final Prospects Challenge game
- Buffalo Sabres experiment with lesser-known talent in loss to Pens
- Buffalo Sabres 75 Bold Predictions for 2023-24: Prediction 51
- Buffalo Sabres vs. Pittsburgh: A quick look at the Penguins prospects
But you’re kidding yourself if you think Drouin is going to be the last young player to buy into his own hype and try to rush the process – especially if the Lightning wind up trading him this season. Even with all of the bad publicity Drouin is receiving, a trade out of Tampa Bay will justify his actions, at least in the eyes of his camp, and will have proven that his course of action got results.
This isn’t one of those “Young kids today” kind of article . . . but then again, it kind of is. I have two kids who play youth hockey, and I have already heard parents of eight year-old kids talking about going pro. Parents are willing to send their kids to two or three hockey camps during the offseason, and sign them up for summer leagues, despite all the research and advice from professionals that urge parents to allow their kids to have an offseason. Sticks that cost over a hundred bucks, and skates that cost two hundred or more – being used by kids ten or younger. Complaints about playing time crop up every season, with parents who have too much time on their hands and way more spending more than I have deciding to drag their kids to a “more competitive” hockey association 30 miles away.
In short, parents have lost their damn minds and are coddling their offspring beyond all belief. Compounding the problem are the youth hockey associations that are too willing to skim from the top of other associations and whisper promises of turning to pro to young kids while taking their parents’ money. As a result, too many kids, especially the really ones who are really good players, begin to develop a level of self-importance and entitlement before they have even hit high school. If you think Jonathan Drouin is an isolated case of a young man who thinks he deserves everything he wants before he has earned it, well, you might want to stop watching hockey after this season.
As those classic G.I. Joe PSAs used to say, knowing is half the battle. After drafting him with the third pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, the Ligthning sent Drouin back to the Q, making him the only top six pick from that draft who did not play in the NHL during the 2013-14 season. It is safe to say that watching his QMJHL teammate Nathan MacKinnon, along with Seth Jones, Sean Monahan, etc., enjoy successful rookie seasons while he was toiling with the Halifax Mooseheads didn’t sit well with Drouin – would allowing him to play a handful of games in 2013 and then shipping him to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, have sent a better message? Is this just a case of a lack of communication, of failing to consider Drouin’s ego? Maybe it’s no longer fair to expect someone who was drafted so high to return to the juniors, even if it’s in his best interests.
Next: Buffalo Needs To Stop Rebuilding and Just Start Building
None of us will ever know what the Tampa Bay Lightning could have done differently in order to have avoided this impasse, and honestly, maybe there wasn’t anything the team could have done. Drouin and his agent have been more than willing to break from protocol, so who is to say he was not going to a problem wherever he went? In no way am I advocating for this kid, or arguing that he was ready to play in the NHL when he was still a boy of 18 – Lord knows I have given Drouin a ton of **** on Twitter for his actions.
Still, Drouin’s story should be viewed as a learning experience and a wake up call for the Buffalo Sabres and the rest of the NHL. Yes, the league is a business, but it’s a business that is all too willing to hand young men who cannot even legally drink alcohol in this country gigantic sums of money. Completely ignoring these kids’ egos might not be a viable option these days. It’s the I Want It Now generation, so buyer beware.