Tampa Bay Lightning won’t rush top prospect Jonathan Drouin
By Cory Buck
The Tampa Bay Lightning have a lot to look forward in the new NHL season. They’re coming off a solid regular season in which the team finished in the middle of the Atlantic Division’s playoff squads. They have Steven Stamkos back and healthy after a scary broken leg last season. Now it appears they’ll have the game’s top prospect ready for a pro debut. But there’s no rush if the latter doesn’t come to fruition.
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As the third overall pick in the 2013 draft, Jonathan Drouin has a lot of hype surrounding his career. With the other two picks from the top three having played in the NHL last season, Drouin is the final player from that trifecta to see NHL action. If coach Jon Cooper sees any reason to hold Drouin back though, he certainly will, per Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.
“I think he’s nestling into the spot he should be at the time he should be,” Cooper told Smith. “And I’m looking for big things from him, but not necessarily (today in the first practice). But I think, just in watching him, you can see he’s got some special qualities to him.”
Cooper then added that “there’s no rush” to play Drouin in the pros this year if the forward can’t handle it, referring to Drouin as an investment of sorts. Don’t expect that to be the case though as the Lightning are looking for more goals in their roster and there’s no one else in the pipeline who can offer the upside of Jonathan Drouin.
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