Lessons learned from the Jonathan Drouin saga

It appears that the Jonathan Drouin saga has taken an interesting turn.

Just one week after a quiet trade deadline in which Drouin wasn't moved, the seemingly disgruntled young forward reported to the Tampa Bay Lightning's AHL camp, the Syracuse Crunch. Now, Drouin has reportedly expressed a desire to repair what is left of his relationship with the team.

It's a surprising move from the 20-year-old who asked to be traded back in November and then spent the last few months suspended without pay after refusing to report to the minors, creating a whirlwind of drama between himself and Bolts GM Steve Yzerman.

The question now is whether Drouin has completely, as one Fansided.com contributor wrote, "checked his ego at the door" and what other young prospects can learn from watching this public display unfold.

There is little doubt that refusing to report to the Crunch back in January hurt Drouin's trade value. While there was first speculation that plenty of teams were interested in the young prospect, trying to force Yzerman's hand potentially made him a much less attractive trade acquisition.

Lesson one: There comes a point when your talent on the ice can't outweigh your bad attitude.

Despite reports that Yzerman would trade Drouin "sooner rather than later," he was also pretty clear that he wasn't going to trade the winger without getting something his team needed in return. The Lightning didn't find any pieces on the market that it needed, and the deadline passed. As such, the Tampa Bay prospect was still in his living room in Montreal, suspended indefinitely and about to burn a whole year off his entry-level contract. There was really nothing else left to do but call Yzerman and say he would report to the AHL camp.

Perhaps he learned that trying to be above the system was going to cost him a chunk of his career. He has to, at the very least, have learned that it's unwise to challenge Steve Yzerman. According to NHL.com, Drouin said he learned how the chain of events affected his image:

"You definitely care how people see you. It's going to be up to my play on the ice to show that I was ready to come back and play hockey,'' he said. "You definitely want to make sure you're perceived the right way."

Drouin also reportedly said this:

"Obviously, I wish it (the holdout) maybe went the other way. But it happened that way, and it's going to be fixed in the summer and we'll figure it out. But right now I'm just playing for the Crunch. I'm happy to be here.''

That sounds a little more like he's still a bit sour about not getting the trade he wanted and still looking to move after the season is over. Maybe he should leave all of that for the offseason and, like he said himself, worry about "right now" — and right now is playing for the Crunch and working to regain some respect in the organization. (And perhaps earn the chance to be recalled to the NHL, which Yzerman said was a possibility.)

The saga of Drouin and the Lightning is probably not over yet. But hopefully both he and those watching from the outside learn from the events.