Bob McKenzie was on the radio last night saying that if something is going to get done he has to think that Yzerman wants to do it as fast as possible.
His reasoning is that Drouin is a depreciating asset at this point. Having him in the AHL can only hurt his value if he continues to not score points. Or he could get injured. Also, calling him up and putting him in limited roles on the bottom 6 will only shrink his value.
Also, he said that it's risky keeping him and having him waste away in the minors because he will just check out.
I don't think Bob's as in tune with TB as he is with many teams around the league. It's just not Yzerman's M.O. to rush anything, or to take lesser value than he thinks is accurate. We really don't sell players at a discount. See: MSL.
I think if we get a fair deal, which is a pretty big return, Yzerman pulls the trigger. If not, Drouin remains an unhappy camper and will know his only way out is to start tearing up the AHL.
We also know Yzerman will let assets depreciate. (Carle, Purcell, Malone, even Connolly to a degree--and we STILL got a more than fair price on Connolly at the time the deal was made.)
We've seen Yzerman overpay for an asset he wants (Coburn, and everyone and their mother thought we overpaid for Bishop at the time the deal was made). But, as far as I can remember, we've never seen him trade a player at a discount.
I guess what I'm saying is, I don't think we're just going to sell Drouin to the highest bidder. I think Yzerman has an expectation for the return, and if it's not met, we just keep truckin.