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Host, TSN The Reporters with Dave Hodge

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“Thumbs up” to Steve Yzerman. Five times. Each time he had to make a decision on what to do with Jonathan Drouin, he made the right one.

First, he sent the under-achieving first-round draft pick to the minors. That wasn’t necessarily easy to do, because it cast doubt on Yzerman’s own wisdom for selecting Drouin with the third overall choice in 2013.

When an unhappy Drouin failed to show up for an AHL game, Yzerman suspended him. Not much else to do, really, although a suspension covering a game or two was an option. Yzerman chose an indefinite suspension.

There was great pressure on him to rid the Lightning of the Drouin problem by trading the player at the deadline. That was certainly considered, but when no one met Yzerman’s price, he refused to flinch and he held on to the asset, however diminished, that Drouin represented.

When it became clear to both the player and the team that nothing was being accomplished by letting the season wind down without a resolution of some sort, Drouin agreed to return to the Syracuse farm team and Yzerman followed by lifting the suspension. If it accomplished nothing else, Drouin was an active player again and other NHL teams could see if they were still interested in pursuing trade talks in the off-season. Or, and this was such a long shot it wasn’t ever mentioned seriously, Drouin could impress the Lightning and convince Yzerman to bring him back to Tampa.

The health problem that sidelined Steven Stamkos opened the door for Drouin, and Yzerman wasn’t the least bit stubborn in summoning the problem child to fill a huge hole in the lineup. The big payoff came last night, with Drouin’s three assists in the Lightning’s 3-2 win at Detroit. For Drouin, three assists were probably better than three goals. Distributing the puck, in clever fashion, said plenty about what he might have learned from this season’s tribulations.

Yzerman still has one more decision to make. Keep Drouin in Tampa Bay beyond this season or trade him. You’d be smart to bet Stevie Y will make the right decision... yet again.

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When you watch John Carlson score six points in three playoff games from his defence position, you might wonder how the Washington Capitals were able to win the Presidents’ Trophy by a country mile without Carlson’s services for 26 games. Not that Washington was high on the list of teams that dealt with injuries this season, but they were also without Brooks Opik for exactly half of it - 41 games.

So it can be said that Orpik’s return to the injured list, courtesy Ryan White’s strangely unpenalized charging infraction, will be handled in stride by the Capitals. (White is the Philadelphia Flyer who complained that the Capitals received preferential treatment from the refs).

Taylor Chorney is available, as he was 55 times when Carlson and/or Orpik couldn’t play, and Mike Weber was added from Buffalo at the trade deadline for depth on defence that a Stanley Cup contender needs at a time like this.

The one player the Capitals couldn’t lose without shuddering is goalie Braden Holtby, so it was understandable that a bit of concern was shown when he left yesterday’s practice early favouring his left leg. Coach Barry Trotz didn’t think it was anything that would require Holtby’s absence at game time.

If the Caps manage to sweep Philadelphia in four straight games, they get the benefit of practice time as they wait for Pittsburgh or the Rangers. That kind of rest will surely help Holtby, although he didn’t appear to need it or want it when the Capitals had good reason to let him sit and watch their march to the regular-season title.

Washington shows a business-like attitude in its Stanley Cup quest. In the past, there has been a tightness to the Caps’ playoff demeanour. They look different, more confident and less prone to frustration. “Thumbs up” to the Stanley Cup favourites, who must know they’ve got tougher work, and probably more injuries, ahead of them.