TAMPA

A contrasting tale of 20-year-olds in the Stanley Cup Final finds lesser-known Teuvo Teravainen in the hero’s spotlight while superstar-in-waiting Jonathan Drouin quietly and uncomfortably seethes.

Game 1 of the Final may have been Teravainen’s coming-out party, his personal stamp of arrival as an NHL player of consequence.

The more troubling and baffling story, though, centres around the highly skilled Drouin, third pick in the NHL draft, on a Tampa team that gets next to no offence from its third and fourth lines, and of a coach who seemingly has no faith or belief in his apparent future star.

Smooth Jon Cooper has rolled his eyes more than once in the playoffs when asked about Drouin. It’s his way of saying ‘Next question’ without words.

He has scratched Drouin from 18 of Tampa Bay’s 21 post-season games and barely found a place for him in the other three. He is tired of talking about him.

And after losing Game 1 to Teravainen’s goal and game-winning assist, he seems no more inclined to push him into the Lightning lineup now than he has been previously.

“That’s what happens to players of that skill level,” Cooper said of Teravainen. “Pucks have eyes for those guys.

“Is that going to hopefully happen for Jo? For sure, we hope that.”

And then he said: “We’re going to put the 20 guys in we think can win us games.”

A vote of confidence for Drouin, it wasn’t. Privately and sometimes publicly Cooper will tell people the kid isn’t ready. But if there once was trust between the coach and the player, there doesn’t seem to be any of it left.

In Round 2 of the playoffs, with Drouin clearly growing frustrated, Cooper was urged to meet with his player.

Normally, he avoids talking to or making eye contact with Drouin. Their meeting didn’t necessarily go well. Cooper told him it was a process to work his way into the Tampa lineup.

He told Drouin to be patient. He told him he’s going to be a superstar one day.

And then he said about the present: “It’s not your time.”

Drouin had been quiet and respectful until that moment. But he couldn’t help himself.

“Why isn’t it my time?” he responded.

“It just isn’t,” Cooper apparently told him.

That ended the meeting.

Chicago has 18 goals from its third- and fourth-line players in the playoffs to date. Both goals in Game 1 came from its third line.

Tampa has four goals from its third and fourth line.

Still, Cooper is not necessarily moved to make any alterations. Steve Yzerman, the general manager, could step in and force Cooper’s hand but that isn’t how he operates.

Like a lot of general managers, he ardently believes that the coach should have final say on his roster. Some have suggested that Yzerman and Cooper disagree on how Drouin should be brought along.

But to date, Yzerman has sided with his coach. The animosity between player, coach and management might eventually force an off-season deal of some kind.

But it’s too soon for anyone to make that kind of declaration now. The Yzerman situation is the complete opposite of a story Dale Tallon has told more than once.

He was general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks when Patrick Kane was his first draft pick. Denis Savard was the coach. On the opening night of the NHL season, Tallon looked at the early gamesheet and saw that Savard had scratched the rookie Kane from the lineup.

Tallon didn’t react well. He marched down to the dressing room and had a conversation with his coach. Savard told him Kane wasn’t ready. Tallon used a few choice words.

Kane was in the lineup. He hasn’t been out of the lineup since. That was Savard’s last full season coaching the Chicago Blackhawks.

Teravainen, with mini-Kane-like skill, six months older than Drouin, played just 34 games for Chicago this season. He only scored four goals and nine points. But his next playoff point will be his ninth.

He could soon become one of those rare players who offered more scoring in the playoffs than he did in the first season.

Five times this post-season Joel Quenneville has scratched him from Chicago’s lineup. It’s unlikely he’ll scratch him again.

Drouin played in 70 games for Tampa Bay during the season, most of it on the lower lines, not much of it on the power play.

He still somehow managed 32 points, a number not be scoffed at considering how and when he was used. He also had a positive plus-player rating and he ranks near the top in the major offensive analytical categories. But he has no points and no trust from his coach in these playoffs.

When or if he plays for Tampa Bay again is anyone’s guess. Teravainen will play for Chicago Saturday night. And Tuesday after that.

One young man finding his place.

One quietly seeing red, and it’s not Blackhawks red.

steve.simmons@sunmedia.ca

@simmonssteve