Lightning send forward Drouin to AHL

TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning assigned forward Jonathan Drouin to Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Saturday.

Drouin, the No. 3 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, had a strong start to the season. After leading the Lightning in points during the preseason, he had six points (one goal, five assists) in his first five games of the regular season.

But he missed 19 games because of injuries and has two points in his past 14 games.

"[The move was made] specifically so he gets paying time," Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman said. "We did this two weeks ago with (goalie) Andrei Vasilevskiy. Jonathan has played nine games in the last nine weeks with a minor nagging injury that's finally healed. With everyone coming back at the same time, it's a good opportunity to get a young player a lot of ice time and get his game right back on top. We'll bring him back at the appropriate time. I don't have a set date for him to return."

Yzerman said he thinks the 20-year-old has a bright future with the Lightning.

"I think he's a tremendous young talent … he needs to stay healthy and get in the lineup and show what he can do," Yzerman said. "He had a good start to the season and just missed a lot of games with minor injury to this point. He just needs to play. … We've done this before and I think it's a good opportunity to play a lot, touch the puck a lot."

With forward Ondrej Palat expected to return to the lineup Saturday against the Minnesota Wild, the Lightning would have had 14 healthy forwards and seven healthy defensemen on the roster for an upcoming four-game road trip.

Drouin's role with the Lightning already was in jeopardy of being diminished with the improved play of Jonathan Marchessault, who had four goals and four assists in his past eight games.

"We take everything into account, but we have reasons for [sending Drouin down] and I believe in the reasons for doing it," Yzerman said. "Jonathan expressed to me he understood the reasons. We want our players to succeed, we want them to play well and we want to put them in the best position to succeed."

Drouin had four goals and 28 assists in 70 games in his rookie season. He did not have a point in playing six of Tampa Bay's 26 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.