from Joe Smith of Lightning Strikes,

There was plenty of interest in Drouin, the No. 3 overall pick in 2013, and the Lightning reportedly had its share of offers. But Yzerman said most talks with teams the past few months surrounded future considerations like prospects and picks.

"At this time, my feeling was, if it's not going to help me now, I'm better off keeping my options this summer," Yzerman said. "What we were looking for wasn't there today. Anything that would involve future draft picks or prospects at this time, it didn't make sense to do that. We'll have more certainty, more clarity on the salary cap and make a decision at that time."

Yzerman had said he wanted to improve his team's power play at the deadline, but wasn't willing to use Drouin as a trade chip for short-term help, unless it could really make a difference.

"I wasn't trading Jonathan Drouin for an unrestricted free agent that I couldn't or wouldn't want to resign, that made no sense," Yzerman said.

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