Fresh off trading for draft-bust-turned-third-liner Chris Gratton, the Tampa Bay Lightning have signed former Ranger, Flyer, Canuck and Hurricane forward Jan Hlavac to a one-year deal.Hlavac (pictured here during a particularly tender moment with Martin Straka) had a 28-goal season for the Rangers back in 2000-01, but managed only 31 goals in 210 games over the next three seasons before packing up to play in Europe during the lockout, never to be heard from again.
That is, until now.
"Jan Hlavac is a highly skilled player who we believe will fit in well within our group of top six forwards and a player we hope will develop some chemistry with Brad Richards," executive vice president and general manager Jay Feaster said.I've got to throw a flag on the use of the words "chemistry" and "Hlavac" in the same sentance. As my buddy Cason points out, "during his previous NHL stint, he was shared like a Carribean Ho on Pirate Appreciation Day," being traded five times in four-plus years.
"He is an excellent skater and is both a playmaker and a guy who can finish. The 'new NHL' is tailor-made for Jan's game, and he expressed through his agent a strong desire to return to the NHL as was evidenced by the cap- and budget-friendly contract Jan signed."
But the past is the past -- so are you drinking the Feaster Kool-Aid? To me, there are two questions I need answered before I take a sip: 1) If the "new NHL" is tailor-made for Jan's game, where has he been for the past two years, and 2) Why is he coming back to the NHL now? Something tells me the answer to the latter isn't "he has a burning desire to win the Stanley Cup."
Of course this move might work out for the Bolts. But given Feaster's record of late (look at the years Marc Denis and Vinny Prospal had this past season, for example), I wouldn't bet on him here. In fact, I'll set the over/under on 2007-08 NHL goals for Hlavac at 16. Anyone brave enough to take the over?
