Who's In: Chris Gratton, C/W (Trade-FLA); Jan Hlavac, LW (FA-Europe); Brad Lukowich, D (FA-NJD); Michel Ouellet, RW (FA-PIT)Who's Out: Ruslan Fedotenko, LW/RW (FA-NYI); Eric Perrin, C/W (FA-ATL); Nolan Pratt, D (FA); Luke Richardson, D (FA-OTT); Corey Sarich, D (FA-CGY)
What's Changed: Ownership. Out with the (really, really) old, in with the new (which includes a horror flick producer and the genius who put together the juggernaut that is the Columbus Blue Jackets). But GM Jay Feaster is still calling the personnel-related shots and the, um, unconventional and outspoken John Tortorella is still coaching 'em up, so it's business as usual (for now, at least) in Tampa -- perish the thought that this team cannot win with three elite forwards, a stud blueliner, a handful of extras and a duo (trio?) of netminders whose numbers were a driver and an iron from respectability last year.
As has been the case since before the lockout, any discussion of the Lightning begins (and most end) with talk of "the triplets": Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards. Vinny and Marty had career years last year, as the former led the League in goals en route to obliterating previous career highs by 17 goals and 30 points, while the latter bested his Ross Trophy-winning season by five goals and eight points. The duo played together for most of the season and ended up with 95 goals and 210 points.
By comparison, the Edmonton Oilers dressed 18 skaters every night for 82 games and only scored 100 more goals than Tampa's prime-time pair. And though you'd think that any stiff in the League could rack up 60 points playing with those two, the line's frequent left wing, Vaclav Prospal, wound up with only 55. On the plus side for Prospal, his point totals the past five NHL seasons have been 55, 79, 54, 80, 55, so if ever a guy was due for a bounce-back year, it might be Vinny P. On the minus side for Prospal, the "minus" was a minus-24 rating, bad enough for 846th in the NHL.
While it was all fun and games for two of the Bolts' three alternate captains, it was anything but for Brad Richards, who had his worst statistical season since 2001-02. Richards saw his point total plummet from a career high 91 in 2005-06 to 70 in 2006-07, and the off-season departure of the playmaker's primary pass-recipient, Fredrik Modin, was largely to blame. Modin isn't exactly Alex Ovechkin, but Ruslan Fedotenko and Eric Perrin aren't exactly Freddy Modin, and those are the two now-former Lightning forwards with whom Richie lined up on most nights. Feaster will again look to the Island of Misfit Toys for warm bodies to flank Richards, plugging in Michel Ouellet (who had a couple of failed auditions as Sidney Crosby's right wing last year) and trying to reincarnate the well-traveled Jan Hlavac (who has but 31 goals in his last 210 NHL games dating back to the 2001-02 season). These two wingers are an absolute crap-shoot -- and I'm betting "crap" for at least one of them.
On the third line, Chris Gratton returns to Tampa for his third tour of duty, but this time when he doesn't produce much offensively, it won't be unexpected -- mark the former 3rd overall pick down for 80 games, 35 points and a great faceoff percentage and move on.
Other forwards of note include the fiesty Ryan Craig, former Swedish Elite League scoring champ and MVP Andreas Karlsson and likely-finished captain Tim Taylor, but really, the Lightning are a trio of superstars, a couple of shots in the dark and a handful of spare parts up front. And when you ride those three horses like Tortorella does, on a lot of nights, that's enough.
The "other" superstar in Tampa is underrated blueliner Dan Boyle, a minutes-munching machine who set career highs in goals (20) and points (63) last season while logging the second-most minutes of any skater in the League -- not bad for an undrafted, under-sized 30-year-old who was acquired for a fifth-round pick three-and-a-half seasons earlier. Unfortunately for Tampa, Boyle will miss the first month or more of the season after pulling an Owen Wilson a freak locker room injury following a loss to Washington in which Torts played him for 32-plus minutes... in an exhibition game (not that the the latter led to the former).
Joining Boyle on the blueline (and picking up the slack while he's out) will be his partner on most nights, emerging rearguard Paul Ranger (who could have a breakout third NHL season if he gives the required effort every shift rather than sleepwalking through far too many), Filip Kuba (a versatile veteran coming off a career year in his first season by the Bay), Brad Lukowich (a solid bottom-pairing defensive defenseman) and Shane O'Brien (a rough-and-tumble 24-year-old whose offensive skills shouldn't be wholly discounted), as well as a combination of young and old role players who will be fighting for the last spot in the top six, including Agawam, MA's own Dougie Janik. It is a solid, if unspectacular, D-corps that will have to be at their best on most nights, given what's behind them.
Which brings us to the Bolts' goaltending. What can I say that hasn't been said before? Quite simply, Tampa's goalies were awful last year. Marc Denis went from free agent bust (to the tune of the League's worst save percentage and 39th-best goals against average) to the press box during the playoffs, but the former first round pick and Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy winner (as the QMJHL goalie with the lowest GAA) is better than that. The question now is, will he get another chance to prove it?
Johan Holmqvist was marginally better, but still sported a save percentage below .900 and a 2.85 GAA. The former AHL playoff MVP did win 27 games, though, and looked good in the playoffs. He'll enter the season as the number one goalie, but his job security is far from rock-solid.
The wild card in net for Tampa is Karri Ramo, rated by some as the Bolts' best prospect. The 6'2" Finn had a bit of a rough first season in North America, finishing 15-24-1 with a 3.13 GAA and .906 save percentage for Springfield of the AHL, but, at the tender age of 21, is only going to get better. If he gets hot, he'll challenge for a spot in Tampa. On a side note, the Lightning also have 19-year-old Riku Helenius in the pipeline, so while the current goaltending situation is a bit stomach-turning, the future is bright.
Who's On The Hook: It'd be easy to say Feaster (especially considering some of his more notable failures coupled with MacLean undoubtedly looking over his shoulder) or Tortorella (given the way the players seem to be tuning him out more and more each year), but I'm going to go with Richards. Whether or not his linemates are legitimate NHL scoring threats on their own, $7.8 million is "make everyone around you a legitimate NHL scoring threat" money. It's a cool million more than Lecavalier makes and two Michel Ouellets more than St. Louis makes. Richards needs to elevate the second line to a point where teams actually have to pay some attention to it, otherwise, the Bolts are toast.
Where They'll Finish: The 'Ning had the League's 9th-best powerplay last year, and that and a very strong intra-divisional record of 19-11-2) certainly helped get them into the playoffs. But the Southeast Division should be better this year, and unless the goaltending gets better and a secondary scoring threat emerges, the Bolts will be fighting for a playoff spot come April. The penalty kill should be better and the netminding can't be worse, so I'm going to predict that Tortorella coaxes another playoff berth out of this squad -- and we're all left wondering just how the hell he did it.
Blogs To Watch: Lightning Strikes, Bolts Report, Boltsmag, Bolts Blog, Southeast Shootout.
Gratuitous YouTube Embed: I was going to go with the instant classic Tortorella/Larry Brooks exchange from last year's playoffs (warning: language NSFW). Or with Zdeno Chara's benevolent decision to let Lecavalier live from two years ago (or, for that matter, the Jarome Iginla/Lecavalier scrap from the 2004 SCF). Or even Vinny and Marty on "hockey's version of the Newlywed Game." But instead I'll leave you with the sheer brilliance that is Vinny Lecavalier:
