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September 2, 2007

Lightning Prepare For Their 15th Anniversary Season

This year is a special year for NHL hockey… it’s their 90^th Anniversary Season and they’ll welcome in new team uniforms and logos for all of the NHL, there will be the first ever regular season opening games to be played in London, England when the Kings and Ducks meet, an outdoor regular season game between the Penguins and Sabres will be played in Buffalo, New York on New Year’s Day. 

It’s special year for the Tampa Bay Lightning as well – they’ll be celebrating their 15^th Anniversary in the NHL.  A new ownership group – Absolute Hockey Enterprises is in place and is just awaiting league approval to take over from Place Sports & Entertainment, Chris Gratton returns for his third go-around, and the trio of Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier will all wear the “A” on their sweaters.

Before I go into details of camp etc. plenty has happened since I last updated the column and it’s time to bring you up to speed.

Lightning Sold…

On August 7^th Palace Sports and Entertainment owned by Bill Davidson reached an agreement to sell the Lightning to a group called Absolute Hockey Enterprises.  I was on vacation in Quebec City when I learned of the sale and needless to say I was in shock, especially when I heard that Doug MacLean was part of the ownership group.  It wasn’t until I returned home a few days later that I was able to get the full details. 

In total there are three main guys steering the ship – or should I say stirring the Absolute.  First up - Doug MacLean is the most notable from the hockey side of things.   MacLean knows the ins and the outs of the game, both on and off the ice having the experience as a GM, Coach and President over the years. Hopefully he will have better success with the Bolts than he had with Columbus.  MacLean will be the go-to guy of the Absolute Hockey Enterprises and is team President.

Next for AHE is Jeff Sherrin the real estate developer from Coral Springs, Florida.  Sherrin has the big bucks and big hand when it comes to developing parcels of nothing into something.  Expect plenty to happen with the 5.5 acres around the Forum to turn into something big and exciting.  Sherrin was responsible and continues to have a hand in the outlet malls in Lake Buena Vista and a hotel resort just outside the Disney gates.

The final major player is Hollywood producer Oren Koules, known for his “Saw” movies that have made him millions over the years.  I would imagine his marketing expertise will be a big plus for the Lightning – if he can sell his “Saw” movies to the young, he’ll have no problems with the Bolts.  Koules has a passion for the game, as he’s a former minor pro hockey player.  Koules has already talked about the team’s third jerseys (which teams are not allowed to have until next season) and getting the fans involved with a possible contest to design the logo.

Although both parties have agreed on the deal, nothing is official at this point in time.  There is the approval process that must take place before the ownership changes.  The earliest for approval is September 18^th, which is the next Board of Governors meeting in Chicago.  According to the latest rumors, the approval process could be tabled till the next meeting in December.  Meanwhile, AHE have said that nothing will change from an internal standpoint – Feaster and Tortorella will remain as GM and Coach…

Training Camp etc…

With two-weeks till the doors open for physicals and “Camp Torchorella” some players have already begun voluntary workouts to get a jump on things.

No doubt this camp will be a tough one, not that the others that Coach John Tortorella has run weren’t.  This year Tortorella and GM Jay Feaster have taken a new approach to training camp – fewer players will be in camp.  Along with the core of roster players, the additional invitees will be those that have the best shot of making the final roster – NHL ready is what the coach and GM are looking at.  Training camp will have around 35 players on hand when the players take to the ice for the first time on the 15^th.

Competition will be the name of the game for those that are vying for the few roster spots available, such as defensemen Matt Smaby, Vladimir Mihalik and Dan Jancevski and others.  One individual that will be absent from training camp is Captain Tim Taylor.  Taylor is set to undergo hip resurfacing surgery on September 6^th.  Taylor had hoped to continue cortisone shots throughout the season, which is what he did last year, but as the summer progressed the hip was no better and he knew surgery was the way to go.  The surgery is very extensive – and requires the hip joint to be popped out of place so that the bone that connects the leg to the hip can be resurfaced.  The alternative to this type of surgery is a hip replacement with a rehab of 6-8 months… if all goes well and Taylor’s rehab stays on track we could see him on the ice by the New Year.

Training camp officially opens on the 13^th of September at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon, Florida.  Players will report then for physicals and testing and then team photos.  Additional testing will take place on Friday the 14^th.  The first day of on-ice scrimmages and practices will take place on Saturday September 15^th.

Only six teams surrendered more than the 241 goals the Lightning allowed in 2006-07.  The Lightning gave up more goals than any other team that qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, so there is a legitimate concern about the defensive play of the Lightning.  The Lightning is looking at two big defensemen, Andy Rogers and Matt Smaby, who could crack the lineup out of training camp.

Preliminary Training Camp Roster:

Lightning Training Camp Schedule…

Lightning Prospects to Compete at Traverse City Rookie Tournament for 5th Consecutive Year…

The Lightning is once again one of eight National Hockey League teams participating in a prospect tournament at Center I.C.E. Arena in Traverse City, Mich., from Sept. 7^th -11^th . This is the fifth consecutive year the Lightning has participated in the tournament.

Lightning prospects, including former first-round draft choices Riku Helenius (2006), Vladimir Mihalik (2005) and Andy Rogers (2004), will compete against prospects from the Atlanta Thrashers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues. Head coach Steve Stirling and assistant coach Darren Rumble of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals will once again coach the Lightning prospects. Each team can have up to four players with one year of professional experience.  At the conclusion of the tournament, select players will join the Lightning training camp.

Lightning Pre-season Schedule…

2007-2008 Regular Season Schedule…

This year’s schedule (Click here) is very different than many of the past regular season schedules.  The Lightning won’t be challenged with lengthy road trips, despite the circus (January) being in town or the NCAA regional and Women’s Final Four.

Additionally, those crazy one-game trips up north only to return home for a game and return up north for their next game are gone.  Remember last season?  The Bolts had two such trips – one to Ottawa, back home then off to Montreal and the other was a trip to New York City, return home for a game then fly off to New York for a weekend game.

There are 10 one-game road trips, but 8 of them are within the division, which means a relatively short charter trip. The other two are to Philly and Boston (although after the Bruins game, they come home for one and then return to Buffalo a few days later).

The Lightning will be spending most of the time playing in the Eastern Time zone… they’ll leave the zone only twice this season - Nov. 28 at Chicago in the front half of a back-to-back with Detroit and again in early February when they travel to St. Louis and Nashville.

GM Jay Feaster called the 2007-08 season the best schedule the team has received since he came as the assistant general manager in 1998.

To accommodate national television broadcasts on VERSUS in the U.S. and TSN and CBC in Canada, the National Hockey League has announced three start time changes for the following Lightning home games December 27^th (Canadiens), January 29^th (Sabres) and February 12^th    (Canadiens). The games were originally scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the St. Pete Times Forum, will now start at 7 p.m.

Lightning Unveil Modernized Logo & Jerseys…

The Tampa Bay Lightning unveiled the team’s updated logo and new RBK Edge uniforms at IceFest 2007 at the St. Pete Times Forum on Saturday, August 25^th.

The New Logo and Uniform:

June 24, 2007

Busy Off-Season

The off-season has been a busy one for the Lightning in more ways than one.  The most obvious was finding out whether or not owner Bill Davidson would allow GM Jay Feaster the opportunity to add money to the payroll. 

During the season there was some speculation that the owner had grown tired of the current financial situation and that Feaster would have to make do with what was available to him.  It was clear that their current payroll of some $40-million would remain or even drop for the 2007-2008 NHL season, despite the increase in the salary cap. 

With revenues not as high coming in, Feaster would have his work cut out for him… ownership cited that in order to increase any part of the salary structure the team would have needed to go deep into the playoffs – which of course didn’t happen.

At the same time, Feaster and Coach John Tortorella needed to look at their current roster to determine the possible unrestricted free agents come July 1^st. 

Just days after the Lightning were eliminated from the playoffs, Feaster and Tortorella had their exit interview player meetings.  During these meetings the Lightning extended a contract to winger Evgeny Artyukhin, who spent last season playing in Russia.  He was offered a one-way deal around $475,000, which he eventually turned down and is headed back to Russia.  As well, the Lightning informed Ruslan Fedotenko that they would not extend a contract offer come July 1^st, which essentially means Fedotenko’s days as a Lightning player are over.

When Jason Ward arrived back in February he brought his very aggressive forechecking style which was a perfect match for the Bolts up-tempo approach.  During the exit interviews Ward expressed that he was comfortable with the Lightning and that he felt this (playing in Tampa) was the perfect fit for him.  Feaster agreed and just weeks later Ward signed a 2-year deal worth $1.35-million.

It was somewhat surprising when the Bolts resigned Andreas Karlsson to a one-year deal, considering that Tortorella never felt he was playing hard enough on the puck and spent most of the second half either sitting out or on the fourth line.  But some of his teammates stuck up for him during their exit interviews which went a long way for Feaster. 

Karlsson is well liked and is a much better player than what he showed last year.  He’ll be a nice swing-man, similar to Jason Ward and can be slotted to play on the third or fourth line.  Karlsson’s salary is also a very friendly number to Jay Feaster’s budget.  At $500,000 Karlsson fits both the salary cap number and - more important to Feaster at this point - the cash budget which preliminarily is set around the $40 million mark.

In addition to re-signing Ward and Karlsson, the Lightning added a few others into the fold.  Goaltender Johan Holmqvist re-upped with a 1-year contract that will pay him close to $1-million.  Kyle Wanvig, Nick Tarnasky and Shane O’Brien were also re-signed. Wanvig was inked to a 1-year deal, while Tarnasky signed for 3-years and O’Brien 2-years.  Wanvig was re-signed to a one-year, two-way deal. A former second-round pick, Wanvig was acquired from Atlanta last season, and while he didn’t make much of an impact with the Lightning, Wanvig proved to be a top scorer in the minors where he provided Tampa Bay’s farm team with some much needed scoring. Tarnasky, a 6-foot-2, 233-pound native of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, played his first full season with the Lightning in 2006-07. He appeared in 77 games and scored five goals (one game-winner) while recording nine points. He registered the first multi-point game of his career with a goal and an assist on March 10 at Calgary and scored on his first career shootout attempt to win the game March 1 at Washington. He made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut in the 2007 Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals and played in six games.

Sean O’Brien made his NHL debut last season, playing in 80 games with the Lightning and the Anaheim Ducks, scoring two goals and adding 14 assists. O’Brien also tallied two game-winning goals and one power-play goal. He ranked seventh in the NHL among rookie defensemen with 16 points and tied for first with two game-winning goals. His 176 penalty minutes also ranked him fourth in the NHL.
“Shane O’Brien has already demonstrated to us, in a very short period of time, that he is going to be a perfect fit in our system,” Feaster said. “He skates incredibly well, gets the puck to our forwards in transition, and he has great grit. He is everything we want in a hockey player and we are extremely pleased to have him signed for the next two years. We expect great things from Shane.”

The defenseman was acquired from Anaheim on February 24, 2007. After joining the Lightning, O’Brien played in 18 games and recorded two assists. His time on ice increased following the trade from 14:03 with the Ducks to 18:07 with Tampa Bay. O’Brien played in six Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Lightning in 2007 and averaged 17:11 minutes played per game.

The Lightning also signed their first free agent of the off-season in Jan Hlavac.  Hlavac was given a 1-year deal.

“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,” Feaster said. “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.”

“In addition, John Tortorella coached Hlavac in New York and Torts gave us a very positive recommendation both as to his skill level and as a teammate within the team concept.  We are very excited about this signing and look forward to seeing Jan in training camp.”

Hlavac returned to Europe after the 2003-04 season following five years in the NHL. He has played in 356 career NHL games with the New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes. He has scored 78 career NHL goals and recorded 189 points, and his best NHL season came in 2000-01 with the Rangers as he scored 28 goals with 64 points, both career highs. Hlavac scored 15 or more goals in three consecutive seasons from 1999-02 (19, 28 and 16 respectively).

It's no secret that since winning the Stanley Cup the Lightning has been in a dire need for a scorer for their second and third lines.  Over the past two seasons since returning from the lockout, the Bolts have gone thru centers like frantic ladies shopping in a limited time sale at Macy's.

In hopes of adding some scoring punch, GM Jay Feaster last week acquired Chris Gratton from the Florida Panthers for a conditional second round draft pick wither in the 2007 or 2008 draft.  For Gratton, this becomes his third tour with the team that originally drafted him with the third overall pick in 1993.  Gratton is currently penciled in as the third-line center, and is expected to be a penalty-killer and work in front of the net on the power-play.

Gratton appeared on the verge of becoming a premier power forward when he scored 30-goals and tacked on 201 penalty minutes during the 1996-97 NHL season.  As a restricted free agent, Gratton left Tampa Bay for the Flyers where he was awarded a $9-million dollar signing bonus as part of his contract.  Gratton failed to live up to all the expectations and during the 1998-99 season and the Lightning reacquired him making him their captain before he was traded to Buffalo near the trade deadline in 2000.

Now entering his 14^th season in the league, Gratton has “evolved into the perfect third-line center”, according to Feaster.  Gratton had filled that role well in two seasons with the Panthers and didn’t have a desire to leave after signing a contract extension before the deadline in 2006. But when he heard that Tampa was interested in acquiring him, he agreed to waive his no-trade clause in order to begin a third-tour of duty with the Lightning. 

In a very surprising move the Lightning parted ways with long-time assist coach Craig Ramsey.

Here is a comment in a prepared statement from Jay Feaster.

“Over the course of this past season (2006-07) it became apparent to me, and to John, that we still had some fundamental philosophical differences between our head coach and our associate coach on a number of issues. After having a series of meetings with various members of the organization, we have regretfully, yet necessarily, chosen to make a change in the coaching staff effective immediately’’

Reading between those lines, it seems to me that Tortorella and Feaster’s philosophy of sandpaper type play clashed too much with Ramsay’s play the puck first approach, which rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way, as well.

On May 31^st, Lightning head coach John Tortorella added Mike Sullivan to his staff as an assistant coach.  Sullivan comes to the Lightning with a resume that includes an 11-year NHL playing career, a year as head coach of the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins, two seasons at the helm of the Boston Bruins and two coaching stints with the U.S. national team.

What Remains To Be Seen…

No doubt next year’s roster will have a bit of a different look… that’s already apparent with the new signings and trade of Gratton – but what remains to be seen is what will happen with those potential free agents.

Defenseman Cory Sarich, who earned $1.9 million in 2006-07, will be an unrestricted free agent and will likely be too expensive for the Bolts to retain. Sarich’s defensive partner, Nolan Pratt, is also unrestricted, and his return is questionable unless he comes back for around the $625,000 he made this season, or less. Pratt, who is recovering from off-season hernia surgery, has had initial discussions with the Lightning about returning for a sixth season.

Center Eric Perrin remains without a new contract and could be headed for unrestricted free agency. The Lightning would like to slot Perrin into a fourth-line center role, but the sides remain apart on financial terms of a one-year deal.

Both Pratt and Perrin have said that they’d like to re-sign and remain with the Lightning… but since negotiations are at an impasse, each said they’d test unrestricted free agency when the period opens on July 1^st.

Perrin who made the league minimum of $450,000 said he is “disappointed” his contract situation isn’t resolved.  “I would have like to be in a situation where I knew where I was going,” he said.

Feaster meanwhile sent qualifying offers to defenseman Paul Ranger ($495,000), wingers Ryan Craig ($544,000), Karl Stewart ($495,000) and minor-leaguers Mike Egener and Mitch Fritz.

Defenseman Doug Janik was not qualified because the Lightning wants to sign him to a two-way deal.  Qualifying offers, 10 percent more than the previous seasons’ salary, are for one-ways.

2007 NHL Entry Draft…

Without a first-round selection, the Lightning had to wait until Saturday to begin adding players to their organization.  Day 2 of the Entry Draft had the Lightning making nine selections in the remaining rounds and they came away with some pretty players, despite having all their picks come from rounds two thru seven.

Overall, the Bolts selected seven forwards, a goaltender and one defenseman.

According to GM Jay Feaster, the Lightning got six of the Top 30 prospects on its 114 player list and nine of its Top 60.

Center/right wing Dana Tyrell, with 30 goals last season for Prince George of the junior Western Hockey League, was the top pick at No. 47. Center/left wing Luca Cunti, whom NHL Central Scouting says could be Switzerland's best talent on any level, went at No. 75. And the team traded up to No. 150 to snag center/right wing Matt Marshall, a Massachusetts high school junior.

“We think with Tyrell and Marshall, we have two of the best skaters in the draft,” Feaster said.

What Tampa Bay did not get were NHL-ready players. Nor did it make a trade except to send a 2008 fourth-round pick to the Senators for three picks in 2007, one of which netted Marshall.

For the complete list of Lightning picks, click here.

Lightning Nutz and Boltz…

General manager Jay Feaster said that he expects Marc Denis will start training camp in a Tampa Bay uniform.  Feaster said, adding, “I’m not ruling anything out as it relates to the goaltending situation or, more specifically, to Marc. At the same time, I’m not anticipating there will be any options in terms of trading a goaltender in our situation. So it is more than likely we will start camp with the three goalies we have,” including Johan Holmqvist and Karri Ramo.

Denis acquired last summer from the Blue Jackets for Fredrik Modin was given a three-year, $8.6-million contract.  The team does not want to buy him out at two-thirds salary because, by rule, the money would be spread over four years (twice the remaining term of his deal) of the salary cap. The organization doesn’t need dead money on the books while managing costs to help justify a $44-million payroll.

Only 26 in Training Camp

The Lightning was honest when they said that financial considerations were part of the reason of its plan to bring and invite just 26 players to training camp…  That’s 28 players less than last year and for a team that will not see its payroll cut shows just how tight their budget really is.

There are plus and minuses to having such a small camp.  First, on the down side is the lack of having the Lightning look at their minor leaguers.  GM Jay Feaster though said training is a right, not a privilege – and right now he says there a few in the system that deserve an invitation.

With just 26 players in camp (that number could go up depending on free-agent signings etc.) you can expect a more intense camp – and camp already has been pinned as “Camp Torchorella,” from prior years experiences with John Tortorella leading the way.

Tortorella has always said the best way to prepare young athletes is to give them a taste of the real world and send them back