Lightning hold player only meeting after loss to Flyers

Today the players held a closed door meeting after the 6-2 loss to the Flyers. Tocchet heard about the meeting from the press. I didn't catch the game, but you can read the recap from Cassie over at Raw Charge. I know it wasn't a good effort from the team when Cassie decides not to really recap the game, rather to offer insight instead (and I really love when she does).

The movement of Lecavalier down to the 3rd line, well it didn't really work. What is actually made me do, was question about Tocchet's decision as a coach (more on this later). Since the drop didn't actually spark Vinny, it just made fans question why we are paying him the big bucks to play on a checking line. Vinny actually sounded like he played with some effort, getting shots on goal and trying to play more physical.

I agree with Cassie in saying that although Martin St. Louis is the heart and soul of the team, Lecavalier is still the captain. I've read some people write that Lecavalier should give up the C and it should be transferred to St. Louis, but I don't agree with that. You don't need a C to lead, and both Vinny and Marty lead in different ways. Lecavalier was given the C because he is the face of the franchise and until Stamkos or Hedman has proven themselves as the next leader, I just don't see the C being moved. Of course, St. Louis still needs to lead the team, but he doesn't need a C rather than an A to do it.

To all those people who want Lecavalier to give up his captaincy to St. Louis, have you ever thought about what that would do to his game? You think it's bad now that he is having trouble trying to find his scoring touch? It will be worse when his self esteem is deflated even more.

Lecavalier is not a player that you can trade, which is for two very basic reasons, besides the no-trade clause. When he is playing well, Lecavalier is the type of player that you WANT on your team. If Lecavalier were to have a couple of bad seasons, which club would want to trade for Lecavalier and his huge contract? The Lightning would have to pull some crazy trade of lunacy or robbery (like Bertuzzi for Luongo) to pull off trading a struggling Lecavalier to another team. If it came down to that, the Lightning may explore buying out his contract, but let's not hope that it has to come to an Alexei Yashin buyout. So for the Lightning unless they are prepared to part with their investment and huge dollars, it is really in their best interests to do everything in their power to get Lecavalier to play well.