The Hockey Bay

Moved!

2009-12-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

The Hockey Bay has now joined the Bloguin family!

Our new home is now http://thehockeybayblog.com

Don't worry the blog will still be the same as before, except for a site design change and a spiffy banner.

Game 28: Islanders in Tampa Preview

2009-12-05T10:20:00.000-08:00

Draft pick #1 comes to draft pick #2's kitchen tonight.

Enemy blog: Another team that I don't keep up with much, except with Tavares lands himself in the highlight reel, neverless check out Islanders Hockey Blog

John Tavares and someone named Matt Moulson is the Islanders team these days. Where did this Moulson character come from? The whole team. He breathes hope into Islander fans much like Crosby did for the Penguins. So much hope that a report says that Charles Wang has given GM Garth Snow permission to add payroll for a playoff run. Whoa. I don't know if the playoffs are in the picture just yet, but Tavares certainly is making a case for being a Calder Trophy candidate. He has had 7 goals and 7 assists with a plus 6 rating in the last 17 games.

Not related to this game but still interesting: TSN reports that mythical player Rick DiPietro may be back playing for the team in mid December. Someone already picked him up in my fantasy hockey pool.

Line-up Notes:

Mike Smith in goal

Game time: 7:30pm ET on SUN.

Game 27: Tampa in New Jersey Preview

2009-12-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

I never keep up with how the Devils are doing. I know that Brodeur will likely be the starting goalie for Team Canada...but I'll be the first to admit that I don't exactly keep up with the Devils.

Enemy blog: Although I don't keep up with them, I know someone who does, check out Running with the Devils

The Devils played against the Canucks at home on Wednesday and lost to Vancouver 5-2. The Lightning have lost their first two games against the Devils already this season back in October and need to beat the Devils to stop this current slide. It's not sure if Brodeur will start in net tonight as the Devils haven't released any official word yet.

Line-up Notes:

To be updated

Game time: 7:00pm ET on SUN.

Lightning 1, Bruins 4 - Bolts LOSE

2009-12-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

I don't usually get to catch the first period because I live on the Westcoast and by the time I have most likely missed the 1st and sometime a bit of the second period. So when I get home and see that the Lightning are losing 4-0, I'm not even going to bother watching the game. Losing 4-0 shows a lack of effort. That just adds to the 4 out of the last 5 games that we've lost.

Marc Savard just signed a extension so it was expected that he would score a goal non? The other goals from the B's came from Bergeron and two from Sturm. Former Bolt Mark Recchi got 3 assists.

Halpern got the only goal for the Lightning and Matt Smaby played for the first time this season. The Lightning as a team is going to need to put together a good performance, especially in the defense on Friday because they'll play the Devils. The play between tonight's game of offense from the B's will be a stark contract to the defensiveness from the Devils. Let's move on and hope that the team can put together some effort to stop the losing.

Game 26: Tampa in Boston Preview

2009-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

*Updated*

The Bruins just signed Savard to a seven year extensio n...cue the rumors of Kovalchuk to the Leafs now please....

Enemy blog: Check out Something's Bruin where they are currently dissecting the contract extension that has Savard on the team till he's 40 years old (clearly front loaded).

The Bruins have won five of their last six games, and the Lightning have now been losing more than they've won in the past few games. The Lightning need to turn this around. With the new contract announcement, I expect Marc Savard to have a good game tonight, of course with any new contract, he may begin sucking next game for the rest of the year....

The plus for the Lightning is that Ohlund has returned back to the lineup last game which will give the D some leadership direction. It wasn't that the defense played horribly while Ohlund was out, it just looked like they were lost during some games.

Line-up Notes:

Mike Smith in goal
Smaby finally gets to play tonight

Game time: 7:00pm ET on SUN.

Bolts Across the Globe

2009-12-01T18:27:00.000-08:00

Although I have not entered....sad I know, the Lightning are running a contest for people to choose their favorite photo of a Lightning fan that doesn't reside in the Tampa Bay area. Fans submitted photos to the Lightning Facebook fan page and now 10 photos have been selected, go here to vote for your favorite.

Karsums to the KHL?

2009-12-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

So this rumor hasn't really had legs yet because not many people care about the player, but Dmitry Chesnokov tweeted "according to some reports in Latvia, Lightning's Martins Karsums wants to play in the NHL".

He then followed his tweet with this "I have never even heard of the guy" which just says it all. Karsums has just been all but forgotten of playing down in the AHL. Not a huge loss to the Lightning or anything since he was a little disappointing, thought I did think his name was fun to say.

Game 25: Colorado in Tampa Preview

2009-11-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

It's Swedish Night! Featuring: Swedish meatballs! and chips, and hot dogs and Pepsi?!? The last 3 are definitely not Swedish...

Where is the pickled herring? the vörtlimpa (Christmas rye bread)? the gravad lax (lox)? or my favorite: the Glögg? That last one not only sounds cool, it's the nordic term for mulled wine and I would recommend it as your beverage of choice while you watch tonights game.

Enemy blog: Check out Jibblescribbits whose mother considers him as "handsome" or Anyone but Detroit whose mother may or may not consider him as "handsome".

The Avalanche were awesome coming out of the gate surprising everyone, largely due to Craig Anderson's oustanding play. They have since slowed down a little, but are still in 4th place in the West, only 2 points back from the NW division leader. In the beginning of the season, Matt Duchene's name was being thrown around a lot for a possible rookie of the year...yeah, now, not so much but he does show flashes of great skill, but how about that Ryan O'Reilly kid?

Craig Anderson has been 3-6-3 in his last 12 starts. Like the Lightning's loss to Dallas, the Avalanche lost on Saturday in a shootout to Minnesota. What hurts more for them is that also lost David Jones for the season with a torn ACL. Milan Hejduk and TJ Galiardi did not play due to injury.

Line-up Notes:

Our big Swede, Mattias Ohlund is still out

Game time: 7:30pm ET on SUN.

Note: I am a bit of a foodie, and have a thing for local European foods...so I am a little dismayed that Swedish night only has Swedish meatballs.

Vote for The Hockey Bay

2009-11-29T17:02:00.000-08:00

So the NHL Arena is running a blog-off contest for all the NHL Teams. Yours truly has been nominated as one of the Tampa Bay Lightning bloggers. It says you have to pick your favorite 4, but really you can just pick 1 and hit submit...

but I think Rawcharge are cool people too, so feel free to give them some love too.

It takes about 5 minutes to register for an account, but maybe you'll be rewarded with good karma or something for voting for me. I don't really know what the purpose of this blog-off is, maybe just being voted best blog? Who knows.

So here is the direct link to click if you'd like to show me some love. If you don't, well thats ok too, since it doesn't affect me how I do on a discussion board contest, since well I rarely visit discussion boards...

Game 24: Tampa in Dallas Preview

2009-11-28T11:40:00.000-08:00

Second weekend in a row for back to back games. The Lightning take on the Dallas stars tonight in Dallas.

Enemy blog: Check out SBN's Defending Big D

Both teams were in action last night, the Lightning won 5-1 over the Rangers, and the Stars lost 5-2 to the Coyotes. Both teams travelled to Dallas for tonights game. Both of our records are pretty close in number, the Lightning at 10-6-7 and the Starts at 11-7-7. There was a lot of 'both teams' in that paragraph, but what I'm trying to get at is that the teams are well matched up, and are in the same position in tiredness. Dallas has the edge with it being a home crowd, though fan turnout for Dallas has been pretty suspect lately.

The Lighting will not make any line-up changes to tonight, which means that Mike Smith will start in goal. Smith and Halpern return to Dallas to face their old team, from which they got traded from for Brad Richards.

The Lightning have had help in scoring from their D men during the last couple of games which is great to see. Stamkos clearly is continuing his campaign to crack the Team Canada roster. Players to watch from Dallas beside Brad Richards is James Neal, Louie Eriksson and their rookie, who is a former Kelowna Rocket, Jamie Benn.

If you can get the FS Southwest feed instead, I would highly recommend watching that one instead of the SUN one. By far, the Dallas guys are the most hilarious announcers in the NHL.

Line-up Notes:

Mattias Ohlund is still out with a lower body injury (day to day)
Mike Smith is in goal

Game time: 8:30pm ET on SUN.

No recap of the game tonight, because I will be out hitting the town tonight for some celebrations...so instead to make up for it, please enjoy the Lecavalier and Richards NHL promo video

Lightning 5, Rangers 1 - Bolts WIN

2009-11-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

When we were up 4-0 going into the 3rd, and I started to get nervous. You'd think being up 4-0 you wouldn't be nervous, but I was. It comes from the repeated times that the Lightning can have a lead, then somehow lose all composure, blow the lead, and end up losing in overtime.

But we didn't.

And Lundqvist got pulled. He gave up 4 goals on 22 shots.

Things just kinda went our way in this game. Great team effort.

St. Louis had 3 assists
Stamkos got another goal (#16)
Kurtis Foster went from no goals up until a week ago, to 3 goals, this may not seam like a lot, but that the same amount that he got for the Wild during the whole 06/07 season

Game 23: Rangers in Tampa Preview

2009-11-27T09:40:00.000-08:00

Black Friday. I don't really understand all the hoopla about Black Friday....though I'm the type of person that will buy shoes at the beginning of the season because I don't like to deal with being told they don't have my size during a sale. I don't do large crowds at sales, I don't do boxing day sales, so I don't think I would do Black Friday well. I do like the concept of getting another day off, even if it is without pay.

Enemy blog: I don't respect many Ranger fans, except Scotty Hockey

So for Black Friday, the Lightning will have an open skate for fans from 6-8:45am (who is up at that ungodly hour on a day off, I don't know) which if you are reading this, you have already missed. Followed by an open Lightning morning skate from 10am-1pm and a discounted equipment sale. Terrace level tickets are on sale for $10. Seriously. Click here for all the Black Friday details.

There is also some discount on tickets for a "Lingerie Football League". I'm afraid to type that into the google machine and see what pops up.

On the hockey front, the Ranjuhs are 13-10-1 and have won the last two in a row. The Lightning on the other hand, well defence at least look like they've lost all sense of direction since Ohlund has been out with injury.

Tonight is the return of John Tortorella for the first time back to face the Lightning as a coach for the Rangers, and really it's not a big deal. He still lives in the Tampa Bay area (at least he did last year when he was an analyst on TSN) and is part of the community. Yes he did have a bit of a feud with Vinny when he coached the team, but Vinny is a big boy and will get over the drama.

What is a big deal is that Marian Gaborik is still healthy. And Wade Redden is injured.

Line-up Notes:

Mattias Ohlund is still out with a lower body injury (day to day)
Mike Smith is in goal

Game time: 7:30pm ET on SUN. Updates to follow.

2009-11-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

Niitymaki: "knees and toes, knees and toes..."

pic from @TBLightning

Leafs 4, Lightning 3 - Bolts LOSE

2009-11-25T21:50:00.000-08:00

This game was a bit of a first for the Lightning, it showed a back and forth play between the two teams. Even though we lost, and ended the home streak, from what I watched, I enjoyed the game for the entertainment factor.

The Leafs came out early and scored two goals from Kulemin and Hagman early in the game. The Lightning answered back with a PPG from Meszaros and a even strength goal from Lecavalier in the 1st. Hagman started off the 2nd period with a goal for the Leafs, before Malone evened it up at 7:52 in the 2nd. It wasn't until the end of the 2nd that Stajan got the game winner of the night for the Leafs.

Thoughts on the game:

Stamkos had two assists
Toronto's Hagman had a fantastic game
Malone had a great chance to get a goal in the end, but he was clearly out of gas, and a neat diving poke check from Beauchemin killed the attempt
I didn't like Lundin's game, was terrible from what I saw in the 3rd
The Lightning lost for the first time in regulation at home this year

Next game for the Lightning is on Friday against the Rangers. Enjoy your Thanksgiving everyone (well Americans at least). Gobble Gobble.

Game 22: Toronto in Tampa Preview

2009-11-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

Gobble Gobble, Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers. Tronna is in town.

Enemy blog: There really are so many. Check out my favorites:

Eyebleaf's blog Sports and the City for all things Toronto
Pension Plan Puppets
Down Goes Brown for the funniest blog written

And check out this gem of a post by Archimedies I missed the last time we played the Leafs, analyzing the suits that our boys wear as they walk into the arena. I agree with him/Wrap on Hedman's suit analysis.

I hate when people call the Leafs the Laffs. It just sounds stupid and kinda redneck. I'm not a Leaf fan or anything, though I may know 2 or 3 (or realistically maybe about 10 of them), and of course, I like toss out a few Leaf jokes when they come in to town, but the people who call them the Laffs, they are just terrible and not creative at all.

Plus, I don't hate on the Leafs just because they suck, hell, we sucked more for the last 2 years, and if we don't stop losing games in OT we might be in the same position in a few months. In fact, I may have a soft spot for some of their players: The Monster, Schenn and Stalberg.

So positives for the Leafs? They now have Phil Kessel playing. Unfortunately for the Leafs (and my hockey pool), they can't clone like 30 of him.

The not so positives? They still have Jason Blake et al. on the team.

Vesa Toskala is back on the IR after tweaking his groin, along with John Mitchell (on the IR that is, not involved in the going tweaking) so they can hang out with Mike Komisarek and Mike Van Ryn. They have recalled Joey Macdonald and Christian Hanson from the Marlies yesterday as replacements. And the Leafs are tied with Carolina in points for the bottom of the East at 15 a piece.

There's some Thanksgiving tailgate party you can go to in Tampa tonight, where for $25 you can have unlimited food, beer, wine and soda! Did I seriously write that? Unlimited beer and wine? Where I live, I think that $25 may cover your parking, and that's not even talking about food and drinks. Back to tailgating: I've never been to a tailgate party, they don't have those here where I live, so I don't really understand what goes on at them, but I would really love to go. Click her e for details on the one going on tonight in Tampa.

Line-up Notes:

Niitymaki is expected to start
Mattias Ohlund is out with a lower body injury, but skated during practice yesterday
Mike Lundin has already been sent back to Norfolk,
update: Mike Lundin has been recalled back from Norfolk

Game time: 7pm ET SUN and TSN!!

I found this while looking up Lightning/Leaf picture for my preview, and came across this from last year when the Leafs and the Lightning played. It's from the Believe in The Goal Foundation that was founded by Todd Davison (WHL player) who was diagnosed with cancer. He started the foundation to help in the fight to end cancer. Check out some pictures of the Lightning hanging out with12 year old cancer survivor, Mason Sesak who got to hang out with some of the team last year in Toronto. Love this.

More Swedish Love - Legal Version

2009-11-24T20:00:00.001-08:00

Hello. there. Swedish. Stud.

I don't how the magazine came up with the nickname "The Iceman" since I've never heard of anyone calling him anything but Ohlie, but after this photo I don't care. tHB approves of this photo.

Swedish love in video form

2009-11-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

So while checking out the Lightning website today, on their front page, they told me that Victor Hedman has a message for me! So clearly, I clicked on it. Click here, seriously, you won't regret it.

Um....Victor Hedman...I think I may love you after this video. The writing is so bad, but you make it work, shifting your weight and your coy smile....

Lightning 4, Thrashers 3 - Bolts WIN

2009-11-22T20:59:00.000-08:00

Classy Thrasher fans. At least you're classier than Anaheim's fans.

Stamkos scored his 15th goal of the season to win this game 2:56 into OT.

Thoughts on the game:

No TV broadcast=NHL fails at life
The Lightning outshot the Thrashers 40-31
The Lightning blew the 3-1 lead
Lecavalier hit two posts

Next game is at home against the Leafs on Wedsnesday

Game 21: Tampa in Atlanta Preview

2009-11-22T12:45:00.000-08:00

Guh. What a lack of effort yesterday. We lost to the second worst team in the league, who is missing a goalie and E Staal. Let's forget about it.

Enemy blog: Pay your respect to Laura at Wazzupwitchu for some Thrashers love

When the NHL designed schedule, did they say to themselves: "gee, no one will care about this game, so let's just stick it on a Sunday afternoon and not televise it". Well if they wanted people not to care about the game, I think they've achieved what they were looking to do.

So even though this game may not seem to even matter, it does. The Lightning look better in the standings than they have been playing due to the 7 points they've picked up from their OT losses. The loss last night against Carolina was really 4 points because the Hurricanes are in the same division as the Lightning and tonight the Lightning are in the same situation with the Thrashers.

Line-up Notes:

Niitymaki is in net
Mattias Ohlund is out with a lower body injury
Mike Lundin 'should play' according to Tocchet

Game time: 5pm ET, no tv feed, but you can listen to it on 970 WLFA if you have nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Game 20: Tampa in Carolina Preview

2009-11-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

After that win over the Leafs, the Hurricanes are no longer the worst team in the league, don't worry they still suck

Enemy blog: The Life and Times of a Caniac

Nice of the folks at the Lightning website to use a photo of a player (E Stall) that is not even playing. Half of the Canes are out with injury: Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Michael Leighton, Scott Walker, Joni Pitkanen and Michael Ryan.

The Lightning are now 4-0-2, and are tied with the Islanders for the most pity points awarded: 7 FYI.

Line-up Notes:

Mike Smith in net
Mattias Ohlund is out with a lower body injury
Mike Lundin and Matt Smaby have been called up from Norfolk
Lundin is not expected to play tonight, but maybe tomorrow in Atlanta
Smaby's call up may have to do with an upper body injury that he has gotten

Game time: 7pm ET on SUN

Stamkos' Goal of the Year (so far)

2009-11-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

Game 19: Tampa in Anaheim

2009-11-18T21:19:00.000-08:00

I cannot love the Ducks, in fact I think I may hate them. The hate I feel for them feels like it has gotten stronger over the years. It's something about the players on the Ducks that I just don't like. Ryan Getzlaf makes me want to kick kittens.

Enemy Blog: Check out Anaheim Calling, because although I may hate the Ducks, Arthur and Daniel are actually nice guys.

And because I don't like the Ducks, it makes me pleased to see them at the bottom of the Pacific division. The Ducks have lost 10 out of the last 13 games which has put them at 6-10-3. During their roadtrip out east, which they just got back from, their record was 0-3-1, and that has dropped them back to the bottom of the West.

With rumors swirling last week that Randy Carlisle's coaching job was on the line, the GM came forward and squashed those rumors. So, if it's not the coach being fired, will we see some players traded soon? Perhaps. The Ducks' defense haven't looked as good since Pronger was traded last year and although they have scoring from Getzlaf and Perry, the need more scoring from their other players.

I'm going to enjoy this fabulous feeling of the Ducks sucking while I can.

The Lightning on the other hand 4-0-1 in their last 5 games. Last game in Phoenix, the Lightning had goals from all the players that really had to deliver: Lecavalier, Tanguay and St. Louis. Smitty also had a solid game in net, which has earned him the start tonight against Anaheim. Does this make sense? Winning one game gets you the start in the next one even though Niity has played so well in a string of games before? Well it does when Tocchet is your coach, who may or may not want Smith to succeed and Niity to fail (which is completely based on no fact whatsoever). But neverless, it's a good reward for Smith after playing a good game.

Now all this has sounded like the Lightning are perfect, um not so much. Cristodero raises a great point, that the boys have been outshot in eight straight games, and in 13 of its past 14. Which really does say that the goaltending by primarily Niitymaki, and that last game from Smith has really bailed them out.

Tocchet rattles on about having the players going hard to the net, which is good advice for the players that can do it, though I don't agree about his view that he doesn't want perimeter players. Some players are perimeter players, who, yes, need to get pucks on net, but I think you need to play your strengths by shooting and if the initial shot doesn't go in, well then there need to be players who are at the net to put in the rebound.

Line-up Notes:

Mike Smith in net
Mattias Ohlund is expected to play, but spent the Wednesday in a walking boot

Game time: 10:00pm ET on, um nothing locally, but it is broadcasted on Prime for Anaheim fans.

Lightning 4, Coyotes 1 - Bolts WIN

2009-11-16T21:20:00.000-08:00

Vinny covers his face thinking something bad may have happened, but Marty answers back: "High Five man?"

Mike Smith got the start in net tonight. Earlier today I was confused as to why you would give Smith the start even though it was Niitymaki who had gotten the Lightning points in games that they had no business being in. But we won, so I can't complain, but I am curious as to why, especially since our next game is not until Thursday night so Niity would have had plenty of rest...oh, but recap, that's why you're here:

The Lightning won. And they won in regulation.

Malone looks like someone just told him unicorns exist, jebus he look happy.

Here are some thoughts on the game:

Mike Smith make 30 saves, some of those were big saves on Petr Prucha
The Coyotes have less fans that we do
Lecavalier, Tanguay and St. Louis all got goals. Vinny got two of them (though the second one was off of Hanzal's stick)
Smith stacked the pads to stop Shane Doan's shot
Hockey 101 tells you what a glove save i s (at around the 2 min left in the 2nd)
"The announced crowd was 9,503, ending a three-game streak of five-figure attendance", but if you saw the stands, you'd know that they were no where near 9500....

Game 18: Tampa in Phoenix Preview

2009-11-16T07:39:00.000-08:00

"After the longest scheduled flight of the 2009-10 season, the Lightning arrive in Phoenix more than four hours after leaving Tampa"-@TBLightning

Oh cry me a river. A 4 hour flight and whoever is writing for the Lightning twitter account is sounding like they have it bad with travel. They do not.

Enemy Blog: Coyotes blogs? They do actually exist. Check out Hipchecks for your fix of the desert dogs.

This is the first of two meetings between the Lightning and the Coyotes, and is the 1st of a 4 game roadtrip The roadtrip consists of the Coyotes tonight, the Ducks on Thursday and a back to back game starting on Saturday against Carolina followed by the Thrashers on Sunday.

The Coyotes are playing better than people expected this year. People think that just because financially you suck and ~~will be sold soon~~ have been sold, well your season probably sucks too. Not so, the Coyotes are 11-8-0.

The official Lightning website game preview says that the big story is: "The Lightning have surged into the Eastern Conference playoff picture by picking up at least one point in nine of their last 10 games."
Which is not quite the way I look at it. In fact if the playoffs started today, because we only got 1 point last night, we are NOT in the picture. Points from OT losses are pity points, not exactly something you want to get excited about in November. That is not called surging.

The Lightning hope to improve their road record, which already looked better on the last trip out, going 2-1-1. They will meet former Bolt Radim Vrbata tonight, who has 5 goals and 4 assists so far this season. He got the game winner against Dallas on Saturday night.

Line-up Notes:

Ryan Craig and Matt Smaby have been assigned to the Admirals
Mattias Ohlund is questionable for tonight's game with a lower body injury

Game time: 9:00pm ET on....no where. That's because nobody cares about the Lightning/Coyotes games enough to even have a feed. Fantastic.

Lightning 1, Kings 2 - Bolt LOSE

2009-11-15T14:25:00.000-08:00

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost again in a shootout. Our record of shootouts is just not very good. That shootout win over the Wild the other day, is now written off to be a lucky win. But did this game really have to go to a shootout?

Some thoughts:

Niitymaki robbed Kopitar early in the 2nd period
Drew Doughty opened up the scoring on a powerplay goal in the 3rd (the puck hit Meszaros' skate)
Malone decides to take matters into his own hands and wrap the puck around the net on Quick
The SUN guys call Malone's wrap around a patented shot...um...no, it's not. I do agree how they called him "Mr. Clutch"
Meszaros finally does something and scores, the Lightning spill off of the bench to the ice to congratulate, but the refs waive it off because of goalie interference. The refs botch this call since Szczechura was pushed into Quick, but no review can be made on this type of call.
I start thinking that maybe refs might have had some deal worked out with the Kings owners for the win? Would that be a quick trip to the Palms in Las Vegas after the game?
Even with the bad call on the no goal, the Lightning have a chance to win in the shootout....dum dum dum....
Kopitar beats Niitymaki 5 hole in the shootout, and Tanguay can't beat Quick as the final shooter (especially when he throws the puck at Quicks pads)
Bolts lose

Yes refs sometimes make bad calls, it happens but in the end, the Lightning had a chance to still win the game in the shootout, but didn't. None of our shooters (Lecavalier, Stamkos or Tanguay) were able to score. Maybe Tocchet should spend a little more time on the shootout in practice or the Lightning should try to win in regulation.

Game 17: LA in Tampa Preview

2009-11-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

The Kings have surprised a lot of people this year. Kopitar has shocked people this year, and been a dream for fantasy owners who picked him up as he is leading the leading the league with 14 goals and 30 points.

Enemy Blog: Check out The Royal Half for a Kings perspective or Battle of California for RudyKelly's hilarity

The Kings play back to back games and got hammered by the Thrashers last night in Atlanta, losing 7-0. Kovy was back from injury and Pavelec had a great game earning him the shutout.

The Kings have Kopitar and Ryan Smyth leading the scoresheet and goalie Jonathan Quick is in a 4 way tie for second place with 10 wins. But they have lost the last 3 out of 4 games, with the last win coming over Carolina last Wednesday.

I'm sure the Lightning are trying to forget their performance against the Wild, though they sneak away with a shootout win. The Lightning have played better at home (so far) and since the Kings should be tired as this is the 2nd of back to back games for them, the Lightning should have the edge coming into tonight. Niitymaki gets the start tonight, and we'll need another great performance from him. Stamkos has had 10 goals in the last 10 games.

The Lightning are collecting non-perishable food for the Metropolitan Ministries on the Plaza before tonight's game, strange how this is not up on the official Lightning website.

Line-up Notes:

Niitymaki is starting
Matt Walker is a game time decision (if not it's Kurtis Foster)

Game time: 7:30pm ET On SUN

Lightning 4, Wild 3 - Bolts WIN

2009-11-12T22:03:00.000-08:00

Didn't catch the game, just got the highlights, but a few thoughts:

Ryan Malone scoring with 14.7 seconds left in the game to tie it up, YEAH!!!!
Lecavalier scoring in the shootout. About time, non?
The Lightning winning in the shootout. This one was long overdue.
Lecavalier looked like he played a great game
The Lightning looked like they turned the puck over a lot. Need to do better on that.
Niitymaki kept the boys in the game
Stamkos: 1G, 1A, and a shootout winner

May I say again, that we won in a shootout. About. Freaking. Time.

Game 16: Minnesota in Tampa

2009-11-12T07:12:00.000-08:00

The Wild are all sorts of new this year: New coach, new style, and Havlat in for Gaborik. What's not new? They are still mediocre.

Enemy Blog: Yes, Wild bloggers do exist, in fact I found one last week! Pay your respects to Hitting the Post

The Wild are on a 4 game roadtrip in the East, and after a great Remembrance Day ceremony (that's what we call Nov 11th here in Canada) that the Leafs put on, the Wild put the Leafs back in their place winning 5-2.

The Wild have beat us the last 4 times we've met, but this year is different as they have a Todd Richards as their new coach (former assistant coach for the Sharks), so new style which means at least they are no longer as boring to watch as the Devils anymore.

The Wild are looking to Martin Havlat to start scoring. Great read over here at Hockey Wilderness about his lack of scoring, in fact at this rate he's on pace to score six goals this year (factored over 80 games).

The Lightning have had tons of rest, so Hedman is expected to be back in the lineup. Stamkos, even though he has a run-in with the boards, is also expected to play.

Non game thought: It makes me wonder sometimes why reporters ask questions about events that have clearly come and gone. Yesterday I read that Cristodero asked Ohlund if he thought much of playing against Mikko Koivu tonight. If you didn't know, in 2007 Koivu elbowed Ohlund in the head, and Ohlund retaliated with a two-handed slash which broke Koivu's leg. Ohlund got a 4 game suspension for the slah and Koivu was then out for 24 games.

Yes, Wild fans may never forgive Ohlund for that, but the Wild played the Canucks countless times after Koivu came back since they are in the same division. Nothing really has been said of possible hate between Ohlund and Koivu, so I'm pretty sure this is a non issue now, but thanks for asking DC, must have been a slow news day.

On goaltending, even though I keep hearing that Tocchet is supposed to play Smith and Niitymaki in alternation, this clearly has not happened. Niitymaki has been the better goalie right now, so he'll get another start tonight.

Line-up Notes:

Niitymaki is the starter in goal
Drew Miller was taken on waivers by the Wings
Lines should look like this: Ryan Malone-Vinny Lecavalier-Alex Tanguay, Stephane Veilleux-Steven Stamkos-Marty St. Louis, James Wright-Jeff Halpern-Steve Downie, Todd Fedoruk-Zenon Konopka-Ryan Craig

Game time: 7:30pm ET. On SUN

Lightning call up Paul Szczechura

2009-11-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

As per Lightning Strikes, the Lightning have called up C Paul Szczechura, he has has 14 points in 14 games played with the Admirals

Drew Miller claimed by the Red Wings

2009-11-11T12:38:00.000-08:00

As per TSN, the Red Wings have claimed Drew Miller off of waivers today.

In 14 games, he has had no points and is a -3. So the Red Wings must be really banged up with injuries huh?

Niitymaki is leading the league...

2009-11-11T04:35:00.000-08:00

That is all.

Stamkos ok and Hedman is even more normal

2009-11-10T20:13:00.000-08:00

During practice today Stamkos flew into the boards after getting tangled up in Mike Smith's stick. Smith was trying to poke check the puck, and instead got his stick caught in Stamkos' stick. Stamkos is ok, he said it was "nothing serious".

Hedman's baseline tests came back today, even more normal than the test he took during training camp. Hedman, turning into a comedian joked "Maybe I need a couple more hits,". Tocchet expects to play him on Thursday against the Lightning.

Both Lecavalier and St. Louis missed practice today due to a "body maintenance" and "recovery day" today.

Drew Miller was put on waivers to send him down to the AHL, we should know by 12pm tomorrow if he clears.

This and That: GM meetings and trade rumours

2009-11-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

The GM meetings will go on Tuesday and Wednesday in Toronto...so Lawton will have to back from his trip from Finland before the start.

Oh, you didn't hear about Finland? Well neither did I. It came up, I'm a little embarrassed to say it how, but in Angelina Lawton's (the GM's wife's) twitter account. So the tweet on Nov 7 was:

Brian in Finland for the weekend to see 4 games in 2 days.Can you imagine going that far just for weekend~ wants to see prospects himself !-@AngelinaLawton

I can only assume, this means he's checking out the Karjala Cup...but which prospect warrants a trip to Finland that he is personally checking out? I hope by 'prospect' they mean prospect and not Forsberg...

Trade Rumours
Now take this with a grain of salt because it is coming from Bruce "Malkin to the Kings" Garrioch:

"The Bolts haven't been thrilled with the play of Andrej Meszaros and there's talk GM Brian Lawton is trying to move the 23-year-old blue-liner who has five years left on a deal he signed with the club in September, 2008. Making an average of $4 million, the Bolts will find it difficult to find anybody to take" -The SUN

Elliotte Friedman Tidbits on Malone, Stamkos & Wright

2009-11-09T11:54:00.000-08:00

Here is four from his 30 thoughts of the week:

13. OK, now the rest of the league: great, great line from one of the NHL’s funniest players, Ryan Malone. He watched the Penguins’ Stanley Cup victory with no malice. His wife even asked him if it was hard to watch. He said no, “Because if I was there, I’d probably have turned the puck over and they’d lost.”

18. Steve Stamkos worked with Gary Roberts during the summer. Stamkos said the worst thing Roberts made him do was run with a 75-to-100-pound sled strapped to him. He’d have to do two sets of five sprints.

19. Mike Babcock made a very interesting comment about the possibility of guys like Stamkos – who weren’t invited to the Olympic Orientation Camp – making Team Canada: “Who are they going to bump off the roster?”

27. After his team’s victory in Toronto, Lightning forward James Wright was stretching on the floor of the dressing room using a soft roller underneath his body. Why was he doing it there? “Because I don’t have enough seniority to get massage time,” he laughed. Wright is 19.

Game 15: Tampa in Montreal Preview

2009-11-07T12:50:00.000-08:00

I was attempting to write this preview in french this morning, but my attempt at grammer was not happening. Lucky for you, please enjoy the english preview.

Enemy Blog: Check out the Four Habs Fans for your Habs centric perspective

The Lightning are in Montreal to face the Canadiens, which means the Lightning will face 10 times more media than usual (see above, pic from TBLightning twitter). Instead of questions about a possibly trade to Montreal, the questions that Lecavalier will be more along the lines of: "why do you suck these days?" or "how do you feel perhaps not being selected for the Olympics?". Oh please queue the Canadian media haters, but the fact is, there's lots of media and they have questions. Don't worry, the return of Tanguay will also be a topic for their stories.

Both teams last played on Thursday night, Montreal beating Boston in a shootout, and of course the Lightning losing to the Senators in OT. The Lightning are currently 1-1-1 on their 4 game road trip.

Hedman will not play tonight as he has a concussion from the hit from Chris Neil, since we have lots of defenseman, Kurtis Foster will slide in for him. Stamkos has has 9 goals in 8 games, and leads the team in scoring at 12 goals. Martin St. Louis is frustrated that he hasn't been able to score in 9 games. Lecavalier and Tanguay had a good game on Thursday, hopefully we'll see another good game tonight, just please don't let this one go into OT...

For Montreal, Carey Price will get the start tonight. Even thought the Habs have claimed Jay Leach off of waivers from the Devils, he will not play tonight. Ryan White and Tom Pyatt will both play tonight after being called up from Hamilton and playing well on Thursday.

According to Eyes on the Prize, the Habs will be wearing this jersey tonight, which is a step up from their where's waldo game last week:

As for some gossip, 25Stanley says the Lightning went partying at Globe on Thursday night...

Line-up Notes:

Niitymaki will get his 3rd straight start
Hedman will not play
D Kurtis Foster is in tonight
LW Todd Fedoruk is a healthy scratch
Drew Miller is in
D Matt Smaby is still a healthy scratch

Game time: 7:00pm ET. On HNIC (Quebec only), and SUN.

Game 14: Tampa in Ottawa

2009-11-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

Do we play another other team besides the Senators these days? This is the third meeting between the two clubs this season, next meeting will be at the end of the season on April 8th

Enemy Blog: Check out Sens at Land's End or Scarlett Ice for your Ottawa perspective

Forward Ryan Craig cleared entry waivers today and could play tonight. And Paul Ranger has now been put on injured reserve to clear roster place, which will just fuel gossip about why he isn't playing.

The Senators have Volchenkov out, but Jason Spezza will play tonight after having missed the last two games with an "upper body injury".

The last two games went 7-1 for Ottawa, and 5-2 by Tampa, so we might be in store for another huge win for one team, hopefully this will be in the Bolts' favor. Expect to see some fights with Carkner, Ruutu and Neil in the lineup against Downie and Konopka. Both teams are coming off of wins.

Line-up Notes:

Niitymaki is the starter in goal
Ranger is on injured reserve
Ryan Craig has cleared waivers

Game time: 7:30pm ET. On SUN, and TSN2

I will be dropping in on Scarlett Ice's live blog sometime during the night, maybe for the 2nd and 3rd period, if not, join me over at Raw Charge. Please come, but do bring the funny.

Is Tocchet's new hobby putting his job in jeopardy?

2009-11-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

The title is from Puck Daddy's post yesterday asking if calling out Lecavalier is a new hobby for Tocchet? Let's delve a little deaper into this hobby of Tocchet's, shall we?

Yes Vinny's October sucked. Blah blah blah. Cue the trade Vinny stories. But um, hate to break it to you, he has a no trade clause and most likely a no movement one too. So, for now let's just hope that he has a better November than he did October.

But Tocchet has been yapping. He's been talking to the press, calling out the captain of the team, through the press. Let's take a little look at what has happened:

He says Vinny's game has sucked. To Tocchet, it's not just the lack of scoring, it's his whole game, in his words "it's slipping"
Tocchet drops Vinny to the 3rd line. A checking line. Vinny is not a checker. Maybe a little bit of a hit to the ego here for Vinny
Tocchet says Vinny needs "passion" in his game
Vinny refutes his supposed lack of passion, and says that maybe he needs to "work smarter [rather] than harder"

I know that Tocchet was just trying to do whatever he could be trying to "send" Lecavalier a message by demoting him down to the 3rd line. I don't think this move works for Lecavalier. Neither will benching your superstar, but I fear we're gonna see that one soon.

Calling out your player behind closed doors is one thing, calling him out regularly in the media is another thing. Is Tocchet trying the Tortorella approach?

One thing Vinny has that Tocchet doesn't have is that no trade clause. It's not often that the superstar gets traded just cause the coach doesn't think he's doesn't have enough "passion", so if Tocchet continues to keep up calling out Vinny through the media it would be more likely that Tocchet will get fired. Oren Koules is not dumb, he knows that he can't trade away Lecavalier since he's still the face of the franchise even if he could get Vinny to waive his NTC. In addition it will still be another year or two before Stamkos is ready to take on the role that Lecavalier has had for so many years, and a few more for Hedman as well.

If we look at the team, the team doesn't look like an awful team. It's a better team than we had last year. Tocchet got a free pass last year because he took over for Barry Melrose, and by comparison he was better, but we're lowering our overall standards here. If Tocchet can't make the team that he has into a team that can put together some wins, come out with a consistent effort, than he will lose his job. I'm not the biggest fan of Tocchet, I think he's looks too much like a pug and like to use the term "dogging for the puck" too much. I think that there are better coaches out there than Tocchet.

Right now it's in Tocchet's best interest to find a way help Lecavalier get his game back or he's gonna be the one who's gonna be benched. Superstars don't get fired, coaches do. Since we all know Tocchet is a gambling man, what is the over/under for a change of coaching regime by, let's say, Christmas?

Ohlund hit on Kessel - Welcome back to the NHL...

2009-11-03T21:51:00.000-08:00

Game 13: Tampa in Toronto Notes

2009-11-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

Just some quick notes before the game as I don't have time time to do a full preview:

Leafnation is patiently awaiting their "savior". Phil Kessel is in tonight and will play with Stajan at C and winger Blake
The Leafs' record is 1-7-4
My favorite monster, Gustavsson is in net tonight for the Leafs
James Wright's parents will be at the game
Stamkos is expected to have an entourage of over 50 people in attendance
Stevie Y will be taking in the game

Line-up Notes:

Niitymaki is starting in net

Game time: 7:30pm ET

Could Vinny be dropped from Team Canada?

2009-11-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

Haven't heard much about it yet, but the thought has crossed my mind a few times. I know I'll be buying some Team Canada apparel for the Olympics in a few weeks and I would lean towards Lecavalier if it was player specific, but I do have a small fear that Lecavalier could be dropped from the team...It's not a big fear, but a small one (right now) and I think I would be heartbroken if he was.

This topic will come up more as Steve Yzerman will be at the Lightning/Leafs game tomorrow to scout out Lecavalier, St. Louis and Stamkos (as reported by the Globe and Mail, via St. Petersburg Times). Yzerman is expected to announce his roster sometime between Christmas and New Years.

I know Yzerman will choose players based suited to give the team the best chance of winning, it makes me wonder, and at what point would Lecavalier get dropped? How many more games of no goals will it take to have another player who is played well right now slide in to his place?

Mike Brophy first brought this up a couple of weeks ago questioning Lecavalier's slow start, and I just brushed it off thinking that in time, the goals would come (and well Brophy is not high on my list of opinions that I care about). And I know the goals will come, but since there are so few spots available and so much great talent, I hope that Lecavalier lights up the lamp in a hurry.

Lightning hold player only meeting after loss to Flyers

2009-11-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

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.

Game 12: Tampa in Philly Preview

2009-11-01T21:10:00.000-08:00

Lookout! It's everyone's favorite mancrush!

Why is the game early today?

The Flyers have moved the game time to 5pm in an effort to remove any potential conflict that the game would have had with the World Series. Baseball. Can't really say I care about baseball, so this is an annoyance to me because now I can't watch the game tomorrow.

The Lightning have not won a road game yet. They have been outscored 18-6 and have a road record of 0-3-1. Those stats are not pretty.

Mike Smith will be in goal tonight as opposed to having Niitymaki start against his old team. Philly has been 6-4-1 so far in the season but has been a little inconsistent. They also have Simon Gagne and Danny Briere out with groin injuries.

The Lightning may have a chance as long as this game doesn't go to a shootout. They may also need to decide to show up to the game unlike Saturday afternoon.

The Lightning come off a light schedule of games that they've had for the last 2 weeks and begin a 4 game roadtrip that will occur over the next 6 days. They need to take advantage of the Flyers and their injuries early in the game, so that they don't get silenced by the difficult crowd in Philadelphia. Crowd-wise, this will be a tough roadtrip as the Lightning as they face the Flyers, Leafs, Senators and finish off with the Habs for HNIC on Saturday.

Line-up Notes:

Mike Smith is starting tonight
Vincent Lecavalier has been dropped to the 3rd line to play with Miller and Veilleux

Game time: 5:00pm ET on SUN

Vinny gets dropped to the 3rd line

2009-11-01T19:10:00.000-08:00

So "Joe Smith" reported on Lightning Strikes (did I just write that his name is Joe Smith?) that Lecavalier has been dropped down to the 3rd line to play with Drew Miller and Stephane Veilleux. Tocchet says that he is dropping him down not because of his lack of scoring, but rather because other parts of his game has slipped during the last couple of the games.

“Not finishing checks, cheating a little bit, the little things that I will not let…It’s unacceptable,” Tocchet said. “That’s the one thing I came into this year, if I see your game slipping – if you’re not scoring, I can live with it – but if you’re turning away from checks, and not battling down low defensively, if you’re constantly on the ice and teams are getting chances against you, videos don’t lie. This is something we’re going to correct the next day, it’s not going to be corrected next week. We’ve got to attack it.”-Lightning Strikes

Tocchet is thinking that pairing Lecavalier with two 'north-south' guys and a line with lower expectations could help his game.

"With the puck, I'm still confident with it," said Lecavalier, who has one goal (10 points) in 11 games. "Playing on the power play, moving the puck, and it keeps you in the game when you have the puck on your stick. I think it's going to come."-St. Petersburg Times

Lecavalier is taking this demotion well. He's a proud guy, and I'm sure that he wants to do anything to get his game back, but this is a blow to him. I'm impressed he even said anything to the press. Hopefully this demotion will light a fire in him to improve his play and get him back up to the top line.

But I've been a little surprised that we haven't started to call the Stamkos/Malone/St. Louis line the top line because really, isn't that what they have been?

Game 11: NJ in Tampa

2009-10-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

Dear NHL schedule makers,

The 3pm ET start time doesn't really work for me. Not on a Saturday. It's a bit too much, um in the middle of my freakin day?

It's a good thing that it's only the New Jersey Devils playing today, since they have to be my least favorite team to watch. They are winning 1-0 and the shot total at the end of the 2nd period is 28-9 for the Devils. Yes, 28-9. It sounded worse earlier when it was 20-4.

Maybe the Lightning are a little confused as well about this early start time?
I bet it's a nice day in St. Petersburg today and they are thinking that maybe a nice slushy beverage is in order.

I love my Lightning, but boys it's a nice day outside on the west coast and I can't justify listening to you play a boring hockey team on the radio. Especially when it is not raining outside. Maybe you can make a comeback in the 3rd period, I'll be happy if you do. If not, let's just save up your energy and um play better on Monday ok?

Game 10: Ottawa in Tampa Preview

2009-10-28T21:53:00.000-07:00

The Lightning are hosting the 10th annual Tampa Fights Cancer Night which is part of a local initiative to raise awareness about the disease and to 'join in the act of putting cancer on ice'. Fans are encouraged to wear yellow to the game. This will be the end of a week-long collaboration between the Lightning and the Yerrid Foundation.

As per NHL.com:
Ten local organizations have been sponsored for the Lightning-Senators game: Children's Cancer Center; Children's Dream Fund; All Children's Hospital; Faces of Courage; Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; Moffitt Cancer Center; Pediatric Cancer Foundation; Ronald McDonald House; 1 Voice; and Tampa General Hospital.

On a personal note, cancer is a disease that has affected my family more than once. It is a terrible disease that discriminates against no one. I commend the Lightning and NHL for being so active and outspoken in their various Hockey Fights Cancer campaigns.

Interesting trivia to note: The Lightning have not lost a game on a Tampa Fights Cancer Night.

Just a thought.

Enemy Blog: Sens at Land's End

The Senators won against the Panthers last night 4-3. Three goals in the second period were too much for the Panthers to handle. They spanked us the last time they played us, I try to forget about that 7-1 drubbing, but it really hasn't been long enough.

I hope the players feel the same way. There's no reason I need to watch another terrible performance by the Lightning on TSN. No one believes me up here in the North that the Lightning can, well some days, they can look like a real NHL team.

Hopefully the Lightning have learnt from their loss against the Senators that they are going to need to play another 60 solid minutes tonight.

The Lightning are currently 2nd in the league in faceoffs at 54.2 percent which is right behind the Sharks' 57.1 percent. Zenon Konopka has a faceoff record of 70.2 % right now, that's winning 40 out of 57 draws he's taken.

Line-up Notes:

Mike Smith is going to start in goal
I'm unsure if Smaby is ok to play as per the Lightning twitter, or is not as per Lightning Strikes

Game time: 7:00pm ET. On SUN, and TSN!

Updates to follow if they happen.

Lightning news, well not really news

2009-10-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a little dull in the Lightning world since Saturday. Here's some newsy things about Saw VI, Oren Koules and James Wright:

Saw VI
Losing the #1 spot at the box office to Paranormal, Saw VI opened this past weekend in the #2 spot to a weak $14.8 million, which is a drop from the average $30 million openings for Saw II through V. But don't feel bad for Koules/Lionsgate or anything, the film only cost $11 million to make, so they'll see a profit. If you think this means the end for the Saw franchise, think again, it's already in pre-production for Saw VII.

Oren Koules
Q. Besides the Saw franchise, do you know what else Oren Koules is the exec producer for?

A. Two and a Half Men

No one talks about Two and a Half Men, only about Saw, which makes me wonder why. Anyways, so besides being busy during the opening weekend of Saw VI, he also threw an after party for Saw VI at his wife's newly opened restaurant "Wonderland". I like how he keeps the money in the family, which would make him the type of guy that would give out tickets to Lightning to his friends for Christmas (this may or may not be true).

Will he stay or will he go?
Thursday night's game is the 10th game of the season, which means that if the Lightning don't intend to keep Wright, then they would be sending him back to juniors before he plays his 10th game. Once he does play it, no matter how many games he ends up playing going forward, he is able to count one year of pro hockey played out of his 3 year entry contract, which will affect his FA status in the future.

Even if he plays his 10th game, the Lightning can still send him back down, but clubs rarely do. But from what I've read, which really hasn't been much, it seems like he will be staying.

Tocchet says that he expects to have Wright in the lineup for Thursday. Some gushing words from the coach:
"He's 19 but you wouldn't know it," Tocchet said. "He's a very mature kid. It's a credit to his family and his parents, he's such a mature kid. He doesn't get too high or too low, that's what I like about him. He's wide-eyed on the bench, and I'm telling you he's been a pleasure to coach."

Wrighter says he would be excited about staying: "If that's true, then I'd be ecstatic," Wright said of staying past nine games. "It's something coming to camp, you know it's a long shot, but it's something I've been waiting for. I've been working hard the whole time to try to stick with the A group."

I don't know if keeping Wright will hurt the Lightning in the long run, burning through the 1st year of his contract this fast, but the question for the Lightning should be:
Will Wright gain anything from being sent back down to play in the juniors? Or is the NHL the best option?

Paul Ranger takes personal leave

2009-10-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yes yes, I'm a little slow with the news. Last few days have been a little crazy, but I'll be back to writing tonight.

Ranger is taking personal leave from the team:

“Before Saturday’s morning skate for the Buffalo game, Paul indicated to coach Rick Tocchet that he and the team might be better served if he took a personal leave,” Lawton said upon making the announcement. “After some internal consultation and further discussions with Paul, we agreed with him on both fronts and intend on allowing him the personal time he needs. There will be no further comment from the Lightning or our players and coaches on this matter and we ask that everyone please respect Paul’s privacy at this time.”-Lightning Strikes

Game 9: Buffalo in Tampa Preview

2009-10-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

Did you watch Flashpoint last night?

One of the characters was named Ryan Malone. I don't know what this has to do with tonight's game, but I thought that was pretty cool. What else is cool? Flashpoint has Amy Jo Johnson in it. She used to be the pink power ranger. So cool (you know it is, don't deny it).

Oh this is a hockey preview, I'm sorry, back to your regular programming:

The Lightning have come off of a strong team effort against the Sharks on Thursday night. It's amazing what 60 minutes of (pretty) solid play can do for your faith in a team. Tonight is baby step number two, really, it's the chance the Lightning have to show that Thursday night wasn't a one shot deal. So tonight, the we welcome the Buffalo Sabres!

Their logo looks like a slug.

There are even a website, aptly named 'Sabres, Not Slugs'. They even have a section called Hate the Logo Haiku. I think that's pretty fantastic.

Enemy Blog: Check out Vance's blog Double Edged Sabres, he's one of the writers for the always hilarious Bangin Panger

Buffalo has been a team that, well has been acting a little like Colorado or Phoenix lately, they've been winning games, even though you don't really expect them too. They are one of those teams that are just there, like they may or may not make the playoffs any given year, but never seem to get better as a team. Kinda reminds me of the Leafs.

I didn't expect Buffalo to be any good, but their record surprises me, as they are 5-1-1 so far. I do have Ryan Miller on my fantasy team so I haven't complained so far about his great play. He is 13-3-0 with a 2.79 GAA in his 16 career starts against the Lightning. But tonight, that really has to stop.

Last game Mike Smith got his first win of the season and he'll be back in net again tonight. St. Louis has a 8 game point streak going that I hope to see continue. Malone has has 6 goals in the last 5 games, and the crazy statistic is that he has an accuracy rate of 29.2% on his shots.

And of course, Vinny still hasn't scored his 1st goal of the season, do you think he is a bit overdue? Tocchet has some nice words for him after last game: “I think this was Vinny’s most solid game of the year,”, “I don’t care that he didn’t score, he was very solid.” I think the scoring will come. Like he's gonna score 3 goals in one night, and we're all just gonna forget about even having had this discussion. Relax people, the goals will come.

Not quite as cool as when the Staals play against each other, and that's just because they have their own drinking game, but Ryan Miller will play against his brother Drew Miller tonight. Drew, 25 is the younger of the two, as Ryan is 29. Warm fuzzy story about their them growing up can be found here.

Line-up Notes:

Mike Smith is starting tonight
David Hale gets to start on D again
Kurtis Foster is scratched from the game

Game time: 7:30pm ET. Updates to follow if they happen.

No recap of this game, because I'll be watching the Tronna vs Vancouver game instead. Head over to Raw Charge for a recap if you want a good one. Vancouver clearly has no say in their own local start time because when the center of the universe wants their game at 7pm ET, well then, they get it. 4pm start time, in my own city. Blasphemy!

Lightning 5, Sharks 2 - Bolts WIN!

2009-10-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

The Lightning won this game with a huge team effort. I could hardly believe this was the same team we saw lose to the Senators and the Pens last week. This team looked like a team that could actually play hockey.

Barely into the 1st period, just 30 seconds in, Lecavalier makes a pass to St. Louis, who feeds the puck to a speeding Wright that is coming towards the goal and he taps the puck in the back of the net. Fans hadn't even sat down in their seats yet and this new line has already gotten it's first goal. This is the same rookie who just got promoted to the top line with St. Louis and Lecavalier, who also got his 1st NHL goal tonight, just 30 seconds in to the period.

The Lightning extended the lead by a deflection from Ryan Malone off of David Hale's shot, they are up 2-0 to end the 1st period.

Seriously?

In the second period the Lightning were able to kill off a penalty that Stamkos took for holding, and kept the Sharks from mustering any real shots on the powerplay. A turnover led to the Sharks getting a goal from Ryan Vesce on Mike Smith, 2-1. It's ok, the Lightning still look good playing. Stamkos steals the puck from behind the net, fans on the original shot but gets Nabokov to commit to his attempt, then manages to get a wrist shot off, 3-1, unassisted by Stamkos.

In the third period, Andrej Meszaros gets a shot off from near the blue line that ended up going off a San Jose skater, 4-1. While Lecavalier is off in the box for slashing, Boyle is able to get a powerplay goal on Mike Smith making it 4-2. But it's really too late, and Tanguay, even though he has no goals so far, feels Dan Boyle breathing down his back as he skates the puck, passes the puck to Stamkos who gets an empty net goal. Tanguay could have taken the shot and been checked or hooked, instead unselfishly passed the puck for the goal. Team effort.

Was tonight a showing of what we could see in the future? I hope so.

Next game Saturday night against Buffalo

Notes:
-Mike Smith got his first win of the season
-The Lightning blocked 12 shots, with Hedman leading with 3
-Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley didn't get a shot on net

Game 8: San Jose in Tampa

2009-10-21T22:15:00.001-07:00

The Sharks are a scary team right now. On the offensive, the leaders in the pack right now are the Sharks and the Capitals. It's Green Night tonight where if you ride your bike in, this game is FREE? Full details of that madness can be found here in their presser.

Enemy Blog: Check out the bloggers from Couch Tarts for their always fabulous hockey cartoons.

The Lightning are opening up a 4 game home stand with the Sharks tonight, though the schedule is still stupid with a Thurs/Sat game then no hockey for 5 days, then another Thurs/Sat game.

Chances of winning tonight, are well, slim in my opinion. The Sharks tore apart the Rangers the other night 7-3. And unless the media (twitter) melee of the strip shoot out game produced a miracle of a Lightning team that can actually play hockey, well, we may be the next team to be torn apart by the Sharks.

Rookie James Wright gets to move up to the top line to be the LW for Lecavalier and St. Louis. This is all being done in an effort to spark Lecavalier's scoring. I had hoped this would have been done sooner, as I never thought Downie looked good skating with Lecavalier. Wright's role will be to forecheck and work hard for the puck.

Mike Smith is still searching for his 1st win the season, and Tocchet thinks it will be him in starting in net cause he looked on in practice on Sunday.

Quote of the day is from Dan Boyle on the players that are on the Lightning team that he used to play with:

"Knowing some of the guys I know, I don't wish them anything bad," Boyle said. "I want them to succeed and stuff. Selfishly, part of me, obviously, still has a problem with the guys up top. I don't want the guys I know to be going through this. That's more important than those two guys up there."-St. Petersburg Times

Line-up Notes:

Mike Smith is expected to start tonight
James Wright is up on the top line with Lecavalier and St. Louis
2nd line: Malone, Stamkos, Downie
3rd line: Tanguay, Halpern, Miller
4th line: Fedoruk, Konopka, Veilleux
Kurtis Foster is scratched from the game

Game time: 7:30pm ET on SUN. Updates to follow if they happen.

Wright's Promotion, and Chamber Luncheon Pics

2009-10-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

Tocchet said that Tanguay and Lecavalier needed to get "uglier". What he means is that Lecavalier and Tanguay can't keep wanting to get great goals, sometimes the goals are going to be garbage goals. Right now, the top line, which is now Lecavalier, St. Louis and Wright need to get any goals, pretty or ugly.

James Wright is 19 years old, and 7 games in to his NHL career, gets to be on a line with Lecavalier and St. Louis. Great quote from him in the Times today:
"Wearing the same jersey as them is pretty special," Wright said. "And to be on the same line as them is awesome."

The Lightning have two more games to decide if Wright will remain with the Lightning or be sent back down to the juniors to play for the Vancouver Giants. He's so new to this, he can't cash a cheque yet from the Lightning because he doesn't have a social security number yet. His second great quote today on how he is getting by without a paycheck:

"I got a loan from my parents," he said. "Zero percent interest rate." -Times.

Love this kid.

And from the Chamber Luncheon today, enjoy the photos:

And my favorite baby Swede:

Lightning 1, Penguins 4 - Bolts LOSE

2009-10-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's Sunday night and I am just getting around to my review of last night.

Despite what TSN says about a game tomorrow against the Rangers, there is no game until Thursday.

In fact, the Lightning never play the Rangers on a Monday. It seems they are confusing the Lightning with the San Jose Sharks, which is maybe what I should really start doing when I want to watch some decent hockey. The TSN writers also forgot that Wild has a D in it.

The Lightning were outplayed last night by the Pens. I only caught the 1st period but that was really enough for me. It was like they forgot to play hockey. No offense and just looked like they were trying to fight off each wave of offense from the Pens. It was crushing to watch.

While on the powerplay from a high stick from Drew Miller, Niitymaki over committed to a shot from Malkin, and with Ranger taking a walk somewhere instead of covering his guy, Guerin was able to easily stuff it in, 1-0. Later in the period, Gonchar lets a blast go from the point, which Niitymaki should have seen coming, 2-0 ending the 1st period.

Stamkos did score in the 2nd period from a rebound from St. Louis while on the powerplay. The Pens got goals from Dupuis and Rupp in the 2nd and 3rd period respectively.

GM Brian Lawton gave the team a verbal lashing after the game, which could be overhead by reporters, though the specifics were not released about what was said. It's pretty big when a GM talks to the team directly, though was this the best thing for Lawton to do? They did just lose to last years Stanley Cup Team. MAF hasn't lost a game yet this year. And is it Lawton's job to address the team directly or Tocchet's?

Today Cristodero is reporting that the lines are being switched up (again) with Tanguay being demoted down to the 3rd line with Halpern and Miller. The top line is Lecavalier, St. Louis and rookie James Wright, and the 2nd line is Malone, Stamkos and Steve Downie. The 4th line will remain the same with Fedoruk, Konopka and Veilleux.

Just for the record, the Lightning have not won a road game yet, and Vinny hasn't scored in 14 games.

Next game: Thursday in Tampa against the Sharks

Game 7: Tampa in Pittsburgh

2009-10-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

I just about cried last game. Mike Smith sucks. It's a good thing he's not playing tonight.

Enemy Blog: The Pensblog. Head over and check our their blog later when their game day post is up. Always a good read, or at least amusing.

Also check out the Puck Huffers for a recap of the game from their intern (who is such a natural PH writer) and their game awards.

Now to start off, I like the Penguins, in fact I even adopted them as my playoff team last year. I watched a game at a bar with a die hard Pens fans last year when they got smoked by Detroit and still I cheered for them. I cheered when they won the SCF this year. But this is a new season, and they are playing my boys tonight, so now they are the enemy.

The Lightning need a game to forget about what happened in Ottawa. Having a game against the Pens tonight, well I don't know if this is gonna help the forgetting, but I hope the Lightning at least bring their gameface. The Penguins are 6-1-0, and this is the first of a five game homestand at Mellon Arena.

Since Mike Smith sucks, Niitymaki is back in net for the Lightning, so we should have an improvement at least on goals that the goalie 'should have gotten'. Last game Lecavalier played well, but still no dice on a goal with Tanguay. Steven Downie is back up on the 1st line as right wing. I think fans/media should really give up on making such a big deal about who Lecavalier and Tanguay need to have as a right wing, too big of a deal has been made for a position that neither Downie or Veilleux seems to be able to fill. Lecavalier and Tanguay need to make it happen with whoever gets put on their line.

The Times is writing that Tocchet isn't playing Nittymaki tonight just because Smith sucked last night. I care to disagree. Smith sucked, so he shouldn't start, in fact he should have been pulled after the 4th goal last game. Starting Niitymaki should challenge Smith is get his game back, then he can go back to being the starting goaltender when he is playing, um, at least reasonably.

Now, I'm not saying it was all Smiths fault last game, no Hedman sucked too. And the Tampa Bay powerplay as well. The boys need to focus on getting a shot from the point that get's to the net, and need a body in front of the goalie. The other teams know we like to shoot from the point, so we either need to make the puck get to the net or change up how we attack the pp.

After tonight no Lightning hockey until next thursday against the Sharks, enjoy it.

Game Time: 7:30 pm on SUN

Game 6: Tampa in Ottawa Preview

2009-10-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Our boys are up in Ottawa tonight to face the Senators.

Enemy Blog: Sens at Land's End

The Senators lost their game to the Pens on Tuesday night 4-1, ending their 3 game win streak. The Lightning have won the last two and are looking to make it three. There is a switchup in net tonight with Smith back in and Nitty on the bench. The Lightning keep saying that Smith is healthy, but he'll need a strong game to show me that. The stats for road games and games against the Senators is pretty awful, being 0-5-3 in their last eight road games, and 3-16-2 against Ottawa.

What do I know about the Senators these days? Um I know that Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher are still together. I like the addition of Milan Michalek, since I liked him in San Jose, but for in the trade for Dany Heatley, I guess Ottawa got the best they could get with his antics. Cheechoo doesn't count for me, because his stats was really a product of being on a line with Joe Thornton.

Quote of the day:
"The first two periods I don't think we played Tampa Bay hockey," Tocchet said. "A little bit too much river boat gambling and trading chances for chances."-Lightning website

Tocchet should really stay away from the gambling references, don't want to give anyone the wrong idea or anything.

Line-up Notes:
Mike Smith is back as the starter in goal for the Lightning, and Kurtis Foster is back on defense coming back from his lower body injury.

Game time: 7:30pm ET. On SUN, and TSN!

Updates to follow if they happen. This is the first game of their two game road trip before 5 days of no Lightning hockey, enjoy this while you can.

Lightning "Green" night

2009-10-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

I know that we are making a push for being green as a society...but there's something about $5 tickets that seem to scream pre-Phoenix Coyotes situation to me. We saw the same promotion last season as well, but that was when we were completely sucking. Now, well, we've won 2 games in a row....so I'm still hopeful.

But to run a promotion like this, against a team like the Sharks, it's a little embarrassing. A little air of desperation? Like vodka with hockey tickets?

I know that management is just trying to get as many bodies in seats possible, because a little bit of money is better than no money, but once it catches wind to fans with teams with sold out venues or fans of Canadian teams, well the fan boards just eat it up and make Tampa seem laughable.

Lightning 3, Panthers 2 - Bolts WIN!

2009-10-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

Last game was the Malone show, tonight was the Niitymaki show.

The Panthers came on strong in the 1st period, and while the boys were able to kill off a 5 on 3 (while our two swedes sat in the box together), the Lightning gave up a short handed goal to Dvorak at 8:10. The Lightning answered back late in the 1st with a powerplay goal by Stamkos from St. Louis and Lecavalier.

In the 2nd period, the Lightning came out with more energy, though only Nathan Horton scored for the Panthers putting them up 2-1.

In the 3rd period, while on the powerplay, Vinny passes the puck up to St. Louis who is coming on the left side, but being boxed out by the Florida defenseman. The shot that St. Louis wrists in on Vokoun comes from the left circle with no screen, somehow goes in a Vokoun. Vokoun wanted that one back since he clearly should have had that, but that's as bad as I'm gonna feel for him. Then, Niitymaki starts making some timely saves on the Panthers. The Panthers are applying pressure like crazy, with Booth on a breakaway chance. Niitymaki makes the save, then passes the puck up to Stamkos, who takes a shot on Vokoun. Save by Vokoun on the 1st shot, but Malone gets in the rebound to edge the Lightning up 3-2.

Niitymaki made some timely saves, and sometimes multiple saves in a sequence. And when he didn't, the crossbar helped him out in the 3rd period.

Notes: Vinny hasn't scored yet this season, but he did get 2 assists tonight, bringing him up to 5 in the season so far.

Next game: Thursday Oct 15 in Ottawa

Game 5: Panthers in Tampa Preview

2009-10-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry for no preview or recap for the Malone show of Game 4. It is the Canadian Thanksgiving here, so although I planned to write something, things didn't happen according to plan.

Enemy blog: Litter Box Cats

Quick bullet points before tonight's game:

The Panthers have dropped three straight and the Lightning are looking to make it two straight wins at home. The Panthers have been struggling with their PK so far this season, and their powerplay is even worse, currently being ranked dead last in the NHL at efficiency of 6.2%.
The Lightning on the other had a strong game against Carolina with 39 shots on goal. Niittymaki's solid performance in Saturday night's game has him getting the nod from Tocchet to start again tonight.
Mike Smith says he was "healthy" and could have started on Saturday. Though I think the Lightning wanted to give Smith a little extra time to recover and be evaluated after being run over in the NJ game.

Game time: 7:30pm ET

Game 3: NJ in Tampa Preview

2009-10-07T21:01:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the season opener for the Lightning. We're hosting the also struggling New Jersey Devils.

Enemy blog: Running with the Devils

The Devils are off to their worst start in 8 years, losing 2 games in a row. They have a new coach, who, is just more defensive than the last one. But they have also beaten us the last 8 times we've met.

Tonight Mike Smith will need to have a strong game against the Devils. The top line of "Lecavalier-Tanguay-instert name here" will need to start producing, because 2 points (assists) in 2 games for Lecavalier and Tanguay is terrible.

Line up stuff?

Stephane Veilleux will be back up at Vinny's winger, with the experiment of Steven Downie moving down to the 4th line. The search for a right wing for Lecavalier and Tanguay still goes on, and with only 2 assists for the line so far, I hope that they find a good fit soon
Kurtis Foster is practicing, but it isn't likely that he'll play, though he might be in the lineup by Saturday.
Mike Smith will get the start again in goal tonight.

Game time: 7:30pm ET. Updates to follow as they happen.

Lightning send Smaby to AHL for conditioning

2009-10-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

Since Smaby hasn't played yet, and it doesn't look like he will soon, he's been sent to Norfolk for a conditioning assignment. Cristodero explains it well about why this is being done. Conditioning assignments can last no more than 14 days, and Smaby will still remain on the Lightning's 23 man roster. This will be good for him just to get some playing time in instead of sitting around in the press box.

Lightning 1, Hurricanes 1 - Bolts LOSE

2009-10-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Today's recap is brought to you by NHL GameCenter.

This screen shot is similar to what I saw when I got home today from work to catch the game, but sub in "No feed available" instead of the score in the middle of the page.

$&%#@%$ GameCenter! The NHL themselves tell me there is "no feed available", just shows you how much they care about these markets. Aparently there was no feed available locally for fans either. Thus, no detailed recap.

Here's what you get: Jokinen scored for Carolina in the 1st. Malone scored in the 2nd. Overtime solved nothing. Lightning lost in the shootout. We walked away with our first point in the season.

Next games is our season opener in Tampa against the Devils.

Game 2: Tampa in Carolina Preview

2009-10-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

So last game didn't go as well as I had hoped. Actually it was pretty terrible. We outshot the Thrashers 39-28, but lost 6-3.

That's ok, the season's still fresh, game #2 tonight.

Enemy blog: The Life and Times of a Caniac

The Hurricanes have lost the two games they have played so far, to the Flyers and the Bruins respectively. They also lost Eric Cole four to six weeks to a fracture in his lower left leg from a collision in the Bruins game with Wideman. They have also re-signed Cam Ward to a 6 year extension, who with a large contract, like Luongo, are doing a good job at playing themselves off of Team Canada.

With Eric Cole out, Tuomo Ruutu has been skating in his spot to be Eric Staal's winger. Ruutu was Staal's winger last year, so this won't be that much of an adjustment. Tim Conboy will come up to play in Ruutu's spot.

The Lightning need to improve on the number of goals let in per game and for that Mike Smith really has to show up ready to play tonight.

Game time 7pm ET.

Game 1: Tampa in Atlanta Preview

2009-10-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

Enemy Blog: Wazzupwitchu

It's been like 2 years since we've had a meaningful game. We could have one tonight, but my pessimistic side from last year is starting to kick in telling me not to get too excited. Maybe after 5 games I'll get excited.

Tonight is Hedman's debut in his first NHL regular season game.

Tonight could be the first win of the season.

Tonight Tocchet will actually have a veteran defenseman in Ohlund to play for him. And a winger, named Tanguay who doesn't rob you of your money.

Mike Smith, Andrej Meszaros and Paul Ranger are all back from injury. Questions about Mike Smith's recovery from his injury will be addressed over the new few games. And questions about the quickness that Vinny has been talking about remains to be answered.

Expectations are lower and I think that's better for the Lightning. I really have no expectations of the team this year. It would be nice if they could be a little better so I don't get made fun of supporting such a crappy team this year.

So the boys are in Atlanta to face Pavel Kubina, and Nik Antropov of the Leafs, wait, you say they are called the Thrashers now? Whatever, same team, just less offensive fans. This new team of ex-Leafs should be just as bad as last years Leafs. Their 4th pick, Evander Kane, is also making his NHL debut tonight. Go Bolts!

Game Time: 7pm ET

Lightning This and That

2009-09-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

Just some stuff before the season starts:

The Lightning signed free agent LW Mitch Fritz to a 1 year contract. He's a giant who stands at 6'8", and was undrafted will be report directly to the Admirals. The former Kelowna Rocket made his NHL debut with the Islanders last season.
Mike Lundin and Matt Lashoff cleared waivers and were both assigned to the Admirals. Lashoff got a verbal lashing from Tocchet today, with Tocchet saying "I don't think he came into camp vying for a job,". Ouch. But Cristodero points out that if they get called up, because they only make $105, 000 each, they don't have to clear re-entry waivers.
The Lightning keep increasing the Swedish love by teaming up with IKEA. And clearly, the next logical step, since we also have Ohlund and Hedman, would be to have a Swedish Night! No word yet if pickled herring or swedish pancakes with lingonberry syrup will be served though.

And from the man who loves press conferences:
Burke says that the Canucks shopped Burrows, Bieksa and their 1st round draft pick for Hedman at the draft. Gillis denies this. Since I love both teams, I could really go either way on my opinion if it did happen, but I am happy that it didn't.

Things should start to pick up around here

2009-09-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for all the quietness folks, during the summer I had not found things that I felt like writing about, but that should change soon. I do know that I am getting excited for the first Lightning game of the season on Saturday. Nice to see the Lightning take the last pre-season game 5-1 over the Thrashers, but on Saturday we will see if the changes during the summer actually made the team better.

First home game is next Thursday October 8th.

Love how Ohlie always hits that "deer in headlights" mark so well.

Oren Koules to take lead in ownership race

2009-09-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that Oren Koules, with real estate investor Jeff Greene is making a push to buy out Len Barrie. Bill Daly confirms that Jeff Greene has filed a league ownership application with the NHL. Green says that he has "the funds available to do this transaction".

Len Barrie has apparently been in talks with a St. Louis real estate developer named Anthony Sansone, but Sansone has not yet filed an ownership application.

Elliotte Friedman and Erik Erlendsson are both reporting that Len Barrie's window to buy out Koules has now closed. The best line out of Erlendsson's article is that "Apparently, nobody informed Barrie.", which actually seems very fitting with the Tampa Bay management saga. Barrie apparently thought he had until Wednesday to buy out Koules.

When informed later Monday of the league's confirmation he was out of the picture, Barrie responded in a text message to The Tampa Tribune: "We'll see. I guess I would be happy to get my $40 million."-TBO.com

Awesome. He sounds unmoved by the fact that he missed the deadline. But I guess I would be happy to get back my $40 million too if I thought I had lost it all. $40 million is better than no million. Maybe Barrie planned it this way, sounding like he was interested in buying out Koules long enough to get some other investor interested just so he can re-coup his money to get out of this ~~money sucking black hole~~ investment. If he did, genius.

Lighting on the way to Everett

2009-09-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

According the the Lighting twitter, the boys are on the bus headed to the airport to catch a flight to Seattle. The boys will be so close (a 3 hour drive) yet so far away (when you don't own a car) from me.

I am using this post really to complain about the cost to rent a car and the length of the boarder waits to that made me decide against going to the game tomorrow. If the game was a regular season game, I would be all over taking a day off of work to catch the game, but alas I have bills to pay. And with 4 games in a row, I couldn't bet on seeing the players I wanted to pay to go see, actually play.

So the Lightning have lost 3-1 to Ottawa tonight, their 1st of the 4 games in 4 nights that they have scheduled. As my friend on my couch points out, contrary to the Lightning website, losing 3-1 is not being edged out of a win, rather, you could say that losing 3-1 is getting beaten by the other team.

For an interesting read, though not really Lightning related, on the Heatley trade check out former Lightning GM, Jay Feaster's article in THN.

Pre-season starts tommorow...

2009-09-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

Hockey is so close I can almost feel it.

The first pre-season game is tomorrow against Dallas at 8:30ET. There are no big names playing tomorrow night, but Hedman will make his debut. The roster is posted up on Lightning Strikes. If you want to listen to the game on the radio, click here for the info.

Lecavalier Q&A & Tokarski Feature

2009-09-03T19:47:00.001-07:00

Check out Vinny's Q&A with Damian Cristodero for the St. Petersburg Times. He drops a lot of 'I'm happy' about not being traded and 'everything is good' answers about his health.

The Lightning website has a good piece about former Spokane Chief Dustin Tokarski . He was one of Wrap's beloved Chiefs that will be at his first NHL training camp this year. Oh, and he's adorable.

Len Barrie on the outs?

2009-09-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

The Globe and Mail today has an article about more trouble with Len Barrie's investments and according to a source, he was unable to put together a deal to buy out Oren Koules for ownership of the Lightning.

A financial accusation of misuse of funds was made by a former auditor of Bear Mountain Resorts. It says that Barrie used some company money to buy the Lightning, though Barrie denied it and said the money was repaid to Bear Mountain.

Also interesting:
"However, sources close to the executive committee and the auditor’s report tell a different story. One source with knowledge of the committee’s deliberations said Mr. Barrie may soon be replaced as CEO of Bear Mountain by an interim leader from a Toronto company that specializes in corporate rescues.

Mr. Barrie at first denied he was being replaced as soon as today but then said “a couple of different possibilities” were being discussed"

Barrie has until the end of September to put together a package to buy out Koules for ownership of the Lightning before Koules will a get a chance to buy out Barrie.

I think we are going to see the end of Len Barrie the Tampa Bay Lightning owner very soon, which is too bad, because I kinda like the idea of two guys playing armchair GM's for real. It didn't really work out for the team's success, but it was neat to see an ownership group who was touted as being passionate about hockey. Though incidents like this makes me question where the NHL was when they reviewed their application as owners. Another incident of failed ownership reflects badly on the NHL because most of us and news media haven't forgotten about 'Boots' Del Biaggio yet.

It's official, Tanguay is a Bolt

2009-09-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

The Lightning have on their webpage the official announcement of the signing today.

Since there's been so much speculation already it doesn't seem that big of news, but don't get me wrong, I'm really pleased with the signing. Tanguay is pretty much a point a game player, and the contract is a steal, providing that he doesn't spend half the season injured.

Lightning agree to terms with Tanguay

2009-08-31T20:52:00.000-07:00

TSN says RDS reports that the Lightning have agreed to the terms of a contract with Alex Tanguay, pending a physical. The deals is supposed to be fore 1 year at $2.5 million. Negotiation had apparently been going on since July, but it was only after being contacted from both Lecavalier and St. Louis that he decided to sign the the Lightning.

Did you see that chic-ago?

2009-08-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

*Cross-posted from my other blog Vancity Canuck*

Sorry, I had to do it.

I am back from my trip to Illinois. It was a couple of days spent at a small university town and then a couple of days in Chicago.

And now I come back to hear that Paris Hilton has invaded Vancouver and supposedly wants both Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson from Twilight. Puke. She's here filming an episode for Supernatural where she plays a shapeshifter who shapeshifts into....Paris Hilton! Who wrote that?

Chicago was great. Love the city. Love the food; deep dish pizza, great Italian, cinnamon rolls at Ann Sather, pecan rolls, biscuits, fried fish sandwiches. Yum.

Thunderstorms and tornado warnings? Not so much.

I've never seen a Wal-Mart so large in my life before. I should have taken a picture of it since I took a picture of almost everything else.

Such as the bean:

And Wrigley Field:

But now I'm back, and hockey is just around the corner.

Lightning make trade announcement on... twitter (!)

2009-08-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

Egads. Twitter.

The Lightning announced today, via twitter, that they have traded Evgeny Artyukin to the Anaheim Ducks for Drew Miller and a 3rd round draft pick in 2010. Even though Artyukin was a bit of a fan favorite in Tampa, this is a great trade for the Lightning.

Didn't really see much of Miller as a Duck, he only played 27 games last season and 53 career total, but he had 4 goals and 6 assists. He also was part of the 2007 Stanley Cup winning team. Oh, and he's the brother of Buffalo's Ryan Miller, not as famous but he, unlike his brother has a cup.

Would you be miffed if your friend owed you 3 million?

2009-08-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

I bet you would.

Does this man owe you money?

Len Barrie has repaid Oren Koules the 3 million that he owed, and I can assume that this will help smooth out their friendship.

I can't stand owing money to people. Even when I owe people $20 bucks for covering dinner or something I try to pay people back as fast as possible because I hate the feeling of owing money.

Imagine if you owed someone 3 million? I wonder how you bring that up... "Hey Oren, so buddy, I'm gonna need for you to cover my side of the payment to the NHL about the team that is currently loosing buckets of money....how much you ask? Well...just spot me 3 million..."

That conversation must have sucked. But now it has been confirmed, by text no less to Damian Cristodero that the sum has been paid back. It's nice to know that the beat reporter is on constant texting basis with Koules. Is this a cost cutting measure by the newspaper or are they just chummy? Will DC not get to go on the road with the team and instead just text the owner? It just seems to weird to confirm the information by referencing your text that you received from the owner. I guess I can be ok with texting as long as he doesn't reference twitter as a 'source' in the future. I will draw the line.

If you have ever wanted to read about how Len Barrie came to own/develop Bear Mountain Resort, there was a piece that was written in the business section of the Globe and Mail back in March. It's a little long, but interesting to read.

Lightning to buy out Vinny Prospal

2009-07-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

Since the Coyotes have already taken 1 bad contract off of the Lightning, ahem Vrbata, the Lightning were not able to move Prospal to another ~~sucker~~ team and has instead offered to buy out his contract. Prospal has 24 hours to accept the buy out and become a UFA or be put on waivers and see if he is claimed by another team. The cap hit to the Lightning will be 1.67 over the next 6 years.

I'm not thrilled about paying for players that don't actually play, but it looks like the Lightning office is trying to get rid of their bad contracts, definately a step in the right direction. I know that Prospal can have his good years...but he had a terrible year last year, and he's a journeyman that really has not shown consistency from year to year. This has been his 3rd time that he signed with the Lightning after all.

Does this mean that the Lightning are trying to free up cap space for Tanguay? We'll have to see what Lawton tries to do, but I wouldn't be surprised if we sign a few more defencemen, I believe we have like 8 or something...we need a good 10 more to last through the year.

Lightning Pre-Season roadtrip?

2009-07-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

The Lightning have announced their pre-season schedule today. First game of the year is September 16th in Dallas, then a home game on the 18th, then 4 back to back to back to back games from the 21st to the 24th, then finish up in Atlanta on the 27th. Who created that schedule? and how is that better than starting in Europe?

My complaining is not the point of my writing, what is my point is that in between all of those back to back games is a game in Everett, WA on the 22nd. Woo. That's only a 2 hour drive from Vancouver! Do I feel a roadtrip coming on? Yes. It may have to happen.

In other Lightning stuff:
-It appears that Hedman has been a busy guy. His angry looking photos have been plastered all over the Lightning website.

Mattias doesn't do angry glamor photos well....deer stuck in headlights on the other hand...

They also seem to think the draft was just on Friday...way to stay on top of things Lightning website people.

-The Lightning have also signed LW Stephane Veilleux for a 1 year deal. From what I've seen when he played in Minny he was a hard working 4th line guy. Good signing.

And just like that, the Lightning DON'T look so bad...

2009-07-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

So three moves today (and one non move), and the team doesn't look so bad.

We picked up a rock of a defenceman in Ohlund.

We signed D Matt Walker who player for the Chicago Blackhawks last year for 6.8 million over 4 years. Walker is a 6'3", 214 pounder from Beaverlodge AB that was known last year from his youtube video where he blocks a shot with his hand and when he gets to the bench you see his broken finger...and it's gross..and then he just keeps playing the rest of the game. What a man.

Lucas Krajicek has re-signed for a 1 year deal

Vinny is still a Tampa Bay Lightning.

With a defensive unit that looks like a defensive unit, it seems like the Lightning are headed in the right direction. I don't want to jump to conclusions too fast, since we'll still have to see what Lawton does tomorrow, but so far so good.

Lightning sign Mattias Ohlund

2009-07-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

UPDATED

-TSN reports that contract is for 7 years at 3.75 million a season
-The terms are for 7 years for for 26.25 million which is front loaded over 5 years then drops off

Since I live in Vancouver, I have seen a lot of Ohlund. He's a great stay at home defenceman that still has a bit of an offensive side to him. He will be tough when he needs to be, hitting guys into the boards or into the bench and can hold his own in a fight. Clearly one of his roles is to be a mentor for Victor Hedman which I think he will do a fantastic job of. In Vancouver when Bieksa went down with a lacerated calf injury Edler was brought up from the farm as a rookie. Edler was put on the pairing with Ohlund for the season and by the end of it, we could count on Edler being a solid defenceman. I'm excited to see Ohlund get the money he was looking for that Vancouver couldn't give, plus I can still cheer for him since he's moved from one favorite team to the other.

No requirement for Lawton's decision making

2009-06-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

THANK GOD

Did we all just let out a little sigh of relief when Tavares went first?

Even though it would have been awesome to see the madness ensue if the Isles took Hedman, I imagine all of the phones on the Lightning table start ringing, Burkie jumping over tables and Lawton's head exploding, there was no such need for any madness last night.

In case you have been living under a rock, or in somewhere where hockey isn't a religion, like Florida** or something, the Lightning took Hedman at #2.

Mmm...that is a nice jersey on you...

The rest of the night was, well long. Did every team have to congratulate the Penguin for being the Stanely Cup Champions? Or say something in French? (I loved it for the first 10, but not so much after)...Next time, perhaps the NHL should cirulate a memo, maybe like Lawton did by e-mail, that clarifies that you should go up and say "For the [insert #] selection, the [insert team] select....[player]....." Those are now 4 hours of my life that I will never get back.

This is how you smile in front of the kids when it's joint custody day...

Please enjoy this moment Hedman, before you start your season learning names of the 527 names of players who you'll play with on your roster.

ps. pick a new number kid, because #4 is already taken

**i kid about the Florida jokes because I know there are some hockeys fans there...but just some...

Lawton tries to assert power through e-mail

2009-06-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

Lawton sent out a friendly little e-mail reminder to all the GM's and player agents today that said:

"Please be advised that in order to avoid any confusion over the next couple of weeks, as GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning Organization I am the only person authorized to speak on behalf of the team with regard to player transactions,"

"No other person is authorized to negotiate player transactions. Any questions, feel free to call."
-TSN

Just in case there was any confusion as to who is in charge, I guess Lawton decided a short little e-mail was the way to go. This just adds to the drama that has been surrounding the Lightning lately. Unlike fans of other teams, I cannot say In Lawton I Trust.....

Trouble in Paradise...

2009-06-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

So I wasn't going to write until tomorrow at the earliest since I have been enjoying my time off doing non blogging things...like reading and hanging out with my dad for father's day. It has also been pretty slow news-wise with the Lightning and I really didn't want to write another draft or Vinny post because really, they just seem pointless these days.

But then, via Lightning Shout, the St. Petersburg Times confirmed the rumours about the bickering going out between Lightning owners Koules and Barrie. Tomorrow, Bettman will hold a meeting with the two owners to give the authority to make decisions about the team to ONE of them.

Romano writes something at the end that I found really interesting:
But, today, the fissure seems wide. The talk is that Koules wants to keep Lawton as GM, wants to trade Lecavalier to get out from under his $85 million contract and wants to pare the payroll to the low $40 million range. Barrie is not as solidly behind Lawton, wants to build around Lecavalier and is in favor of signing some free agents to get the payroll closer to $50 million.

I've always thought that perhaps it was Barrie who made all of the early decisions about the team last year, and then Koules that just ended up taking over the day-to-day stuff when they hit the point that they really just couldn't fix the team mid-season (and Barrie was still up at Bear Mountain). Perhaps I was wrong. If Barrie is wanting to build the team around Lecavalier and spend more than just the salary cap floor, then I think this is a step in the right direction.

I mean really, could this year get any worse than last year? Or did I just jinx myself by asking that?

NHL Awards - Martin St. Louis

2009-06-18T20:51:00.001-07:00

Like I said on my other blog, I didn't bother watching more than 5 minutes of this...but our boy St. Louis was there representing the Lightning...

There's just something about men in suits...

2009 Draft: Tampa Bay Lightning Preview

2009-06-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

The posts have been a little slow lately on tHB with me being caught up in all the SCF stuff (Yea for my adoption team winning!) and the lack of Lightning news recently. I have done an interview/draft perspective on the Lightning for Matt's website View From My Seats which is up today.

Check out my take on the Lightning which is part #2 of his series of guest bloggers, (1 for each of the top 11 teams). I'm sure it's going to be a great series (clearly because I was a part of it), so be sure to check them all out.

Coming up to draft day...

2009-06-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

So in less than 2 weeks, on June 26 and 27, the 2009 NHL Entry Draft will take place in Montreal. We will be hearing tons of stuff coming up in the next few days about the youngins...so I won't start now.

BUT, I did come across a great post from Cassie at One Timers and Deflections today about an overview of Major Junior Hockey. Living in Canada (the place where all those crazy rumors from sometimes bored journalists arise from), I don't always realize that not everyone actually understands where the majority of players that are drafted come from, ahem the CHL. So check out her site for some quick, and easy to understand about the Dub (WHL), the OHL and the QMJHL.

2004 SCF Game 7 Line-up Where are they Now?

2009-06-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

This was posted by HockeyBay.com in the comments...and I love comments :)
I thought it was interesting....

June 7 2004.. SCF Game 7 Line-up Where are they Now?
# POS. PLAYER 2008-09 TEAM
4 C Lecavalier, Vincent Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)
5 D Cullimore, Jassen Florida Panthers (NHL)
7 R Clymer, Ben Minsk Dynamo (KHL)
8 C Cibak, Martin Sodertalje SK (Sweden)
11 L Dingman, Chris Lightning Radio/Sun Sports Host
13 D Kubina, Pavel Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL)
17 R Fedotenko, Ruslan Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL)
19 C Richards, Brad Dallas Stars (NHL)
21 D Sarich, Cory Calgary Flames (NHL)
22 D Boyle, Dan San Jose Sharks (NHL)
25 L Andreychuk, Dave Lightning Community Representative
26 R St. Louis, Martin Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)
27 C Taylor, Tim Retired
29 L Afanasenkov, Dimitry Moscow Dynamo (KHL)
33 L Modin, Fredrik Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL)
35 G Khabibulin, Nikolai Chicago Blackhawks (NHL)
44 D Pratt, Nolan Khabarovsk Amur (KHL)
47 G Grahame, John Omsk Avangard (KHL)
55 D Sydor, Darryl Pittsburgh Penguins/Dallas Stars (NHL)
61 L Stillman, Cory Florida Panthers (NHL)

Lemaire says no thanks to the Lightning....

2009-06-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

...instead "he has another offer that has gained his interest and which he is pursuing". And I suspect that next week the Four Habs Fans will be announcing the Jacques and Jacques team of the Canadiens...

Have fun in Montreal Jacques...I didn't want your defensive style anyways...

Let's throw Vancouver and Edmonton in the mix...

2009-06-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Bruce Garrioch from the Ottawa Sun is reporting that the deal for Lecavalier to the Kings for Jack Johnson (D) is still on the table. Vancouver, Edmonton and Montreal have also made calls about Lecavalier.

He is also reporting that the Lightning, who already have committed $38 million to just 17 players, are only planning on spending to the salary floor which is estimated to be at $40.5 million. Yikes, that makes signing 6 more players a little tricky...and even so, what will the ice product look like?

Hedman = beefcake

2009-06-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

Just for the female Lightning fans out there, here is reason enough to draft Hedman:

Roadtrip to Tampa for Tavares, Hedman and Duchene

2009-06-02T20:44:00.001-07:00

After getting to meet the SCF players and watching the game tonight in Pittsburgh, Tavares, Hedman and Duchene will travel to Tampa tomorrow to meet with the Lightning. They will meet with the management, get a tour of the Times Forum and Tampa, and do some fitness testing with the strength coach. This will also be a media day for the current top 3 draft picks.

Tavares, Hedman and Duchene have already met with the Islanders, though GM Garth Snow has not give any indication as to who he's going to pick.

From the Globe and Mail of what went on :
Koules said he sat next to “Burkie [Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke] for three hours and he never said anything me.”

Really? Brian Burke went three hours without speaking?

“He talked the whole time,” answered Koules, “but not about that [moving up in the entry draft].”

Koules did mention that the Lightning would be happy with any one of the top seven or eight players available in the 2009 entry draft, which suggests that they will not completely rule out a deal with Toronto, given that they are drafting at No. 2 and the Leafs select seventh overall.

Interesting things to be said by Oren don't you think? Or maybe he is just getting better at creating press just to talk about himself, maybe that's what he and Burke talked about...

Vinny...Should he stay or should he go?

2009-06-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

So from the firm "no" response given by Lawton to the question if Lecavalier would be traded back in March...we are now only 30 days away from a decision that may/will define Lawton's career as a GM.

Last summer, Vinny spent the off season rehabbing his shoulder after surgery and missed training camp. He played the season with nagging injuries that you could clearly see affect his game. This summer after a successful wrist surgery and time to rehab it, Vinny will be able to have the time to train properly for the upcoming season. Speaking to the St. Petersburg Times, Vinny said: "I hope it's going to be the best summer of my career," and "I'm determined to be in the best shape of my life." He has even gone so far as to hire speed skater and speed skating coach.

Now Lawton has said that is he not actively shopping Lecavalier, but all the GM's in the league know that Lawton will listen to offers and why wouldn't he?. Obviously Lawton will listen to every trade offer that is coming his way with regards to Vinny, that's just part of hockey management. With such a hefty contract that OK Hockey offered Vinny, I can't imagine that there are many teams that are offering a trade for Vinny, mostly just because of cap reasons. The per season hit at $7.7 million for Vinny is on par for other elite players, but the contract length of 10 years is ridiculous since is already 29 years old. Now if the Lightning were playing well or the cap were to hold steady or keep rising we wouldn't necessarily call this a bad contract. Lecavalier is a franchise center. Each team needs to spend money on an at least 1 elite player; some spend it on a goalies, others on forwards, but it is not every day that you think about trading away your franchise player (if you have one).

Lawton has said that the past year the management have been "owner-operators" and this year he has given the final word for hockey operation decisions (although not really if you read the whole article). He will have to decide in the next 30 days whether a trade from another team is worth trading away your franchise center. Will he be known as the GM that traded away Vinny?

There may be a trade proposal that he may receive that actually might be a sensible hockey deal for the Lightning...maybe. But do you think that Lawton will be able to see it? He currently is known as the GM who after signing Dan Boyle, forced him to waive the no trade clause and shipped him off to San Jose. Now there wouldn't be so much anger if the trade had brought back players who were 1. good/not disappointments and 2. are still with the team, but alas that was not the case. If Lawton trades away Vinny and the Lightning end up looking like Boston after they traded away Thornton, that will be Lawton's legacy as GM.

Why are other teams like LA looking for a player like Vinny when they are currently full of young talent? The reason is because they want an elite player like Vinny to take their team to the next level. Even though they have drafted well, they are still missing a key piece to take through the playoffs.

There are a couple of things that also affect Lawton's decision.
1. Player payroll limit
- It really depends on what the management is willing to spend on this team. If they are not willing to spend more than the the floor of the cap, the roster will be top heavy on 1 player and will ice a team that looks exactly like it did this year.
-If Lawton can only really spend the floor of the cap, and the management only want to ice a mediocre team, then trading away Lecavalier for a couple good (not great) players should do that for you. But mediocrity does not bring long playoff runs
-If Lawton can spend more than the minimum, having Lecavalier and giving him a team that can move the puck to him will increase his offensive output. This year was a terrible team this year, some nights they forgot how to play nhl hockey. Imagine if Lecavalier had a good puck moving defenceman that could feed him the puck or even a defensive unit that did not break down every game.

2. If you trade away Vinny will your fanbase understand? Or will they stop buying in to the franchise? The fans were upset at the Boyle trade and they were not pleased about watching a terrible team for 2 years in a row finishing dead last, and 29th respectively. Will trading away Lecavalier be the last straw for current Lightning fans?

3. If you trade him away will that affect a future player's decision to sign in Tampa? If after signing a 10 year contract with a no trade clause, and just before the contract starts, you trade the player, what does that say for your management strategy? Do players trust you? You already run one of the worst teams in the league, how will you build a team of players that want to play for you if they can't trust your word.

On the flip side, does keeping Vinny with his NTC affect what your team will be able to do in a couple years when both Stamkos and Hedman/Tavares 2009 draft pick (assuming they turn out to be good) come to contract negotiation time? Or do you try to make a cup run while both of them are still under their entry level salaries and deal with the contract later?

So clearly the next 30 days will be interesting...If Lawton can't make the right move, the best move may be no move at all.

SCF - Penguins

2009-05-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

So Tempocrew has been saying lately that I should have spent more time during these playoffs to talk about the team that I have been cheering for (since the Canucks have been knocked out), which was the Penguins.

That was the original plan, but then things like work, other hockey games, and the sun making its delightful appearance for the summer in Vancouver, got in the way. The Pensblog and Puck Huffers have been both doing an epic job already covering their team.

But as we are 5 hours away from puck drop, I'm getting excited for the SCF rematch...I'm glad that Bettman moved up the start date to today, otherwise I'd be sitting here writing about how lame it is to have no hockey for a week. I'm sick of Wings fans complaining that they got jobbed by the NHL starting the SCF so quickly not giving their players time to rest/heal from injury, whatever, get over it. I don't know why I have this dislike for the Wings and their fans....I just do. Their complaints do not make them more likeable.

As for Hossa...he made the right choice in signing with the Wings. From a completely unbaised view, you would have to say that he signed with a team that would give him the best chance at winning at the time, which was the Wings. The Penguins also may not have made it to the finals if they signed him and tied up all their money. If the Pens win, I can't wait to read about what tPB and the PH will write about him. And more importantly, where will he sign next year? Does he still chase after a cup, or go for the money?

I think the Penguins have a great shot at winning this year. On paper, they looked better last year. But watching them play this year, with both Crosby and Malkin clicking along...they just give me that feeling that this could be the year. Either way this should be a good series...providing the teams finish Sunday night at 1-1 a piece...

Mike Smith is still not skating...

2009-05-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

Cristodero from the St. Petersburg Times today wrote that Mike Smith is still not skating. He's been out with post-concussion syndrome over the last few months.

Uhuh.

Somewhere in my memory I remember reading back in March, Mike Smith saying he wanting to still play the last few games of the season. It's also where we got the great quote from Lawton where he said: "The mandate is, if you're ready to go, then you're going,". So Lawton, I guess that means he wasn't ready to go then huh?

Lawton also said this week about the prospects at the 2009 combine, which is coming from a 'great' draft pick himself:
"I have this baseline that they're all good enough to do it,"

"What are those components they need to get them over the hump? What's going to separate them? To me, past history is a big part of it. ... You look for patterns in life. It's the best indicator of future success. You look for the kids who exude confidence, who have shining examples of attributes like character that will help them be successful."

Tampa Bay Lightning Girls

2009-05-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

So before I start writing about the NHL draft combine, where 103 of the best draft eligible players go through physical, mental and psych tests which is currently underway...I thought I'd say a few words about having Ice Girls at hockey games. I keep seeing the 'Prep Classes' for the Lightning girls on the Lightning website, where they seem to have picked one of the ugliest in that really really fake sort of way as their promo girl and can't help but wonder what's the point?

The Lightning are offering 10 prep classes, once a week on Wednesdays so that local girls can try out to be an Ice Girl. Here's their promo video for their 'workouts'.

But what is the point of Ice Girls? Do they really add something to the game?

Cassie at One Timers and Deflections doesn't think so. Neither does the Amanda Kosier, wife of the sports blogger, Kyle Kosier, who originally wrote a rebuttal about hockey cheerleaders on Illegal Curve.

Maybe it's a southern US thing, that I just don't seem to understand the point of. Truthfully, I can't say that I've ever seen Ice Girls, since the rink I go to doesn't have them. Sure they have people that clean the ice, but not designated ice girls who don't look like they know what icing is.

Video from HockeyBay.com

As Cassie points out, there's really no place in the arena for Ice Girls to perform unless they go on the ice during the intermission. Do they stand in the aisles blocking people's view during the game? Personally, even if they were on during the intermission, don't you spend that time getting more beer anyways? I know I do, unless there are the little kids playing follow the leader hockey that I might stick around to watch.

I still don't get it and don't really feel that it adds the on ice product. But if having Ice Girls improves the product to the ticket holder, so be it. On the other hand, I don't need ice girls, I have 38 men playing hockey in front of me....

Radek Smolenak jumps ship to KHL

2009-05-26T18:43:00.000-07:00

It is reported by Czech website hokej.cz via Lightning Strikes that Radek Smolenak has signed with Niznekamsk of the KHL.

Smolenak only played 6 games with the Lightning last season and 71 in the AHL with Norfolk. He was a 3rd round draft pick from 2005 and was at the end of his 3 year rookie contract.

He is a winger, so it's not like we don't have a few of those to spare, but it sucks to see an RFA jump ship to the KHL. It is considered to be free agent season in the KHL right now, and they seem to be throwing more money at players than their NHL clubs will, so can you really blame him? But on the flip side, I hope that the NHL/KHL and IIHF come to an agreement of poaching players under contract from the NHL, this is starting to get pretty ridiculous. The signing has clearly not been confirmed by the Lightning yet.

Lecavalier in Rimouski

2009-05-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

Some famous alumni of the Rimouski Oceanic was at the Memorial Cup today. Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards (Dallas Stars) and Michel Ouellet (Vancouver Canucks) were on hand today at the news conference to salute the Oceanic's success. An empty seat was there for Sidney Crosby who clearly was a little busy today watching Malkin school Cam Ward.

Even with the alumni support, the Oceanic lost to Drummondville in overtime 3-2.
-picture from the Memorial Cup website

Lightning and Lemaire

2009-05-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

The Lightning is apparently still interested in bringing in Lemaire as a senior consultant, but the team has yet to offer a contract or even discuss the parameters of the position. So really in other words, this is gonna take as long as Tocchet's removal of "interim".

I still don't understand why the Lightning would want to bring Lemaire in. He is known for the trap hockey that the Wild has played since he has been coaching there. Yes he has been able to get the Wild to the post season, but never far a long with the trap style. Rick Tocchet wants to play an up-tempo style next season, so what how will Lemaire help with his consultation? Maybe he can offer points about how NOT to play hockey. The only reason I think the Wild fans put up with that style for so long is that they were afraid that if they stopped buying tickets, *poof* and their team would disappear again.

Andrej "The Butcher" Meszaros

2009-05-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

So I was reading an article about Andrej Meszaros on the Lightning website the other day that reminded me about my family. So for those of you who don't want to click on the link to read the story yourself, the summation is:

On January 3 of this year, when the Lightning played the Hurricanes at home, with 22.7 seconds left in the second period, Meszaros takes Babchuk's slapshot to the face. He skated off to the locker room and got 64 stitches. What a man. But there's more:

He was diagnosed with a displaced fracture of the maxilla extending from just above his upper teeth to his nose. An oral surgeon on call that night realigned the fracture by hand. Shit. He then sat through an hour of getting the stitches. He wanted to go back to the game, but the doc took too long stitching.

The team then flew to Atlanta for the next night's game. He only slurped shakes through a straw. He face swelled twice its natural size. They pureed his food. Coaching staff expected for him not to play.

He insisted that he take the warm-up and then played one of the best games of his year. He logged 15:31 of ice time with two shots, two hits and a blocked shot. "I wanted to help the team," Meszaros, 23, said. "I knew we had a couple of guys banged up. I said I wanted to play every game if it's possible. It's not like it's a broken arm or leg. You have to suck it up and go."-St. Petersburg Times.

What a beast.

So why does this remind me of my family? Well last summer, my cousin married her fiance Zoltan in Hungary, she became Mrs. Meszaros (no not related in any way to Andrej). Now I don't speak a lick of Hungarian or Slovakian (Andrej is a Slovak), but my cousin had told me that her new last name meant "the butcher". There is even a Meszaros (Butcher) street. So it doesn't surprise me that our defenceman named the "the butcher" is such a beast. Just don't every drink with a Meszaros. They will drink you under the table.

Vinny to...."insert team here"...sweepstakes

2009-05-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

Daren Dreger of TSN is reporting that the two teams mentioned most when it comes to Lecavalier is the Montreal Canadiens or the Los Angeles Kings. If we are talking Kings, the name Jack Johnson, who will be an RFA this summer was mentioned in a possible deal.

Who knows if Vinny will be traded in the next 43 days, at the very least it will be interesting leading up to the draft.

Penguins to take on Hurricanes

2009-05-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

The unbelievable happened tonight. The Hurricanes bean the Bruins in OT. NBC is crying about this.

Penguins vs. Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final=

Staal vs. Staal drinking game.

Puck Huffers made some rules to the game earlier this year. I'm sure there will be more and they will be epic.

In other news, the Red Wings beat Anaheim and move on to face the Blackhawks.

Malone to Toronto for Schenn and Kaberle?

2009-05-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

As reported by the Toronto Sports Media, via Pension Plan Puppets, Elliotte Friedman was on the Fan 590 this morning with this to say:

“Everyone in hockey is talking about this deal and thinks it will happen, Toronto’s pick, which I guess is number seven overall for Tampa’s pick which is number two overall, with Toronto taking back Ryan Malone and his lengthy hefty contract and perhaps another contract as well.”

This of course is with regard to speculation of how Burke will attempt to land Tavares on Draft Day.

The Lightning sources told Darren Dreger of TSN that the only way that trace would happen is if the Leafs also throw in Luke Schenn and Tomas Kaberle into the deal.

"Tampa Bay vehemently denies this is a possibility and insists Malone is a mainstay and will patrol the wing next season with linemates Steven Stamkos and Martin St Louis." -TSN

TSN also reports that "Tampa Bay did, however, table a trade offer before the trade deadline that included Luke Schenn to the Lightning for their first round draft pick."

We'll have to see what Burke attempts to do to get his hands on Tavares and if he does, his press conference, and you can bet he'll call one, will be awesome. Can you imagine, Burkie with Toronto media surrounding him as he starts laughing and then tells the world that the world no long revolves around the sun but rather him? Or maybe it's the universe that revolves around him?