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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.
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.
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: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?
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.
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.
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: Game time: 5:00pm ET on SUN
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 StrikesTocchet 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 TimesLecavalier 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?
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
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:
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
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
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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
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.
Well if you are, and you don't mind taking risks with your money or like to play arm chair GM, well do I have an offer for you!
In all seriousness, the Lightning ownership is looking to bring in additional investors to bring down their debt load.
Damian Cristodero suggests that adding an additional investor would help alleviate the pressure of Lecavalier's big contract that kicks in July 1st.
The Globe and Mail reports that Bob Gainey says it was 'disgraceful' behavior that Lawton and the Lightning ownership group leaked the names that were involved in the trade talks the Lecavalier transaction.
"We had discussions with Tampa Bay, we had an agreement with them that I got a call early in January with a list of names from their team that they wanted to talk about, and those players ended up public because they used those names to take them to other teams to see if they could create a different trade for Vincent Lecavalier," Gainey said at his end-of-season news conference. "I think it was disgraceful that Josh Gorges and Tomas Plekanec and Chris Higgins have to read that stuff."-Sean Gordon from the Globe and MailI know that Gainey is just trying to come up with excuses for his hockey team's embarrassing 100th year, but it's interesting to see that he decided to come out with this to the media.
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