Barrie predicts: "We're not done."

So, let's see what we learned today.

Owner Len Barrie said the Lightning reached agreements with forwards Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts, though he said the contracts won't be signed until Monday. I won't go through all the contract parameters again because they are clearly laid out in previous posts, and to be honest, I'm just tired of typing.

The team then traded for the negotiating rights to high-scoring forward Brian Rolston.

On Monday, OK Hockey, the eight-man group of which Barrie and Oren Koules are primary investors, is expected to close the $200-million deal to buy the team, the St. Pete Times Forum lease and 5.5 adjacent acres from Palace Sorts & Entertainment. That means that finally, OK Hockey will officially be the owner.

Add the signing of Vinny Prospal, adding coach Barry Melrose, the Vinny Lecavalier contract saga, and it's been quite a week or so for OK Hockey. And at the end of Sunday, when it all started to wind down, Barrie made this prediction of the Tampa Bay makeover that shows no signs of slowing down:

"We're not done yet."

Don't think my poor fingers can take it.   

Comments

[Bryan]

It's going to be a mid-level d-man (Streit?) or a seasoned goaltender that they want to have Mentor Smith/Ramo.

[David (Clearwater, Fl)]

Impressive stuff. I feel for you DC. Lets see Vrbata or B. Campbell next

[Bryan]

No use for Campbell or Vrbata now. We're filled up on the front.

I wouldn't mind a D-man or a vet goaltender like Kolzig to mentor, or something like that.

[Boltflasher]

Bryan, Brian Campbell is a defenseman...

[Casper]

With the young and old guns hired, I think we might regret another ho-hum year from Prospal.

My preference would've been Jason Williams over V20 for sheer consistent effort alone.

Ah well, get a defenseman and we won't have to worry about goal tending. We can always get Eddie Belfour to mentor and lead the young lads on a pub crawl. LMAO!

Go Bolts!

[bingo]

WOW WOW WOW - for months some, in fact many saw the OK group as a joke. Well we are all eating lot's and lot's of crow. They have stepped into the fray with zest, excitement, chpuza, a high 'c' from any soprano singing La Traviata this is beautiful. Thank you although I did not dump on the new ownership and thought much was due to the credit crisis I'm still in awe of what they have accompished.

Prospal,
Malone,
Roberts,
Rolston, (maybe)
Torts gone (Mullet in)
Stamkos,
Arty.
V4 - new contract.
Walls,
Lawton,
feasty - munchin something someplace and no where's to be found.
Ok, the fence sitting is over go buy the tickets NOW.

And then he says we are not done yet...... UNBELIEVABLE Maybe we can pick up Price from Leo!!!!!

LOL - Bingo

[Don in St. Pete]

It's a glorious monday morning in the Tampa Bay area, even if I do have a bit of a hangover and am tired from staying up late watching the future of the Lightning unfold on the Blog. Thanks again to DC for working into the wee hours of the morning to keep us up to date. Rock on OK and Len! Go Bolts!

[Tony]

If or should I say when the Lightning get Rolston signed I hope attention is turned to the "D" and goaltending. Not totally sold on Smith. I think Orpik would be a nice fit on the back line.

[Twinebulge]

They said they were gunning for 5 of the top 6 FAs, and as yet no mention of Hossa. They're not done yet is right, we may yet see a vet goalie as well, hope hope hope

[Goalman]

Kolzig would be a terrific mentor. A great goalie in his time and a good team guy. By the way,has anyone noticed the absence of Jay during all these unbelievable events. Evidently his position has drastically changed with the team. Are the sandwiches here yet?

[Drew]

The Ramo/Smith situation is very interesting, both have pretty good skill, size, and potential. Obviously they are going to give Smith all the chance in the world and honestly I think if he came in and had a full season as the starter it would go a long way for his performance. I do like Ramo, but I think (similar to Montreal) they need a veteran backup. Which means, where does Ramo go? I would rather see him moved than have him toiling in the minors.

[matt]

http://lightning.nhl.com/team/app?service=page&page=TeamPlayers&type=roster

According to the Lightning official website roster, Malone, Roberts and Rolston are all listed.

[Eric]

Agree with an earlier poster saying Orpik may be a good fit for the D, but whats the salary cap starting to look like with all these signings?

I'm thrilled to see what they're doing, but I am curious as to a general estimation of where we stand in relation to the cap right about now.

[Bryan]

I know boltflasher, but we have one of those already and we're giving him nearly 7 million a year, we don't need another.

[Tackleberry]

Now the only question left is: Can Melrose put all this together?

I am curious if these acquisitions were being worked WITH MELROSE and KOULES months ago. In any case, it is looking good.

What will be in store to "beef-up" the defense?

[bear]

If they get us a goalie this may be interesting. Theodore/Kolzig

Viva Espana..who won your the EuroCup poll Leo?

[jason]

Malone deal is pretty front loaded, so hopefully he'll be motivated to reach the 30+ goal mark. With Stamkos on his line he should be able to do it. Good thinking on OK's part if they actually wanted the contract frontloaded because that woudl free up some cash when Stamkos is ready for RFA, that is if the bolts hold on to Malone for the whole contract.

Bolts could do well next year, playoffs are very possible if they secure a premier dman. Adding Campbell would be the dream pickup and keeping Smith as the #1 goalie (the guy is like 6'5" or something and has sound mechanics).

I'd not sign Rolston but rather put that $$ towards Campbell.
-j

[Twinebulge]

Looks like Malone and Rolston get to duke it out for the number 12 heheheh

What gives, nobody wants 9, 8, 6, 5???

[Don in St. Pete]

Rolston I think is a priority. If we sign him, that gives us a lot of flexibility. He can run the PP from the point and is another solid PK guy. I don't see the lightning chasing Campbell as long as we have Boyle. Signing Rolston could give us the flexibility to deal Boyle to pick up a rugged stopper type d-man and then go after one of the other cheaper puck moving d-men that are available like Streit, Redden, Hainsey or Rozsival. I like our young d and think they'll be fine with better 2 way forwards playing in front of them. I think Smith will be fine but they should try to sign a vet to back him up and let Ramo gain experience by playing every day in Norfolk rather than sitting on the bench here.

Minnesota paper says Rolston will not sign with Lightning yet and still wants to see what other teams will offer per TFP:

http://www.thefourthperiod.com/news/min080630.html

So OK Hockey may not be as successful on the Rolston front...

[Don in St. Pete]

Twinebulge, Good point! Also notice that Roberts and Jokinen both share the #10 sweater. I'm guessing the veterans will get their preference and that the younger guys will pick a new #. Rock on OK! GO BOLTS!

[Bryan]

Rolston has yet to sign, so i'll pencil him in when the contract is done.

We don't need anymore puck moving d-men, we've got those in Boyle, and to a lesser extent, Ranger and Kuba. There is zero need for Brian Campbell here. We need a rugged, defensive defenseman here that can log some ice time.

[boltcc]

Why does TSN keep saying Boyle is on the way out?

[Rick]

Because TSN likes to write crap and stir the pot so to speak. I mean for V4's entire career he was going to Montreal for a pile of hay, even this year they were saying that V4 was leaving meanwhile V4 was busy donating millions to have his name on a hospital here in Tampa. TSN rumors are mostly crap so don't believe what you see from them.

[Don in St. Pete]

Rumours on Boyle are flying with good reason. We traded for the rights to Rolston who can run the PP from the point. I wouldn't expect anything to be done with Boyle unless Rolston signs and then they may look to shore up the d via trade.

[Tony]

Thanks for clearing that up Rick. I saw the same report on TSN about Boyle. That makes no sense after the Lightning inked him to an extension last year and then trade him? Only makes sense if they were to sign a Campbell to clear salary...

[Tony]

Good point Don.Rolston is a very good PP QB..

[tundo]

In the same article, TSN reports that Malones deal is for 7M to 8M per season too...

[tundo]

It would be nice to have both of them...

[léo]

Over my cold, rottin', worm-infested, decomposed dead body, Bingo. Never.
Very happy, Bear.
But I was out of it from the get-go. I had France... Sorry, the Call of Blood...
But la Furia Roja! Wow!
Now they'll be confident in South Africa.
P.

[Tony]

The 7M and 8M are for the first two years...The contract is front loaded.

[Alex]

The nice thing about Malone is that his salary only counts for 4.5 million against the cap. The good thing these days i sthe fact that the cap number is rising or we would have had the same guys on the second line as last year. Im starting to get excited about what Barrie and Koules are doing. We havent made a splash in the offseason in a long time now we have had all these in 1 week. Now lets go grab a defenseman and a veteran goalie.

[Mike13]

Source: nhlnumbers.com

TBL Salary Cap:
------------------
6.875 Lecavalier
6.667 Boyle
5.250 St.Louis
4.500 Malone
3.000 Kuba
2.070 Roberts
2.000 Halpern
1.812 Jokinen
1.567 Lukowich
1.250 Ouellet
1.000 O'Brien
0.950 Smith
0.933 Ranger
0.867 Denis
0.800 Picard
0.688 Lundin
0.675 Ward
0.658 Ramo
0.525 Tarnasky

Total Cap Hit: 42.087

[chris]

Mike, you forgot Stamkos. I believe his cap hit is .875.

[Don in St. Pete]

Mike13, You left off Prospal @ $3.5mil and Andy Rogers @ 756,000. We're at around $45.5mil so around $11mil under the cap. Here's a great resource from the hockeybuzz website.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=TB

[Mike13]

Yeah, nhlnumbers missed Prospal also. Here is the revised list...

Source: nhlnumbers.com

TBL Salary Cap:
------------------
6.875 Lecavalier
6.667 Boyle
5.250 St.Louis
4.500 Malone
3.725 Stamkos ++ (assuming he'll get a similar deal to Kane's)
3.500 Prospal ++ ($$$ isn't listed on nhlnumbers)
3.000 Kuba
2.070 Roberts
2.000 Halpern
1.812 Jokinen
1.567 Lukowich
1.250 Ouellet
1.000 O'Brien
0.950 Smith
0.933 Ranger
0.867 Denis
0.800 Picard
0.688 Lundin
0.675 Ward
0.658 Ramo
0.525 Tarnasky

Total Cap Hit: 42.087 -> 49.312 ++

[Mike13]

Don, thanks for the site reference. But, I'm pretty sure that Rogers doesn't count against the cap because he is in the minors.

[Boltflasher]

Eklund, for what its worth, is saying Tampa is at it again, talking to Alex Auld and Kolzig...

[ajax]

By the end of the week our 4th line might be better than our 2nd line last year. One of the constant themes of the discussions (mayhem) the past few months was all the theories would happily go out the window if the new owners some how spent. I for one thought it was a 3% chance of that.
So happy to be wrong this morning.
My group is just a small push from reupping our 4 lower bowl tickets. Nothing leads me to believe all of these potential signings won't become reality with in hours or days. I will wait to be safe.
Go Bolts Go.
P.S. And stop this nonsense about getting a goalie. We needed a better T-E-A-M. Every trade rag and email from now until September will have one story rated #1 in off-season moves, and that will be our Tampa Bay Lightning.
Has anyone seen Jay Feaster? I wonder what cruise line he is on this week. John Tortorella?? I think I saw him down the hall of my AA meeting at anger management 101.
My pants are almost wet!!!!!!

[bob]

artyukhin will be in the cap to

Ajax, I agree, don't need to spend on goalie...I think the 2 guys we have will work out fine with a 2 goalie system and go with the one that is hot.

[Boltflasher]

Forgot to sign in above...

[Bryan]

Considering the market of puck moving defensemen is going thin (Campbell will be commanding 7/per and WILL get it from someone, JM Liles has resigned at 4/per with Col) and Boyle, defense aside, is a fantastic puck mover and now I wouldn't be surprised if he was on the block. A desperate team would at least give up a roster player for him (and provide cap relief)... 6.66 gone, can grab Kolzig for a year or two if he wanted to come in at something a bit cheaper (3/per? I don't know what the guy is asking for, tbh)... this is all a big mess.

A big, fun, mess.

[Mike13]

TBL Salary Cap:
------------------
6.875 Lecavalier
6.667 Boyle
5.250 St.Louis
4.500 Malone
3.725 Stamkos ++ (assuming he'll get a similar deal to Kane's)
3.500 Prospal ++ ($$$ isn't listed on nhlnumbers)
3.000 Kuba
2.070 Roberts
2.000 Halpern
1.812 Jokinen
1.567 Lukowich
1.250 Ouellet
1.000 O'Brien
1.000 Artyukhin (estimate, actuals not yet known) +++
0.950 Smith
0.933 Ranger
0.867 Denis
0.800 Picard
0.688 Lundin
0.675 Ward
0.658 Ramo
0.525 Tarnasky

Total Cap Hit: 42.087 -> 49.312 ++ -> 50.312 +++

[Tony]

Smith will be a fine goalie but unless the defense in front of him doesn't tighten up he's not going to lead you to the promise land. That being said i'm sure Melrose will have a lot better defensive system than Torts...IMO

[Tony]

I'm just saying that a veteran presence would not be a bad thing to add in goal.

[Phil]

Darche is not in the salary cap numbers?

Also, its great to see some enthusiasm for OK Hockey since there have been so many bashers. We aren't ALL eating crow. Some of us said, "give the guys a chance...".

Give them some time and space and lets see what else they can do. In the end, it all shows up in the W/L columns.

Go Bolts!

[Tackleberry]

I'll be first to say: KUDOS Koules!

Since Oren has acquired several good players, it will ultimately be up to Melrose to put all this together. I was in Beirut for a couple weeks and was rolling my eyes at the announcement of Melrose being the coach. Koules sees something in him. I think that is where the fans are most worried: Coaching. This includes the asst coach and goalie coach.

Too bad Koules couldnt take Jabba Feaster's salary and apply that to potential players. Since Koules/Barrie are running the show, what is the point of keeping Jabba Feaster? Seems like he should cut the FAT.

It seems that Koules has made some excellent pick-ups with Malone, Prospal, Rolston and Rogers. Keep it coming with some blue liners.

I would also like to see what Koules and company will do with games, other than the players. IE, getting rid of the "lets play hockey". Koules said he will sit with the fans during games. If he sits near me, I'll buy him one.

[LizzyT]

This is so good I'm wetting myself. I have never been so excited for a season to start. It is so good for ownership to be so involved and willing to make this team better.