Lecavalier on the shoulder, the rookie and the firing

Tipped to these videos by a poster and still looking for the full-length versions. It's hard to get a read on Vinny Lecavalier's reaction to the firing of coach John Tortorella, who rode him relentlessly as a younger player but unquestionably helped make him a star.

The TSN interviews imply it was more like this than this, but that's the vagaries of video. The second clip, recorded when the firing was a foregone conclusion but still unofficial, came off cold and businesslike, but the NHL is a business. And it's often quite cold.

Brant James, Times staff writer. All photos by Times staff.

Comments

[ajax]

play!!! I meant play!!! "real" silly me

[ajax]

Prospal is going where the loot is, period, his loyality was never to anyone or anywhere other than the loot. By the way, I wonder if any free agent, EVER, told his agent, I would take less to place for the great John Tortorella? Silly me.

[léo]

V4, Roy and Ian Lapérrière on the show, Mike. Maybe Brad's chillin with Ryder, I don't know.
Ryder who'd look nice in Atlanta along with that minor coach (CHI Wolves) I was tellin yehs about a week or 2 ago, John Anderson. Once the Wolves are done, he is going to the Show! Atlanta. I'm psychic I tell ya.
Olin,
Imagine Prospal coming back; that would be great. A bit too telling and Tortie would lose a lot of face but funny as heck.
If Sundin is available, you better believe that Gainey will do anything to get him. Personally? On our Centennial? I would offer Sundin a 1year / 8 million dollar contract. 1 year. Oh yes, I'm deadly serious. THAT'S how much we need a guy like him this year.
But if he is available and Detroit steps up? I don't know how we can sweeten Sundin's pot better than Detroit can, for MULTIPLE obvious reasons.
And if Detroit GETS him?
God help us all.
SECOND line center, 2nd!, and Fillipula goes down. FILLIPULA! Man, what a team...
P.

[olin]

..thanks for the report Leo, I believe this stuff with Tort's was happening even the season before the last one. It just finally all came out in the end for him. It is what this team need's. Player's were sick of him, just ask Ben Clymer- it would be so much better if OK would go and get Craig Ramsey to coach this team- there would be such a different attitude. And now maybe V20 comes back now that Tort's is gone? Andre as well. We need them both. Too bad BR19 is gone for good. And FM33.....sorry deal you did JF on that one..
Good job Leo for all the good info-tack se myket. You need a goood Swede to go with your lone Finn ????

[Mike13]

That should have been "hanging with V"

[Mike13]

Hey Leo, was Brad there too? I'm wondering if he was having with V or if he was spending some time in PEI.

[Don in St. Pete]

Leo, Thanks for the take on V4 and Roy appearing on the Canadian show. It's telling that they appeared together and I think that bodes well for Andre's chances of coming back to Tampa. There were times last year when I knew all was not well with coach and players, and on several occasions saw Marty and V4 glowering at Tort's after he barked at them. It's no secret he rode Andre hard though much of it was of his own doing. He was also tough on OB, Luke and Kuba though I didn't realize he rode Pickard and Lundin so hard until reading about it. When Rammer was here I think he tempered Tort's volatility to a certain degree which is probably why Tort's got him fired. I hope they look at Rammer as a possible head coach candidate.

[léo]

Sorry, last thing,
'Member what Tortie said in the press conference following his dismissal?
He talked to Feaster, he talked to the players and EVERYONE was in agreement that it was time for him to move on (as you've all been saying for some time; I was opposed at first but y'all convinced me), coach seemingly especially so.
Then FEASTER talked to the team, alone...
And that was that. Tortie said this.
What does that mean? It means that even if he wanted to stay, even if FEASTER wanted him to stay, the PLAYERS wanted him out.
We add that "enough was enough".
Last night's telecast tends to confirm that indeed, enough was enough.
Ok, I'm out.
P.

[léo]

For the record: I am in TOTAL agreement with Mary and Keith. Fair means or foul; I'm sure a coupla guys thought Patton was a reeeaaaal prig. That ain't the point. If Tampa had never come anywhere near the Cup, okay, pull out yer slingshots. But he GOT IT. He got the Prize.
That being said, I'm not lying or even exaggerating. That's what V4 said. Now, french is a very permissive language in that it allows the "sous-entendu" to exist even if it is never uttered. Though Vinny NEVER said anything good about Mr.T, IT WAS CLEAR that he appreciated everything that Tortie had done for him.
But the BOTTOM LINE, was that he never liked him and it was also clear he doesn't like him now. The reason was most probably that Torts was so abusive with him that it traumatized him. That's the impression I get anyways.
And he never forgave him for that. So that when he saw it again, year after year, now with Picard and Lundin, well, how could he EVER relate to "the coaching manoevers" since he's basically reliving his own traumatism, year after year?
Hey, Vinny's got clout now. He well could've said, "I'll stay. Ok? I'll sign and I'll stay, ok? On one condition..."
Cuz, last night, it didn't look like he was indifferent to the whole affair, oh no.
He cared. He was animated. He wanted to speak. His point was precise and well worded, as if it had been running in his noggin for a weeeee time, y'know?
Gotta say, if I was Mr.Koules, V4 would be my MAIN priority. If he said, "We gotta paint the St-Pete's in a nice pink.", I'd be like,
"Ok, where's HomeHardware?"
Yo.

[ajax]

Torts was a victim of the Feaster roster, but how he handled it?? He was a victim of himself.

[Don in St. Pete]

I noticed that about Lundin and with OB as well. Much of these problems are still a product of the players Feaster gave Tort's to work with. If what V4 and Andre said is true than a new coach may allow these guys to shine. On the other hand it still might be a good idea if Lundin could play a season in the minors.

[Stacey]

Well, apparently he had enough of his abusive ways whether he shaped him or not. Probably brought back a lot of bad memories for him. It's no secret that those two have never quite seen eye to eye. Not everyone is so thick-skinned.

[Mary]

vinny really can't talk too much crap about Torts, he is the one that help him become the player that he is today.

[Stacey]

Ooohhh, that was goooood. Thanks, Leo. Juicy stuff! FINALLY, the TRUTH and you KNOW that was the truth. They aren't really shite talkers normally so you know they were really aggravated.

[keith]

Merci for the scoop a la Francaise Leo.
It is probably only a matter of time till a lot more "stuff" comes out from all corners. Vinny cant be too harsh though....Torts shaped him into the star he is today, by fair means or foul. Some coaches lead, some push and some verbally beat you into submission. I'm excited about a coaching change.....and hopefully seeing Andre back. 3-5 minutes a game of anticipation and excitement.

[léo]

Mentioned earlier that V4 was in My city for the Formula-1 weekend. Well, turns out that André Roy was here too.
Tonight, they were both on "La Zone des Sports", as special guests. They talked about the Red Wings and how well they played and how they deserved to win the Cup. They were asked about the "euro factor" and candidly admitted that yes, some euros can be intimidated but wouldn't mention who. They DID mention that Swedes are absolute Rocks, impossible to intimidate and that Czechs, to a slighter extent, are pretty tough in their own right.
Then they talked about Hasek. Crazy style, can't be taught to kids and even if it could be, it wouldn't be. But he Stopped The Puck and deserves his place beside Roy, Brodeur and the rest. I tend to agree myself.
Then they moved on to Tortie!!!
Cuz it was in french, I guess they felt more at ease. But Leo was watching, tee-hee-hee.
First Roy said that when you're in last place, it makes, and made for a very negative energy in the room. He then jumped to the incident in Philly, how he lost it, and how Tortie's subsequent dismissal of him for a week hurt the room even more. (The wrong message of benching the guy who "bleeds" for the team.)
Vinny said, (this is the good part, folks) that his first 2 years with Torts were hell. They won the Cup and things got better but he could never get over how rough Tortie was with the kids.
Just as finishes that sentence, Roy blurts out "Picard"
Vinny responds, "Picard played great for us but I was thinking Lundin."
Roy shakes his head and repeats, "Lundin"
Vinny goes on to say that Lundin was making great passes at the beginning of the year but Tortie was constantly berating him and suddenly his passes were all over the place. He never found his game again.
As opposed to his last interview (when he had the same shirt on!), this time there was NO compromise.
They never mentioned that he was a good coach and they never wished him good luck.
Oh, and they can't wait for Stamkos.
Pithy, yo.

[wahls]

Mike, there is an article on the Lightning page about Ranger's rehabbing. You are correct, he had a similar surgery. If you read the story its nice to see that Paul has a sense of humor about all of it (even if he is mad that Vinny is a week ahead of him already).

Here is the article:
http://lightning.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=365136

[Mike13]

Also, I am very interested to see if the guys come into camp in as good of shape as in years past.

[Mike13]

Didn't Paul Ranger have the same surgery that Vinny had? I wonder how that went.

[bear]

Nate the 2nd for Grats was very bad but worse was our 1st for Obrien in a trade made with that nice man Brian Burke.

[Don in St. Pete]

Nate, I disagree with you on the Gratton trade, though I understand your reasoning. Gratton has scored 30 goals on a couple of occasions and could have done better last year were he not playing with a bad hip since November. The main reason Feaster brought in Gratton is to win faceoffs, be a big body in front of the net and to add some toughness which was sorely lacking at times. The players on the ice could count on Grats having their back which is a good feeling. Many second round picks never make it to the NHL level and if they do it's usually at least a 3 year process.

[Nate Dogg]

Talk about things coming back to bite you in the butt. I'm sure about 98% of you out there were already upset with the fact that Jay Feaster traded our 2008 2nd round pick for a fourth/third (mainly fourth) line center in Chris Gratton. Not a bad player-in fact I love em', but that's way too much to give up!

Now how much more upset are you that the trade did little or nothing for this franchise this last year? Not to mention that pick would be the first selection in the second round of a pretty deep draft. Now instead of plucking Stamkos ANNNNND a possible late 1st roudn steal, we're gonna have to wait until the third round to make our second selecion...which is quite a drop off!

With a pick being somewhere around #33-35, you can easily nab someone who can be a 2nd/3rd line (or top 4 d-man) forward for 6+years!*

Now don't get me wrong. The move to trade for Gratton would've been great... if it was for a 4th round pick (maybe something along the lines of a 2008 and 2009 4th round pick). But now more than ever, I don't see Feaster being a dumb GM, but rather a DESPERATE GM.

I just get this vision of a captain of a ship trying to take any and everything he can to try and stop the leaks from taking his ship down.

A cork in this hole. A wash cloth to fill this crack-"BUT CAPTAIN WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING MORE TO FILL THE HOLES!"...

Time to jump ship. Or get a new captain.

Even though it easily goes down as the worse trade in Lightning history, I can actually still defend Feaster's train of thought when he pulled the trigger to bring in Marc Denis. The new owner, if he really wants to fulfill any Cuban-like comparisons, will come in to make smart, yet aggresive moves to acquire the players needed to keep this ship not only afloat, but flying!

Right now, there's still plenty of ammo left on our deck to take down other vessels in the league. That said, WE NEED THE 3-4 PLAYERS WE LACK TO BE BROUGHT IN HERE! Hopefully the efforts of Vinny L, Marty St. Louis, and Dan Boyle all don't join the Titanic at the bottom of the sea.

Nate Dogg
*- denotes having competant scouting

[boltsfan]

Michael you mentioned numerous reports, but nothing has been set in stone until it has been announced by Koules and OK hockey. Without knowing what they are going to set the internal cap at or if there will even be one all this doomsaying is like pissing into the wind....

[Don in St. Pete]

Bear, I hope your not right, though you very well could be. I'm hopeful they'll at least get up to last years level, which should give us a little help. I have to believe that the new owner will want to make a good impression and the way to do that is not by hiring Smellrose, but by signing a couple of top 6 forwards and a veteran stay at home defenseman. Even then replacing Halpern until january would still be a problem.

[bear]

They will be going cheap cheap cheap Don and hyping Stamkos.

[Don in St. Pete]

There's been a lot of speculation on what the budget will be. The write for the Trib mentioned Koules would push the cap, but Feaster seemed a little more subdued. If I remeber correctly we gained about $4mil of cap space on the Richards trade but gave Boyle a $3Mil raise. We gained about $750k on Prospal and the same for Hlavac. In other words we have about $2.5Mil to spend if the budget stays the same as last year( and if we resign Gratton, Darche, and McDonald for around the same money ) and we need to sign Stamkos. Jettisoning Denis will help, but we'll only get about $850k, which probably is close to or a little under what they'll pay Artyukhin. I'm hoping Kouls will at least give us a little bump, but $54Mil seems too much too hope for at this point.

[Mike13]

A week+ ago is when the Blake Wheeler story broke. He rejected the deal from the Coyotes and is hoping to sign with the Minnesota Wild (closer to his Hometown and College that he played for). He was drafted by the 'yotes out of high school. I remember that draft and I (as well as many others) were flabergasted as to why Gretsky & Co. picked him with such a high selection.

I can't see him coming to Tampa, although I would love it.

[Michael]

Boltfan, while the Lightning may not have said they will only spend $44 million, numerous reports say that is what people inside the organization say Oren Koules is allowing.

[boltsfan]

The reason why Morozov hasnt come back is the pay in his contracts he can earn so much more in Russia so no way is he coming back unless you offer up Rolston type money.

Wheeler is a possibility but he becoms a UFA on an entry level contract, so there is no outbidding he pretty much has his pick of teams.

And Don you are saying it would cripple our ability to pay anyone else, we were 7 million under the cap with Richards with him gone and the cap rising we should have even more space so it shouldnt cripple us if the owners decide to spend and as a budget hasnt been set yet who knows who we will go after...

[Don in St. Pete]

Nate, great follow up post and a good heads up all around. You're already doing better than Feaster and you're not getting paid. Wheelr sounds like and intersting project as well, though I'm not sure he's NHL ready. He might definitely be worth an entry level contract to see what he's got. The more money we can save the more we can spend elsewhere which is why I've never advocated trying to sign Hossa, Rolston, ASundin or Campbell because it would creipple our ability to sign anyone else.

[Nate Dogg]

Don,

I read that the Coyotes were given a compensatory pick (#5 in the 2nd round) this year, because he didn't sign and became a free agent. The right winger is 6′4″ 219lbs and can skate...

I mean he seems destined for 2nd line duty, but you never know what playing on a line of Vinny L and Marty St. Louis can do...*cough*...Vaclav Prospel...

here's a great link telling the story...

http://mvn.com/nhl-wild/2008/05/30/blake-wheeler-shuns-coyotes-to-become-free-agent-is-it-a-good-decision/

[Don in St. Pete]

Nate, I read about Wheeler, but I thought his name went back into the draft pool? Good find on Morozov, I can remember him playing quite well for the Pens. By all appearances he left during the lockout and was never offered a good enough deal to come back. At 31yo he might be a solid gamble. I like the creative thinking and the knowledge that the parol wil not be = skys the limit.

[Nate Dogg]

here's also a potential cheap RW euro diamond in the rough....

Alexei Morozov

check it...outstanding stats the last two years in russia...

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=19335

[Nate Dogg]

Hey, I just came accross something that might intrigue a couple of you bolts fans out there...

There might be a potentially great (and cheap) free agent that I was not aware of...Blake Wheeler, the former #5 overall pick of Phoenix Coyotes in 2004. He rejected the Coyotes contract offer within the 30 day window, thus making him a free agent...at the age of 21! And after playing three years at U. of Minnesota, I'd say he's ready to jump in!

He would be a great 2nd/1st line RIGHT WINGER (hey...don't we need a couple those??) for years and years...and he'd be playing for a cheap 3 year rookie contract like Stamkos...didn't know if anyone cared or not.

Enjoy Your Friday!
Nate Dogg

[wahls]

Love the highlights of Torts' comments. Boy will I miss those moments. Imagine if he goes to a Canadian team, I think that his head might explode from all of the reporters, but boy will it be fun to watch! Anyway, kinda sucks that the portion of Vinny's comments is so short, wish they would upload his whole statement. I agree though, I think he is excited about the new ownership/coach (hopefully next year we see more of picture number 1, and less of picture number 2).