Lecavalier reiterates: I want to stay in Tampa

At this point, it can't be much more definitive that the Lightning and superstar Vinny Lecavalier will try to work out some sort of long-term deal, perhaps one that will keep him with Tampa Bay for the rest of his career. It is strongly believed that is what incoming owner Oren Koules wants. Lecavalier said last season he was open to a contract extension. Agent Kent Hughes said last week it was his understanding the team wants Lecavalier to be a lifer. And Lecavalier reiterated on Tuesday his desire to stay in Tampa.

"Definitely, yeah," he said when asked if he was open to ending his career with the Lightning. "I like Tampa and I want to be in Tampa for a long time."

Lecavalier, rehabbing his right shoulder in Montreal, had lots to say Tuesday, most of it about former coach John Tortorella. Read the whole story in Wednesday's paper, but, briefly, Lecavalier said he believes Tortorella is a good coach and a good person, but was very hard on younger players.

"He was very tough on young players," Lecavalier said. "His emotions sometimes made it difficult. I'm not saying that in a bad way. That's the type of coach he is. He is very aggressive, very emotional and very into the game."

It is an important point. The Lightning next season will again be very young in several key areas. The defense likely will include Alex Picard, 22; Shane O'Brien, 24; and Mike Lundin, 23. Goalie Mike Smith is 26 but has never played a full season as a No. 1. And Steve Stamkos, at 18, likely will be asked to start the season as the second-line center.

Asked how Tortorella would have meshed with the lineup, Lecavalier said, "It could be good for some and not so good for others. Everybody knows how Torts is, and after a few years you get to understand it a little bit more. But he's very demanding on young players, and I don't think everybody takes him the same way, which is normal. Everybody reacts differently to different situations. Some guys don't react well to that."

Lecavalier spoke more about his relationship with Tortorella, and also mentioned how the rehab on his right shoulder is on schedule and anticipates being ready to participate in training camp, though he is not expected to be cleared for full contact before September. He also said the rehab scuttled his plans for a trip to China and Thailand, a real disappointment for such a world traveler.

Wednesday also is the sixth anniversary of Lecavalier's relationship with Caroline Portelance.

Comments

[léo]

Hey Teach,
You the same Teacher who's so negative on the Inside/Out? The Boston fan?
We want V4; always have, but we know we'll never get him and that he's a Tampanian for life.
TB was a victim of the salary-cap but things will get better...they can't get worse in any case.
Slappy,
What are we talkin' about here? The hit or the missed call? 2 different things.
It was wrong of him not to call, I agree, "Guilty conscience"? I think you might be absolutely right. He knows he hurt him. He shoulda called, ok, however this is hockey, not a Hallmark convention.
But the hit? You're allowing your emotions to get the better of your judgement. It was legal. Even if the refs were completely blind and were eating hot-dogs in the other zone, the League wasn't. They were sent a tape of the incident and they ruled the hit clean.
And that's it.
How long you keep the grudge is up to you, but I stepped in when you said, "from behind". It wasn't from behind; it was from the front! Blind-side, yes, but he came AT HIM, not AFTER HIM. Guillaume can't catch anybody; everybody knows this; that's his main knock.
That being said...I would've given 2 minutes for elbowing. Sorry about your loss.
Now get over it; you're not a Rob DiMaio away from a Stanley Cup.
Peace.

[The Teacher]

HABS INSIDE/OUT website says Montreal will take Vinny from your loser team. No goalie, no defense, gave up Richards for almost nothing. How do you win a Cup a couple of years ago, then have the worst team in hockey. Hockey and Florida dont mix, go surfing.

[Slappy]

Yoleo,

(Like most of us here in Hockey Bay, I'm not a native Floridian, playing hockey since age 7 up north. About 40 years worth.) I was at the preseason game in question, sitting about 10 rows from the ice where the incident took place. I'll cut you some slack because you probably weren't. Illegal hit, plain & simple. End of paragraph

'Why didn't the refs call a penalty then'??! That one made me smile. {A better question is 'Why didn't Letsundresse call DiMaio and wish him well after putting him out of the game and in the hospital, as is the traditional custom?' Guilty conscience? But I digress.) Either your question was a joke, or someone's faith in the infallibility of NHL refs to NEVER blow an obvious call is quite remarkable. We'll agree to disagree on that one mon ami.

[léo]

Indeed, Don. That is a mistake. He is nowhere near ufadome. He will be a rfa next year.
Yo.

[Don in St. Pete]

Kdr, I don't believe Boyle's no trade clause kicks in until July 1st, FYI.

[Don in St. Pete]

Leo, I mostly agree with you on the Latendresse-Dimaio thing. On the other hand Latendresse is listed on the NHL websites as an Unrestricted Free Agent. I guess that could be a mistake, though I hope it's not.

[léo]

If I refer to a certain player as V4 and you all know who I'm talkin' about, then it's just as linguistically acceptable as anything else, robotic or not. Ask me, "The Dominator" sounds pretty robotic. Yet it sounds cool too. Done deal.
In MTL, I wanted Radek "The Atomic" Bonk to catch on but...Radek didn't help me out much. Sounded cool though.
Now we got L'Artiste, The Hamr (your call) and The Priceberg. It's not what it connotes; it's what it denotes. Coolness.
V4. Sounds like double-quad, fuel-injected, positronic, combustionable engine of some sort or other. Or a hybrid category of venomous Black Mamba. Or a terribly contagious virus that spells Doom on earth. Or the 4th installment of a Lizard movie with reptiles that look like humans and eat mice when they think noone's lookin'. 'Member that?
So V4 sounds robotic. Like Daneel Olivaw? Or Vision? Or Data? Or RoboCop? Or the CyberDyne Model 101?
Cool.
P.

[olin storahund]

..Oh forgot to add previuos- no wonder V4-Vinny-Mr. Lecavalier is healing up so fast on his re-hab- kudos to Tom Mulligan and Jason Serbus- and that certain someone.....get 'er done Vinny.

[olin storahund]

....this is very good news to me having V4-Vinny-Mr. Lecavalier say he wants to finish his career here In HockeyBay. I'm glad for You- for you will ALWAY'S be Da man in Tampa, both on the ice and off it. We are so lucky to have him here, folk's He could be in Montreal ya know and make Mr. Leo & Les Habitant's all happy-happy-happy
On another note- I still think we need to beef up the defense more so than scoring forward's. I liked Brook's Orpik's hard nosed play in final's. I believe he is a UFA- and Yes Don in St. Pete Ryan Malone would be a nice fit if they can get him. For scoring I gotta have a Svenska on the team and Kristain Huselius might skate well with Jussi-Halpern-Stamkos...Can you imagine if Red Sweing's pick up Sundin....

[léo]

1st and foremost: If you get Latendresse; it'll only be in a deal for Stamkos so fuhgeddabowdit. This kid skipped the minors (against Our judgement) BECAUSE management sees him in the Future. He's not even Ripe yet, maybe a waste of a roster spot and we're gonna trade him? Doubtful. I mean, we put Higgins in the package-deal for Hossa, but not Guillaume. Carbo loves'im.
Lisa,Lisa,Lisa.
This thing really stuck in your craw, didn't it? The DiMaio injury, not the missed phone-call afterward, c'mon.
That was wrong? Yet Vaclav throwing Tortie under the bus was ok, though? Of course since you don't like Tortie.
Roy doing the cut-throat motion was full of class, was it? Want him off the team now?
Gretzky laying bets (oh no, sorry, his wife) was the picture of class, right? Please...
Oddly enough, who has or doesn't have "class" is often a subjective concept.
Latendresse is a big teddy-bear. That's OUR problem with him. You painting him out to be this drooling brute, intent on savagery is funny to me.
I completely understand why he'll never be on your X-Mas list but whoa there! on his "motives".
A second man, blind-side punisher. Yes. Fine. Ouch. But legal. Legal! No call on the play. NO CALL ON THE PLAY!!! And no NHL reversal.
If DiMaio had had his HEAD UP or even if he had been AWARE like MOST nhlers of what goes on around them; it never would have happened, would even had been considered a ROUTINE check.
So suck it up and stop crying. That's hockey. I know you're a girl. But you know hockey so I don't care.
Punishers happen all the time, career-enders, alot of'em. That's hockey.
Hate Guillaume all you want, but don't delude yourself as to "what he did". He played hockey. And your boy got CRUSHED because of it. It's over.
Stop crying.
That's hockey.
Sorry.
Now, if he DOES end up here and puts in the 30-35 goals we expect him to in MTL, I think you'd forgive him in a hurry, class or no class.
P.

[kdr]

Hey Don in St. Pete - Dan Boyle has a no trade clause for the next three years and Im pretty sure he is not interested in moving.

Patrick - amen.

Torts was mono-dimensional, too hard on the players, etc. *Yawn* We saw what a decade of NOT having a talented, multifaceted and creative coach did for this team. The guy had his rough points, but then again he won more games with us than all the other coaches COMBINED. Can you understand that. More wins than any other American coach. A Stanley Cup. None of that matters to some people apparently, but let's try to have the level of class we admire V4 (which I'm now going to start calling him just to give whomever a reason to get out of bed in the morning) for having regarding his remarks on Torts. Many remarks do reflect that class, thanking Tortorella for a job well done, time to move on, OK then, best wishes for continued success, etc. Kudos to you.

No coach is perfect: Some here are already bemoaning the new coach, whoever it may be, and wondering how fast we can show HIM the door. Look at it this way: If hoping for change and change and hope and the hope of change are all it takes for a wet-behind-the-substantial-ears little junior exec to be inexplicably made CEO of the free world, then hoping for change and change and hope and the hope of change ought to be good enough for your last-place hockey team.

Count me among those few fans tingling with optimism and excitement at the prospect of a new season with a new superstar forward, other new players, a new coach, GM and system (and the hope for change in net). We can only go up from here.

[Mike13]

Hey there genious. Vinny4 refers to himself in the same manner (VL4, etc). Try looking at his website.

http://www.vinny4.com/

[Patrick]

Voice of the Torts-Hater,

Time to give it a rest, don't you think?

[Lisa]

I don't want to see Mr Cheap shot, the classless piece of trash Latendresse here. He didn't even have the decency or class to call DiMaio or inquire about him or his health when he returned to Tampa. In an interview, DiMaio made a point of saying that, and that he felt that was completely classless. I must say that I agree.

[Don in St. Pete]

Management you suck! You're whats got us in this situation in the first place. Vinny doesn't care if the blogger's call him Vin, Vinny or V4, he is flattered that they feel so strongly about him that they blog about him at all. If you really are Management, which I seriously doubt, then sign Vinny to a long term deal and get him and the second line some linemates. The excuases won't cut it anymore and the Lightning have as much room under the cap as almost any other team.

[Don in St. Pete]

I like Rob Dimaio he was the consummate team player but moving ahead we need to think outside the box and address the teams needs first and the lingering isues second. Overall I would bet Robby approves of the way Guil plays and 1 bad incedent notwithstanding hope that a player of hid drive, toughness and creativity comes to Tampa Bay.

[Stop calling him Vinny4, VL4, V4, Etc.]

Band wagoners, please stop calling Vincent Lecavalier VL4, Vinny4, V4 etc. He is not a robot. Refer to the guy as Vinny or Lecavalier, not some serial number. It looks ridiculous reading these boards seeing that stuff all the time.

Thanks,

Management

[spuds]

Melrose and Koules. Don't you wish you were reading about this happening to the Florida Panthers, instead of us?

[spuds]

Don't want Laten-pink-dresse here because of what he did to Rob DiMaio.

[Don in St. Pete]

Speculation on what the Lightining will do on draft day and in the free agency period has run the course from stand pat and work from within, to trading players, picks and prospects to approching the cap. I believe they'll probably be middle of the road until the new ownership get's it's feet wet and sees what it's got. If I were the GM I would do as follows. I would approach one of the other top 6 teams about trading them Dan Boyle for thier #1 pick and a defenseman. St. Louis with Woywitka or McKee would be a perfect match. With the pick I would take Doughty, Bogosian or Schenn whoever was available. Next I would make a strong overture to Ryan Malone to get him to come down and play on our first line with V4 and Marty. Who wouldn't want to think seriously about that opportunity? Failing that you try to bring back prospal to fill the hole on a short term basis. All spring I have been hyping Vrbata as the guy to sign to play right wing opposite Stamkos and Jokinen, but Eklund has him rated 6th on his FA list which may mean he'll go for much more than we can afford. This would have been a beautiful line though probabloy to fast for any NHL team to defense against. Langkow would be good as well but Eklund has him rated 7th. If these guys get snapped up for too big of money then Latendresse and Avery can score but also bring some toughness. Use the money you saved on Boyle to sign Hainsey who could probably be had for a 3 year deal for between $3.5 and 5 million and is rated 20th on Eklund's list but could run the PP. In this way we'll have gotten a top 4 d-man, a puck moving d-man, 2 top 6 forwards ( including Stamkos ) and have the money to sign a veteran d-man or veteran goalie.

[Casper]

Coach leaves, Vince stays. Yeay.

It certainly seems like health, wealth and free draft choices of the area's finest women are enough to keep him here. After all, he already has his name on The Cup.

Question: With no driving force behind him now, how is he worth Ovechkin dollars??? (Please justify to me, how a night out goes from $150. to over $200., on whimsy.)
We wanted to lock him in at slightly above Brad Richards dollars back when gasoline was slightly above three bucks per gallon. Push-water will be at five per gallon before we see the Cup again, so how much isn't, *isn't* too much???

Plan on keeping Boyle? I personally don't rank him in the strata of defensemen, that's *defense*men, that I would rank a Lecavalier amongst forwards.

Perhaps it's true that I don't know this game and business as well as I think.

Dwell on the positive for now, before mullet-mop comes to town:
1. The cavilling and angst ridden coach is gone---thanks for the mantra, Ted (Fire Casper should be next);
2. Young nucleus (notice I refrained from the 'c' word?) won't be denigrated by a delusional and mono-faceted leader. Nor should grossly unbalanced shifts have a select few slumped like whipped dogs and held accountable for coaching faux pas' in the third period;
3. Vincent wants to stay here, great. His #4 will grace the Forum rafters as much as he graces our ice;
4. Orthopaedic surgeons aren't mon-faceted and prone to third period swoons.

Coach leaves, Vince stays. Yeay.

How fast can we show Melrose the freaking door, and can we get a competent Assistant first?

Go Bolts!

[Another Joe]

Bring back Prospal for the right price on a short term deal. Then id be for it!

[Don in St. Pete]

Okay! It was a joke! Prospal is the one that supposedly wants to come back to Tampa now that Tort's is gone. I'm not sure signing Prospal is a wise move. You get very little defensive responsibility out of him and he can't kill penalties. That being said I love how he clicked with Vinny and Marty.

[Don in St. Pete]

The Turtle has spoken~! I read about some of this on Eklund's blog. I think the guy makes his rumours up. Some of them make no sense at all. He had almost half of the free agents going to the Canadians. The only one he showed Tampa had an interest in was Huet, and a brief mention that Tortorella might want to come back. I'll post more later about what I would do if I were GM of this team.

[Another Joe]

Bottom line on Torts is what Vinny said. Sometimes change is good. Torts was the right coach at the right time for this team. He was also the right coach for Vinny at the time. I will always have good memories of Torts.

This is what needs to happen when new ownership takes over.

1-Hire new coach.
2-Draft Stamkos.
3-Sign Vinny4 to contract extension.

All will be fine if these three things are done and the team can move on with getting ready for the season.

What else i would like to see done in no particular order.

1-Trade Kuba
2-Buyout Denis
3-Resign Gratton and Darche
4-Dont resign Janik.
5-Sign a winger that can play in top 6!

[The Voice of the Turtle]

Hey, young player, get in lock-step with my mind set and my personality or you'll be punished. Its not about how you feel about yourself, its all about how I am disposed toward you...and I had better be pleased or things will be very difficult for you. I do not care if you are a square peg, get in that round hole where I want you to be. I am the coach of this team.

I don't want to hear any of that nonsense about the coach having responsibility for motivating players. It is their job to deal with my mood swings, punishments, and humiliating comments about them made to the media. I do not want to hear any complaints about me either. Whatever you do, make sure you protect my ego. As your coach, I am sacrosanct. Open your yap to complain and I'll throw you under the bus. I am the coach of this team.

When you fail, you are, to me, one of THEM: when you succeed, it is all about US and OUR accomplishments. I am the coach of this team!

I'll define the meaning of loyalty, and if it seems to you like a one-way street, it is your problem. If you violate my self-styled concept of fidelity, I will find that you have betrayed the team and your teammates. And, you betray me! I am the coach of this team!

Errrr....I was the coach of this team.

[Nan]

It must be hard for Vinny to watch Torts put other young players through the same thing that he went through for a few years when Torts first started with the Lightning. I was a little concerned about what was going to happen to Stamkos if Torts was going to be staying. It takes a certain kind of player to be able to go through what Torts calls "the process". It fortunately made Vinny a better player and a better person.

[Lisa]

Great to hear that Vinny's rehab is going well and that he hopes to stay in Tampa. I am sure the new owners will do the right thing and lock Vinny up for the rest of his career.

Too bad about missing the summer vacation to China and Thailand: but there is always next year so Vinny and Carline have that to look forward to and anticipate.

I do look forward to reading more about Vinny's thoughts about Tortorella. Vinny is a class act, and I am impressed with how he is answering the questions: honestly but not criticizing. I also wish all the best to Torts in his new job, wherever that will be.