Town hall meeting details

Here are the details of the town hall meeting as sent out by the team. Sounds like questions wil be taken through the Internet:

he Lightning will host an open town hall meeting at the St. Pete Times Forum on Tuesday, July 15 at 7 p.m. The highlight of the event will feature a question and answer session hosted by Lightning television play-by-play announcer Rick Preckham with owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie, head coach Barry Melrose and center Vincent Lecavalier.

Fans can log on to tampabaylightning.com immediately to submit questions for the question and answer session with the four-person panel. This marks the first time Koules, Barrie and Melrose will be available to the public. Melrose met with Lightning season ticket holders with first overall draft pick Steven Stamkos on June 26. Lecavalier will also sign autographs for season ticket holders at 4:30 p.m., prior to the town hall meeting.

Those in attendance will be treated to free popcorn, cotton candy and ice cream, as well as $1 hot dogs, drinks and pretzels. There will also be giveaways for those in attendance along with games on the plaza for children. ThunderBug and the Lightning Girls will be mingling with fans.

Doors to the meeting will open at 6 p.m. while doors will open to season ticket holders at 3:30 p.m. for the autograph signing. Parking will be in the VIP East and West lots and will be limited.

Those who wish to submit their questions on tampabaylightning.com should click the link to the town hall meeting and enter their question. Fans will also be able to submit questions at the event on Tuesday. Due to time constraints only select questions will be answered.

Comments

[Don in St. Pete]

Flasher I'm not talking about just on the big club but in the system as well. It's simple look at where the NHL ranks us, Regardless that will not help us this year for the most part but will provide incentive for the players to play harder at Norfolk. In past years there qwas virtually no competetion except for a few 3rd and 4th line spots. That will not be he case this year and woe be the guy who shows up out of shape.

[Boltflasher]

But, comparable to Nashville right now?...just a bit overexuberant...

[Boltflasher]

The LA Kings...

[PD]

Don give us a break

Were the deepest team on defence are we?, name one team in the entire league with a worse defence than ours?

[Don in St. Pete]

Whatever your knock on the new owners, they have done more in 30 days to help replenish our farm system than the previous organization did in 10 years. We are arguably the deepest team in the NHL at the defense position ( with the possible exception of Nashville ) in regards to solid NHL quality prospecys. We also have solid goaltending prospects in the pipeline. While the previous management did a piss poor job in drafting forwards they did make some intelligent decisions on the back end which is why we have such positive potential in our young d today. We definitely do not need to trade V4. We have 2 #1's and 2 #2 next year and some solid draft picks from this year. Anyone spouting that crap is attempting to blow smoke up you're @$$hole and you should recognize it as such.

[PD]

Understood David and you are right and that's precisely why quite a few here would prefer to see Vinny 4 traded to kick start the project.

[David]

I don't find Don to be a cheerleader. In fact I think he's a shade into pessimism.

As for growing our own talent, that's true but OK Hockey can't wave a magic wand and repair a farm system that has been ravaged by neglect and incompetence overnight. That's a long-term project.

[PD]

No problem Don I never asked for your response.

I find your manic cheerleader view counterproductive to what the Bolts really need to do.

Not only are we not as good as the Caps, D'oh, try Carolina too.

Lots of work to do but unless you grow your own talent you can't win with free agents and what you can get for Darche..simple.

[Rob]

I'm sure everyone thinks the Boyle question is the tough one but that's not the question people should push for.

The biggest question, the one which will have a knock-on effect on this team for years and years to come, is as follows:

Will this group, like PSE, treat non-hockey revenue from the arena (concerts, wrestling, boxing and so forth) as completely separate from hockey and therefore claim huge losses when in fact the arena is the single most profitable arena in the country (and close to the most profitable in the world)?

If you want to flood the box with questions, this is a FAR more telling question than worrying about some spin they already have prepared about Boyle.

[Don in St. Pete]

Pd, This will be my last response to you. Thanks for being ever the pessimist. I am only hopeful the Bolts can make you eat your words this year.

[PD]

Actually the way you phrased that Don, "for the duration", makes for a helluva question.

I think they sign and trade.

[Don in St. Pete]

I believe this is definitely a bold move on the part of the new owners, whether they screen questions or not. If enough of us email in questions about the Boyle fiasco and the defense, than they are bound to answer them as coherently as possible. For me it's also huge to see V4 on board for the duration.

[Twinebulge]

If they didn't 'select' questions to answer, theoretically they could be there all night and into the morning as excited fans kept thinking up stuff and pursuing lines of questioning to the nth degree - hell I could probably do it by myself. They're making themselves more accessible than Davidson and his right-hand suit ever did.

I hope to hear something with regard to trust issues, credibility and common decency issues in light of the handling of the Boyle incident.

[Bingo]

As someone mentioned last night...... Lot's of softball questions. Guess for those who wanted some answers on 'D' and why so many forwards. IT will be like Oh my favorite color is Blue. Why so many seniors? Not even worth the effort for the PR meet and greet.

[Nan]

Oh, only select questions will be answered? That doesn't make these guys as accessible as they said they would be! One question - where is the e-mail address that they were promising they would have? It should be interesting to see what questions they will answer!

[Geografer]

Thanks Damian. Any details available yet on the rookie camp at the end of the month in Victoria? Since it is only a 6 hour drive and 1 1/2 hour ferry ride away it is a heck of a lot closer than the trips to get to a game! Plus it is an opportunity (I would assume since it is rookie camp) to see Stamkos for the first time.

[Max Hun ter]

Damian,

I hope you keep us informed on what was said. And will someone find out what's up with the D.