Lundin clears waivers, and other matters

Defenseman Mike Lundin cleared waivers at noon today, meaning he will be assigned to AHL Norfolk. Coach Rick Tocchet spoke about Lundin needing to be more aggressive on the puck. And for those wondering, Lundin's low AHL salary precludes him from having to clear recall waivers if Tampa Bay wants him back.

Center Chris Gratton also reported to the Norfolk, though he is not expected to play until next week while he gets back in game shape. He had been suffering from a lower body injury that was either an ankle or knee problem. Or as Tocchet called it, a "whatever."

Lots of other little newsy things going on as well: Tocchet said center Jeff Halpern (knee) likely will play either Wednesday with Norfolk or Thursday against the Avalanche with the Lightning. Halpern had indicated he would have liked to get a game in with Norfolk. But other saying he is "excited, nervous," to play, he said he will do whatever the team wants him to do. ... Tocchet said if tonight was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final, left wing Ryan Malone (upper body) could play. But with a four-day break between games beginning Sunday, one more night off will help Malone to "lick this injury so when he gets in, he's in for good. We can't have him going in and out of the lineup." ... The Lightning has been rotating defenseman Marek Malik on the point of a struggling power play. Tocchet said he likes Malik's passing ability there, but the power play needs more help than that. It is 0-for-21 in its past five games. ... Center Jussi Jokinen has not scored in 13 games and has just two assists. Jokinen said his role has changed somewhat recently to a more defensive posture. But Tocchet said Jokinen "is one of the guys struggling right now, and to be honest with you, I'm not happy with his play." Tocchet said Jokinen is not hunting pucks and is tentative with the puck in the offensive zone. "We need him to play well," Tocchet said. ... Defenseman Andrej Meszaros, who tonight makes his first visit to Scotiabank Place after three years with the Senators, said it is killing him that he hasn't yet scored a goal. Tocchet said he advised Meszaros to take a little bit off his booming slap shot to help him better hit the net. "Sometimes it doesn't have to be  a hard slap shot, just a little wrister," Meszaros said. "I'll just keep trying and shooting. Hopefully, once I get the first one, they'll keep going in." ... Is Meszaros worried about the reception he will get? "I'm trying not to think about it," he said. "It should be an exciting game. I'm looking forward to that."

And it is not as if we really expected it to happen given the Lightning's terrible start, but just to put a capper on the Mats Sundin thing, Sundin's agent J.P. Barry said his client has narrowed his choices to four or five teams, none of which are lower than sixth in either conference. Missed it by that much.

Comments

[PD]

Heh Herb , wrong I called it before they dropped the 1st puck.
It started and ended with how they treated Norris candidate Boyle.

I will give you #2 cheers

[Herb]

Just remember who said "the Lightning suck" first. All it took me to figure this out was 15 games into the season. I got slammed for my only 21 win prediction for this year. I told all of you so!!

[leo]

Bash me, MikeP, for carryin' on about my Boys bein' all that and they play like chumps and make me look like a deluded fool.
15hrs left.
P.

[Boltflasher]

That was the worst game I think I have ever seen. Two awful teams playing badly, no flow whatsoever, awful officiating and awful ice. The league should pay the fans who attended that. What a stinker!!!!

Yes its time to say it. The Lightning suck. What a woeful performance. How many times can you continue to say "what a woeful performance"? The players don't deserve their paychecks for this game, nor do the Sens players or the officials....wow, that was bad..

I don't think I have seen 2 teams with less desire and determination than what was displayed last night. Both are a freakin' joke...

[hockeytalkie]

missed the bolts game. took my younger son to see "BOLT" instead for his birthday. sounds like i made the right choice. at least that bolt story had a happy ending.

[mike p]

Why would we bash you leo? A) Have u SEEN the lightning? and B) It's not your fault your team is going through a slump. Aside from feeling good that our last place team beat the habs, there is not much else to be happy about with tampa bay (with the exception of mike smith).

[Patrick]

What a dull game. It was like a battle of who didn't want to win it more. The NHL should burn the tape of that one. I only saw Marty and, yes I agree Brittany, Szcsechura playing well. Otherwise, the team looked terrible, not because they were being outplayed, but because as a team they brought almost nothing tonight. The officiating was pretty bad, but being on the power play seemed to hurt us more than help us. They've really got to get the power play going somehow - that's one of the things that's killing the offense lately. Was a really disappointing effort after the first win in 9 games. They looked like they were ready to get back into the losing routine again.

I agree Smith did play well, and that's good to see, except it was in vain again.

[Badbud]

WOW it is always some excuse, Bad Ice, Bad Officials.Could it be that the Lightning are just a bad team?

God ,they could not beat Gerber.Yhink bad team about covers it.

[Brittany]

I forgot to add one thing, under the worst:

Those Ottawa mustaches were worse than the officiating. It looked like some bad 80s pornstaches out there. I don't know who thought that was a good idea, bringing the team together by all looking like a bunch of doofuses, but yuck.

[Brittany]

Well that game was abysmal.

I'll start with the positive:
1. Smitty again played well. It looked to me like the one goal that went in either deflected off of Malik or the Ottawa player in front of him, or he simply didn't see it around them. The save he made on the 5-on-3 to move from one side to the other was great. I really feel sorry for him, he plays well and ends up stuck on the bench in the last minute hoping we can score. Maybe we should just let him be the 6th skater, he might be able to help our offense...too bad he can't cross the red line.
2. Am I the only one who really likes the play of Paul Szczechura? He is just a smart hockey player and hustles his butt off. He was so unlucky when he shot that puck right into Gerber's glove. We need more players that play with his energy.
3. We actually got a goal call that wasn't bad. I thought for sure they were going to give them the goal. The stopping of play was dumb, but that will be under the bad in a moment.
4. My final on Friday was easy and I was in a good mood after our win in MTL (ok, so that doesn't have to do with this game, but I couldn't come up with anything else.)

Now the bad:
1. WHAT THE HECK WITH THE OFFICIATING?!? That was the worst officiated game I think I have ever seen. No call on Marty's breakaway? No slashing call for breaking Jussi's stick in half?? Are you kidding? I loved how they would blow a call against Ottawa and then not 5 seconds later, we would get a penalty. The phantom trip on Jussi was BS too. Terrible, terrible officials. My cat could have done a better job.
2. How on Earth could the ice be that bad in Ottawa when its snowing outside? The puck was bouncing and sticking all over. Tampa ice isn't even that bad...
3. How do you kick a player in the face, watch as he bleeds all over the ice, and not blow the whistle to halt play!? Also, last time I checked you have to actually have a reason to stop play to review a goal, not whenever you feel like it. Hmm I guess this falls under bad #1 as well. Oh well, it was so bad it deserves mention twice.

On a side note, Downie got 4 assists in his game in Norfolk tonight (they still lost 6-4 though). I thought he brought hustle and energy. Good to see him respond after being sent back down.

[ajax]

Tough loss, they played a nice game. They got to keep Mike Smith's head high. The kid is sooo dern good. Marty was bleeding, lots, I hope he is ok. What everyone was screaming about is why wasn't the whistle blown when there was blood all over the ice?? In 4 years on the blogs I remember complaining about the officials once. (When Chara hit a puck over his shoulder with his stick straight up in the air to beat us and Toronto said it wasn't a high stick, still the worst call I have ever seen on the planet) But these officials went out of there way to assist Ottawa tonight. The NHL should be embarrassed. Twice there were blatant penalties right in front of the same referee and both times, WE then get a penalty 10 seconds later. Jussi gets his stick cut in half 10 feet in front of the net and no one, NO ONE, saw it. Then Marty has a shot at a break away and again, Stevie Wonder could of seen the hook to his forearm.
The only comments are three.
I love how much more aggressive Paul Ranger has been. Of course you ask, why did it take a nine game losing streak to be a ball of fire?? I take it that he is really ticked off (everyone should be!!) but again tonight, he seems to totally lose discipline with his aggresiveness.
Two, I have thought this many times and considering it has been many times, I don't think I am to out of line here. Mezzy is a horrible passer. Misses guys constantly by 5 feet. On the PPlay twice a game he throws a cross ice pass, that is so telegraphed. That is lack of patience. He is a keeper though and will only get better. Have to chuckle about Kuba, he could have 100 assists and still be soft as butter on the backend. Saw that tonight time after time. I will take Mezzy in an instant over Kuba. Picard looks better than Kuba.
Last, I can tell you why I would never want to be a coach. On that empty net goal (I watched the replay twice but couldn't tell who it was) the D just kept backing up until he shot, an easy goal. You are down one goal and you don't pressure the puck at the red line. I would of lost my voice screaming at the guy, whoever mystery man was.
They are playing so much harder and obviously not getting any results.
Scarry times. You have flip flopped a few guys and got young kids playing much harder. That is good. But the young kids just might not be talented enough to do anything more than give energy. Got to get our PPlay working or we have no shot. For all of you who bash Malone, look at our PPlay without him in front of the net. Like night and day. Hope Marty is ok, wicked cut.

[olin]

...sorry performance for both the zebra's and the Bolt's...

[leo]

How the heck do I know, SteveR?
We didn't shoot the puck at him.
THIS was Our most disgraceful game of the year. You'll have to give Us a few moments to collect Ourselves up north.
Leo is officially ashamed tonight.
We didn't skate, we hardly hit, we didn't SHOOT even with EIGHT power-plays, and we couldn't even take TWO giftwrapped open nets, not to mention three bloody posts.
We had Washy EASY.
We're afraid to win.
Pathetic.
I hereby issue a 24hr carte-blanche Bash Leo Ticket to any "Strikes" poster.
Knock yehselves out.
P.

[brendan]

Wow, what a pathetic offensive performance. They barely tested Ottawa's goalie.

[Steve R]

leo,

So what do you think of Varlamov? Not bad for his first game, eh?

[brendan]

Watched Hockey Tonight in Canada and Koules was interviewed. Said that Lawton wasn't a bust in his NHL career. The guy was a first pick overall and scored a total of 112 goals. To me, that is a bust. He also was bragging that his first goal was against Tony Esposito and Barrie's first goal against Hasek. Big deal!! Any slug can score a goal against a good goalie. If Koules thinks these are great accomplishments, I shake my head at his hockey sense.

By the way Lawton was picked before Steve Yzerman and Pat LaFontaine. I wonder how long the Minnesota GM kept his job.

[leo]

Coupla posters disagree with you at the moment, I'm sure, Amanda.
But thanx...I think.
P.

[Amanda]

Come now, Leo, you're not NEARLY as much fun to bash. You don't quite meet the obnoxious threshold.
(...back to lurking, I go...)

[leo]

PD's a leafer, Mickey. How is Our loss his concern?
I'm here. It should be more fun for you to bash ME instead of him in this context, no?
P.

[Boltflasher]

Will have to record tonite's game and come back to watch it later...hope it was worth the trouble. If Bolts win tonight, are they unbeaten north of the border so far?

[Boltflasher]

McGz, not sure he left...check out Kincaid...(maybe he's a travelin' man this week on his laptop persona)

[McGz]

HAHA Flasher, where's PD been BTW? Seems he hides out a few days after the Bolts get a win over a good team. Not that I miss him or anything, just wonderin'.

[McGz]

Lundin has the skills and instincts to be a good 5-6 defenseman, maybe top four, but he needs to pack on some muscle. 6'2" 188? I could crush him at the same weight and a stocky 5'7". The AHL is where he needs to be. Remember people, defensemen develop much slower than forwards. He should of never been in the NHL last year either. I hope we can keep him in the minors and let him develop.

Heward is a serviceable 6th defenseman as an emergency basis. I would much rather see either Smaby, Mihalik or Wishart than he, but the PP is struggling and Heward can contribute there.

OTOH, I was impressed with Krajicek the other night against Montreal. He has the skating ability and actually threw a (gasp) hip check!! Not see around these parts since Lukowich was healthy early last year. Lets get another win tonight boys! GO LIGHTNING!

[Boltflasher]

Sundin's not coming here?!! Dog gone, why not?

[Kipp]

About time for Lundin to go! I can't think of a softer defenceman in the NHL, can you? Also, why not try Smaby or Mihalik over this Heward guy?

[Vickie]

I'll miss him. He was awesome :(

[Joe]

Im glad we were able to keep Lundin. i think he could be a valuable depth player and possibly improve his skills in the AHL and become a 5th or 6th blue liner.