Tampa Bay Lightning considering Adam Oates to coach the power play

It's a long way from being official, if it happens, but the Tampa Bay Lightning is considering former NHLer Adam Oates as an assistant coach who will work almost exclusively with the power play. Oates, a center and power-play specialist in a 19-year NHL career, was a teammate of Lightning coach Rick Tocchet with the Bruins, Capitals and Flyers.

Adding Oates would not affect Tampa Bay's slow-moving search for an assistant coach to work behind the bench and run the defense during games. It also would not affect assistant coach Wes Walz, who was valuable last season as a liaison between Tocchet and the players and was invaluable in the video room, where he helped turn around Steven Stamkos' season.

Hiring a power-play coach would be a smart play for the Lightning, which finished 19th in the league last season with a 17.8 percent efficiency. Notable five-on-three failures late in the season exacerbated the problem.

Oates, 46, had 341 goals and 1,079 assists in a career that took him to Detroit, St. Louis, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Anaheim and Edmonton. He retired after the 2003-04 season sixth all-time in assists and 16th with 1,420 points.

Comments

[gus georgiou]

So who the hell do you believe is saying and wanting to do what? Duemig says that Barrie seems to be the bad guy and is the one putting all this false info out there as to what they are going to do with Vinnie. Now there is talk that if he put his money in the deal then they would spend more towards the cap. This is mind bogling that this franchise is in such a mess when they don't seem to be too far off from having a decent team. This week coming up will show us what this team will be like for the next 5 years. It will turn the corner or be moving to another city. Even trading Vinnie isn't the end of the world if they can get some great players in return instead of their past deals. Come on Lawton, let's finally give us fans something to get excited about this weekend and actually give me reason to renew my season tickets.

[cnw]

Just when I thought things couldn't get worse! We can hear Torts laughing clear up here in NW Fl. Boy, did he have this group sized up in about 10 minutes. How in the world did Bettman vet these guys? I never thought anyone could make as many mistakes as they have in such a short time. I hope Palace Sports is in on the meeting to protect its assets (V4 and Marty).

I believe that there is a Vinny and St. Louis trade on the table with Mtl. and this is what has brought this to a head. I have been reading the Canadien blogs and BG has been quiet this past week and not signing or making trades, which the bloggers have questioned. A week or so ago Vinny was signing autographs for a Dodge dealer close to his home in Mtl. Many thought he was getting used to the fanfare. I hope I am wrong. The players are already jumping ship - see article on Ramo. Who's next?

How about contacting Mr. Blackberry about owning a team in Fl. I am sure he would love to winter in Fl. and everyone would roll out the red carpet if he could come in and fix this team, keep V4 and Marty, make a correct draft choice (all 3 of the top picks sound like winners to me), make sure we have a backup goalie now that Ramo is going to Russia, get the defense the team needs, decent coaching staff, and settle down the fans. That isn't asking too much of anyone, is it?

I thought perhaps I was going to have a boring hockey summer, but no such luck.

[Randy C]

Patrick,

There are a few of us who'll be with you. The water is very warm this time of year. The big mystery to me is, why does this come out now? These reporters who supposedly cover the Bolts, decide to tell us now? What credibility do they have if this has been going on for so long, yet they don't tell us till now? How about being straight with us guys? To early to get wet.

[Sean]

This is just emabarassing. I'd take Ron Wilson back in a heartbeat. I can hear Vinny's phone call to his agent this morning: "Get me out of this circus!!!"

Sounds like Chelios is looking for work. Doubt he'd want to get involved with this group, but he'd be a good player/coach.

[Don in St. Pete]

PD, It seems as if all your hopes and predictions are coming true. I guess we should expect Ron Wilson to show up next to reclaim the team. The 3 Stooges said it best.

Mo: You imbecile!
Curley: I'm a victim of circumstances!

[Patrick]

I'm not jumping off the ship period, I'll go down with it. I'm just doing about the only thing I can do at this point - making fun of this ridiculous situation for what it is.

[PD]

thx for the hat tip TWG.
It was like watching a 12 month train wreck take place.

[Randy C]

Make sure the ship is going to sink before you jump off, don't forget the life jacket either way. Think I'll wait for a little more info before I jump. Where is Talkie, lets see what his source says.

[2WayCenter]

LeanMean - Funny song.

This development is simply conformation of what we have know all along. The club was rotting from the top down. This is the first step in a fix. You know what they say, "The first step is admitting that you have a problem."

Do not count the other 29 owners and Bettman out. Look what they have done in Phoenix. Their interest is in a quick fix.

Barrie has already said that he cannot be here to run the team. A viable alternative is to force them to hire a knowledgeable hockey man to run the day to day (gee, how novel). We will see, but now that the news has been outed I expect a NHL hammer, and fast.

[Leanmean43]

A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
how that Cup used to shine…
and I knew they had a chance
that they could make it back to the dance
And, maybe, they’d be winning for a while.

But last year made me shiver
With every loss they’d deliver
Bad news at forum
They even fired the doormen

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about how Vinny tried
But Koules and Barrie were sucked dry
The day the franchise died

They started singin
bye bye Vinny 4
Koules and Barrie shipped you out the door
Now they can spend to the cap floor
The fans will be in an uproar

The day the franchise died…

[2WayCenter]

Today I thought, "The OK boys have not said much lately, perhaps they have learned and are keeping a low profile."

A wishful fool I am.

Here is my next wish. Bettmen hands the reins to Barrie and we go into the draft with scarcely a ripple. Pick up a couple FAs and sail into next season with hopes on high.

[Boltflasher]

One of the reasons I have an ex is due to the "drama queen" thing...unfortunately we have the same in owners...

[Patrick]

Where'd PD? He must be in the hospital or something. It's almost criminal that he's not here to savor this.

[Boltflasher]

How embarrasing for the Lightning officials at the draft over the weekend...everybody snickering behind their back...

[Patrick]

Jesus, wow, do I feel like an @ss. I finally take the leap of faith with our ownership saying they'd get the finances worked out and now this. How embarrassing that we have the Odd Couple for owners. There just really is no end to them getting in the way. It's like they are already getting a head start on screwing next season up.

Running the team at 40 mil with no Vinny - why bother? Just sell the team now. I'll take whichever owner wants to run the team at 50 mil. Flasher, I believe it was OK who brought in Melrose. Nough said.

Just please do not screw up the draft. Can't imagine how much fun the media is going to have with this.

[Boltflasher]

Vinny may request a trade now...

[2WayCenter]

Funny Casper.

[2WayCenter]

Funny Casper.

[Boltflasher]

Yep, Don, I think you hit that one right on the head!..

[Don in St. Pete]

It's obvious Koules wanted to trade V4 at the draft and Barrie stepped in. That's why there's no draft party, they didn't want 12,000 angry fans burning down the forum after they announced the V4 trade. God help the Bolts and their fans....

[Casper]

So the Cowboys’ true colors are about to be exposed as they get sent to the Principal’s Office, eh?

Koules had a mojo flung upon him by an ex-wife and what credible thing ever flew past Barrie’s lips?

A choice between the two must be made? No thanks, it strikes the similar nervous chord as, “Suppose you’re thrown into a prison cell with Jeffrey Dahmer. Would you prefer him to be hungry or h*rny?”

I’ll take TEN PowerBall tickets and Go Bolts!

[2WayCenter]

My vote is for swift and painless, and errrrr.... 50 mil and a FA or 2 sounds better than 40 and V4 salary dump.

[Boltflasher]

I now say that which ever one brought in Melrose should step back...

[2WayCenter]

I know this is against the grain and may sound more than a little naive, but I have some faith that Bettman can improve things. He and the other NHL owners have a vested interest in keeping the waters as calm as possible. My question, how does this go public now?

[Randy C]

Equal partnerships do not work in sports. There has to be one who has the final say. These two, as we have heard, are not on the same page. There goes hopes of a UFA D.

[Don in St. Pete]

I like Curley from the Three Stooges. " I keep trying to think but nothing happens". Never a dull moment here in HockeyBay.USA

[Don in St. Pete]

I like Curley from the Three Stooges. " I keep trying to think but nothing happen". Never a dull moment here in HockeyBay.USA

[Boltflasher]

Yes, Laurel and Hardy is about right...

[Randy C]

What a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into!

[Boltflasher]

With the lack of direction, what FA would want to come here? ...disgusting, I feel sick....

[Don in St. Pete]

While I'm a bit taken aback by this, I'm not really surprised, just disappointed. Perhaps Koules was actually the one behind the Boyle trade and not Barrie. If what Romano reports is thrue, they'll be a lot of fans hopin Len Barrie get's control. A $50mil payroll could get us that top 2 d, keep Vinny and add a top six forward with a few minor trades. I hope they're both at least in favor of drafting Hedman if he's there.

[Leanmean43]

Well this is great news! NOT! One thing I know for sure is this team will never win if these owners make it an ongoing circus. This team could have been at least competitive last year if they hadn't dismantled the defense. Constant roster shuffling isn't ever going to produce a winner. Signing players to Long-Term deals and then trading them does not gain the trust of players or fans. Everyone in the league has caught onto this teams act and good luck getting any players to come here or stay here as long as these guys are in charge. If I were Marty, Vinny, and Malone I'd be begging to be traded right now. I feel sorry for Stamkos he's stuck here til he's 25 unless they trade him before then (likely).

[Boltflasher]

Dumping Vinny and paring the payroll to $40 mill is not exactly what any of us had in mind...that'll mean another last place finish and 1/2 empty bldg...I thought it was the other way around with Barrie wanting to trade Vinny and keep Lawton with Koules wanting to go to the $50 mil and keeping Vinny unless overwhelmed with a deal...

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/hockey/lightning/article1012505.ece

[Boltflasher]

Uh Oh!! Check out Romano's article on our owners...bad bad bad...not good

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/hockey/lightning/article1012505.ece

What a shame...!

[2WayCenter]

Not to be redundant nor rude, but how is "cap hit" relevant when our owners are working on a self imposed budget?

[Patrick]

The Hockey Hitman on HFBoards is on the same wavelength I am about Vinny's cap value. But he apparently did much more research:

"Which by the way, Vinny's cap hit is less than Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Brad Richards and Eric Staal's, while just a smudge more than players like Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Thomas Vanek, Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, Jarome Iginla, Brian Campbell, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Anze Kopitar, Patrik Elias, Ed Jovanovski, Daniel Briere, Paul Kariya and Kimmo freakin' Timonen."

[Don in St. Pete]

Leanmean, I'm not sure what the rules are with respect to Vrbata's situation. Konopka and Bochenski are on 1 way contracts, that means you could expose them to waivers and send them down to Norfolk, but the Owners would still have to pay them the $1mil+ so I am assuming that will count as part of their team salary figure. I'm not sure Ohlund will come here unless we overpay. He probably wants a legit chance at playing for a cup. Beauchemin is younger and would cost less but will have more competetion for his services for those reasons. I think they'll wait to see where J. Bo lands and try to trade for the odd man out. It will be interesting to watch the draft play out and the beginning of free agency. I don't personally see them signing any UFA forwards, but perhaps they can get one in trade for a few grinders and a draft pick. Getting a top 2 to play with and mentor Hedman will be key, whether through trade of UFA. I think it's a stretch to imagine Hedman in a shutdown role in his 1st year though I'm sure he'll get his minutes and lots of PP time. I wouldn't be surprised to see Smaby in the shutdown role until Hedman can learn the pace of the game and the effort and thought it requires. The health of those returning from injury equally so.

[Boltflasher]

I second Don in that ALL these comments today are GREAT!!! ...good blog during this down time! Its good to see we all want the Bolts to improve!....

A lot of IFs have to come together to be a playoff team whether or not we trade Vinny. My feelings are if we get what we should get for Vinny the team would be vastly improved...but again, the key word is "IF"...IF Vinny comes back with a stellar season,..IF Stamkos continues to improve, IF this or that FA is signed...IF they spend here or spend there,...IF they get investors,...IF...IF...

Alot of IFs, take your pick...

[Leanmean43]

Don,
I really believe that my proposed lineup would be good enough to be a playoff team. If you add a guy like Samuelsson, Sykora, or Fedotenko for $2.5 million to play on Vinny's line that'd be a line that could get a total of 80-90 goals. Then you have Malone, Stamkos, Marty line that could get you a total 80-90 goals. I think a third line with Halpern, Downie, Moen could get you a total 30-35 goals. The forth line with Pettinger, Szczechura, and Artyukhin would be a good energy line with a lot of speed that could get you a total 10-15 goals. If you ask me that's pretty decent balance on offense.

Szczechura and Downie I think could be pretty good contributors. Chewie is a smart player with good speed who is good defensively, I think if he plays a full season he could get 10 goals on a third or fourth line. Chewie had 4 goals in 30 games, if you project that for a whole season he would have had around 10. Downie I also think could get around 10 goals playing on the third line. Why not try out some of these guys who are still in their early 20's who have some potential.

If they Draft Hedman and sign Ohlund I think the defense would be pretty solid. Hedman played in the Swedish Elite league against tougher competition than players who play in juniors. Scouts are saying he can play 20 minutes a game right away. Ohlund is a solid shutdown guy who can move the puck a little and has a good shot, I think he would be a good mentor for Hedman. Then they should have a healthy Ranger and Meszaros, which I think they will because they had surgery a month before the season which gives them time to train and participate in camp.

As for Bochenski and Konopka, I think they will put them on waivers or be traded to a team that needs some bodies in the minors so they won't count against the budget. I think they will also loan Vrbata to the Czech league again so they won't have to pay his salary.

[ajax]

all of you respond with the assumption that the 9mil will be spend horribly....what if they added 2 more Mezzy's and 2 more Ranger's or kept 1 Vinny.....that is the point of the blog....but for me you can get very good NHL players for 2.5 mil...IF DONE RIGHT.....I don't make that horrible assumption that they will pee it away....because of the down economic times, I think salaries are going to be way in the favor of owners this off season, which means 10 million in actual salary could bring lots more....some of you argue Malone at 6 mil....his cap is 4.5 You have to converse in apples versus apples....Once again...if they spend 50 million versus 44-46 million that is a huge difference....all the GM's are backloading the cap.....part of the argument is skipped over by many.....the actual payroll doesn't have any effect on Philly or Toronto or the Rangers......it means everything to Tampa....hence the 7.7 cap hit is not really being honest??? that 10 million hit will effect every single trade or signing here for 5 years straight....are you suggesting we will have a cap of 49 mil and a payroll of 53-55??? (Marty and Malone are also cap friendly gang versus actual salary) No way no way no way....maybe a cap of 44 and a payroll of 49 but never the 49cap/54salary scenario....and that in my opinion is why the "salary" of King Vinny will hamper this roster.....On paper the Mezzy Ranger Hedman Ohlund top 4 looks prettty good....but you are talking 23-26 minutes a night from all 4 of them (and none of them have ever done that in their life) no injuries.etc.etc...some of you said alot of if's....that is putting it mildly. We played some decent hockey in January when the real roster was in place....to sustain that over 80 games with heavy minutes for 8 guys is asking an awful lot of the hockey gods...and part of that particular big if is signing Ohlund.......You will hear a giant hip hip hooray if Hollywood and Co. get that guy signed....that is Jill Wagner stuff dreaming...I hope I hope....next few weeks should be very interesting Schultz...

[Don in St. Pete]

Excellent post's by all and yes everything could fall in place for the Bolts this season. I would prefer to keep V4 and our core intact. I'm just not sure I believe the owners are really going to carry a roster of $49 mil this season. For all of our sake and the continued development of our young defense and draft pick, I hope they do.

[Randy C]

Another day closer to answers. The more we speculate the more I actually admire the persons and personalities that post here. The many different scenarios that have logically been contrived to build a winner posted to be admired or laughed at 8 months from now. How many new posters that say nothing now will claim to have said all along....? Does anything posted here affect OK's decision making or even bend their thought just a little?

Ajax, your 3 for 3.3 instead of one 10 works only if we can get that in return. I don't see the teams that can afford it offering what would be that 3 for one value after the injuries the last 2 years. If they do, you take it.

2way, I see Lawton as a significant improvement when it comes to negotiations with players and agents. He did this himself for many years from the players side, this is his best asset to OK, IMO. On the trading table I think he's won more and lost less despite what we see here. Your point on we can win with Vinny is right on, we have some promising potential that may improve this season, as well as established good players. At our best last year we were competitive in December even with the lack of a training camp and a system to start the season. All those overtime and shoot out losses and one goal games, you could not be more right that all is not futile if we keep Vinny.

[2WayCenter]

Patrick - good post. When the owners are setting a high 40 million budget, what importance is the salary cap?

[Patrick]

All,

Vinny Lecavalier is never going to count 10 mil against the cap. The only thing that is relevant about the fact Vinny makes 10 mil a year is whether or not the owners can afford it and still field a reasonable roster. For the sake of argument, lets assume the owners are able to do this. The fact that earlier OK said they are going to add defensemen better than Ranger and Mez and he recently said they will spend 49 mil shows he at least thinks they can.

Vinny's biggest drawback is the fact he counts 7.7 mil against the cap. I think that's about right giving his size and skill level. Crosby counts 8.7 mil against the cap and Ovechkin counts 9.5 mil against the cap.

Ajax,

Given the above information, if you were to trade Vinny for three players that make 3+ mil, you've increased the hit to the salary cap.

If we were to trade Vinny for multiple players at an equal cap hit, we could look at last year's free agents. We got Malone at 4.5 mil and Vrbata and 3 mil. How does that sound, V4 for Malone and Vrbata? I don't think Malone is half the player Vinny is. Vinny has 669 career points and Malone has 214 and Malone is a year older. And Vrbata... well that shows quick fixes are hard to find. And what team can afford to give two\three good players for one, and would they even want to?

If we were to trade Lecavalier for picks and prospects, then we are rebuilding, which means we will be further off next year than we are now. And that includes the embarrassment of naming a player a captain, signing him to a lifetime contract and then trading him the next year.

7.7 mil against the cap is no reason to trade Vinny. If he doesn't approach 40 goals, 90 points and provide clutch play next year, that's more a of reason to trade him in my opinion.

Don,

Perpetual cycle of mediocrity? That's one thing about so many players on our team being young - Stamkos, Mez, Ranger, Smaby, Lashoff, Ramo, Hedman* - they should still have an upside. Vinny himself is still young enough to have a career year.

But I agree the team is full of If's. There's also can Mike Smith play well, can Ramo back him up, can Hedman contribute the first year? Will Stamkos avoid the softmore slump? Is Ranger, if healthy, gonna take the next step? Sounds like we can't accurately say how far away we are right now.

[2WayCenter]

Agreed, V4's contract looks too big for the Bolts budget, but the downside of a V4 trade is far more than a certain loss of ticket sales. First, chemistry takes time; that sort of trade is scrap and rebuild. Forget next year, and what 3 players are being proposed?

Second, Lawton and the OK boys might be the best deal men in the league, but that is not the perception. Who among us does not see Lawton's weak hand at the negotiation table? Maybe you find a team to take the V4 contract, and then off to the FA market with your shiny 10 mil. Jeez, we paid 6 mil for Malone last year. Who are the Lightning going to get for 3.3?

Sorry, I do not buy the "we are going to be bad again next year if we do not trade V4 next year" story . Remember how many 1 goal losses there were in the first half of the season. Remember the 18 overtime losses. The games were not really lopsided until Smith, Mezzy and Ranger were all out for the season. And then the Bolts started competing for a draft pick.

Sure, it would be great to dump the big salary and get a deeper team in return. Made sense to some with the Richards then Boyle trades. The returns seems to be going down for each dump.

Please spare us the I told you so BS next year if we have a mediocre season in 09-10. The reality is that the moves being proposed are not on the table. The best team we can ice will include V4 despite the bad contract.

[Don in St. Pete]

Patrick and LeanMean, Something can always be done to ice a team, but one of the goals moving forward should be to improve the prospect of making the playoffs and reaching the Stanley Cup. I don't see creating a perpetual cycle of mediocrity as gaining any new fans and keeping the Bolts in Tampa long term. Sure we'll sell a lot of V4 sweaters and eventually we'll build up a better team my virtue of the top 5 draft picks we'll be getting most season's. There is room for optimism if Rags can return to his 07-08' form and the same for Mez. If Vinny and Marty can score like they did in 05-06' and Halpern plays like he did at the end of 07-08'. These are all big if's though and we have no organizational depth at forward. Leanmean the salary #'s you threw out there don't include Vrbata, Bochenski or Konopka. We have 14 forwards under contract for next season, so I wouldn't expect any to be coming here unless it's through trade. Your scenario also calls for letting Krajicek and Welch walk which may be overly optomistic after shoulder injuries to Mez and Rags. So add at least 4 mil for the 3 forwards above and you can subtract Feds, Pettinger and Moen. Chances are that the addition of Hedman and Ohlund would propbably net you 10 more wins as would a healthy V4, Mez, Rags and Smitty. Unfortunately this season is riding on a lot of if's, ands or but's.

[Leanmean43]

Oren Koules told the globe and mail two weeks ago that the team was going to have a $49 million budget. Spending that amount would allow them to put a competitive team on the ice in my opinion and keep Vinny. That would allow them to sign a cheap top 6 forward, a 4 million dollar free agent defensemen, draft Hedman, and qualify the rfa's and keep the budget under $49 million. They should try to sign a top 6 forward like Sykora, Samuelsson, or Fedetenko. They should also try to sign a 3rd liner like Travis Moen, and then sign a D-man like Ohlund.

2009/2010 Salary
FORWARDS
Lecavalier 10,000,000
St. Louis 4,000,000
Malone 6,000,000
Prospal 3,500,000
Halpern 2,000,000
Artyukhin 1,000,000
Stamkos 875,000
Craig 800,000
Szczechura 650,000
Hall 600,000
Downie 600,000
*Karsums 867,000
*Pettinger 700,000
*Fedotenko 2,500,000
*Moen 1,200,000
DEFENSE
Meszaros 3,250,000
Ranger 1,100,000
*Smaby 867,000
*Lashoff 719,000
*Lundin 774,000
*Hedman 900,000
*Ohlund 4,000,000

GOALIES
Smith 2,000,000
Ramo 761,000

TOTAL= $48,516,000

Prospal-Lecavalier-Samuelsson
Malone-Stamkos- St. Louis
Moen-Halpern- Downie
Pettinger-Szczechura- Artyukhin

Ohlund- Hedman
Ranger- Meszaros
Lashoff-Smaby

[ajax]

Patrick...good blog...of course you are, like me, not facing the negative reality that so many print here...I see keeping/trading Vinny as the best/worst of two evils.....they trade him and the immediate thud of people not buying tickets is very very real..in fact 100% guaranteed....keep him and you start the season with the same roster that finished last...probably less, as owners spend less money to fill obvious holes....the whole season rides on injuries....80 games of Smith Ranger and Mezzy should be enough to keep us respectable.....for me it is always the exact same argument....do you want three players at 3.3 million or one player at 10 million.....Some teams are looking for that one missing piece to complete a very good team and are willing to over pay for it....that ain't us....we have the youngest, and cheapest D core in hockey....that ain't gonna turn the corner this year or probably any time soon....I would never leave going to the games if they simply traded Vinny...I call that star infatuation that the USA is firmly planted in....I would rather win with our leading scorer having 27 goals than ESPN moments with a horrible team...unfortunately I am in the minority...I get so tired of "If they trade Vinny I ain't going" Two last place horrible teams in a row and everyone has not figured out that this is the ultimate "team" sport.....One line...even two line teams have no chance......no one on our present line up can even play the point on the pplay.......it is called skill players and we aren't one or two short...we are 4-5-6 players...real establlished NHL players from winning 40 games...in three months we will all make our predictions again....I will be shocked if our line up looks much different from last year....As good as our top 4 forwards are...Smith Mezzy and Ranger staying healthy will be far more important to this team than any of the other guys.....I believe that statement....which if dissected just a bit says that three players making a combined 6.35 million are more valuable to us than one making 10 million....sooo many ways to explain what a luxury Vinny is that we simply can not afford......heck the real argument is none of the top 8 players can even chip a tooth...not comforting...

[Patrick]

Don,

We should be able to sign\resign for under 6 mil - Ramo, Hedman, Smaby, Lashoff and Petiot (depth). At a payroll of 45+ mil, that should give us two quality forward lines, the youngest 5 starting nhl defensemen in the league with Hedman, and two goalies.

That roster is not the same that played half of last year without Smith, Mezaros or Ranger. I don't think it's a stretch either to say both V4 and Prospal will have better offensive years. Stamkos should actually be ready to be the 2nd line center this year. Mezzy had the worst year of his career - he should be better as well. Also, we have a better coach this year. At best though, we probably play close to .500 if we are lucky with injuries.

I don't think a team with Vinny traded will play much better next year though. Stamkos at 19 would be our #1 center and we'd probably be trying to find a 2nd scoring line. And the defense would still probably struggle even if you add Markov. They are mostly just too young, but they have to play to get better. Growing pains. They used to call it a five year plan. Last year was year 1 with the new owners. Why trade your best player in year 2? I am optimistic they will find a way to get more financing. They did say they were looking for investors. OK said he was going to add better defensemen which of course doesn't fit with the numbers that have been reported. We don't KNOW for sure what the payroll will be next season. We'll have to wait and see.

At the trade deadline, hopefully we trade Prospal (after he's done better than last year) because he is not a long term piece (age + bad contract) and Halpern is gone at the end of the year. That's 5.5 mil freed up. We should be able to get a 2nd line forward and third line player for less than that amount that are both younger, either through the system or free agency.

A big question is how are the going to get rid of Vrbata's 3 mil this year. I think I read it was a loophole that allowed them to not have his 3 mil hit the cap last year, but they can't do the same this year.

[Casper]

Don, I wouldn’t mind if I were the mystery guy with the $50-60M to infuse into the life and salvation of Tampa Bay Hockey. Then we could dispense with the “instant gratification isn’t fast enough” mentality and go ahead toward building a solid program.

Blue Chippers aren’t all that. I would love for us each year, to pick up Marty St. Louis types from every other club and rely on our new scouts to fill out the roster with little known 3rd & 4th rounders that hear one little thing a particular coach says, and a big light goes on inside their melon.

We need those light switch flicking coaches. I can’t get over the idea of Adam Oates coming on board. That’s great, and a good start. Just remember, the rest of our Draft is going to be in the hands of Rumble and May at Norfolk. (urp!)

Gimme five PowerBall tickets and, Go Bolts!