R&R: Moving Day, Part IX

Brad Lukowich. I don't know, man.

Greener pastures. Maybe greener islands.

Brad will be taking up arms with the New York Islanders this fall, making him the second of our top four championship blue-liners to disappear without a trace. Jassen Cullimore being the other.

Cullimore joined the Blackhawks last summer. The same place where Khabibulin just showed up. That combined with their other recent pick-ups, including Martin Lapointe and Adrian Aucoin, might be fair to say that Chicago could be a real force this season. We'll just have to see.

But as for the Isles stealing Lukowich, the fact is they could use him. The loss of Aucoin and the potential/likely loss of Roman Hamrlik leaves a pretty good dent in their blue line.

That said, there are rumblings that Hamrlik could be the next original Bolt to return to Tampa. He'd probably like to join a contender, and it's not like he didn't enjoy living here. We traded him to Edmonton back in '97 for three guys who never really left their marks on the team.

The other big news from a league-wide perspective was the signing of Eric Lindros to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yeah, they got Forsberg, but does Philadelphia really mean to dismantle their entire team piece by piece? Unlike Chicago, who needs to retool, the Flyers didn't really have that losing problem. Still, if the shoe fits.

As for Toronto, they're just stock-piling all-stars much in the way the Rangers have for the past few years. Lindros' career is pretty much over, though it's interesting to note that the Leafs wouldn't sign him until after an MRI exam.

Quite a few players re-signed contracts today. Joe Thornton of Boston, Mike Ribiero of Montreal, Niko Kapanen and Steve Ott of Dallas, Kyle McLaren and Niko Dimitrakos of San Jose, Dan Hinote of Colorado, and Pasi Nurminen of Atlanta will all be continuing with their respective teams.

With no other real hockey news, I leave you with this thought: (conjure the voice of Bolts radio guy Dave Mishkin) "St. Louis! St. Louis! St. Louis! Marty's done it again!"




Marty St. Louis!   Why? Because who doesn't love seeing the Stanley Cup hovering over a Lightning jersey in Marty's hands? Tell me that.