Delay of Game

Vote On The NHL's Best Logo!

2007-08-12T08:56:00.001-04:00

Make your voice heard! Whether you're the world's biggest hockey fan, or you've never watched a game, go place your vote for the NHL's best logo!

Cathode Rays & Power Plays

2007-04-09T20:55:00.000-04:00

The new permanent blog can be found here if you care to read on. I'm still writing about Lightning hockey on a regular basis if the title wasn't enough of a hint. And if you just want to see the hockey posts, then use this link.

You'll Never Believe This

2006-10-01T22:16:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I don't know if anybody still reads this since it's been well over a year since my last post, but I'm going to try and give this blog another shot with the Lightning's new season quickly approaching.

Here's the thing. I've been watching the Lightning since I was eight years old. Their very first season. My dad even took me to a handful of games at Expo Hall. Yeah, back when the Bolts played in a barn. Since then, I've been to more games than I can count and followed just about everything that's ever happened to the franchise.

The games I didn't go to, I either watched on TV or listened to on the radio. I remember Larry Hirsch and John Ahlers. Do you remember when John Kelly did the televised games? I think he's in Denver or St. Louis now. He was my favorite of the Lightning broadcasters. Don't misunderstand though, Larry Hirsch is an awfully close second and I have absolutely nothing against Rick Peckham or Dave Mishkin (scooOOOOre!!), but I just felt Kelly brought an energy to his play-by-play that I just really enjoyed. I make room for the possibility of course that I'm the only one.

I'm getting a little off track, though. The reason I'm here... the reason I'm back... I may be getting hired as a member of the Sun Sports broadcast team for Bolts games. Can you believe that? Now, don't get carried away, here. I'll be an intern. But I'll be right there for every televised home game. Right in the middle of it. The best of both my worlds. Hockey meets live television.

Now as a video editor, I may not be the biggest fan of live TV, but my standards change when my Bolts are involved. Maybe I'll get to be involved in a highlight reel package or something. Someone has to edit those together.

So unless I'm told to stop writing by some higher authority, I plan to bring a unique perspective to the hockey blogging world this season. Nothing scandalous, of course. I'm not like that. But those who watch the games on what used to be called Sunshine Network, I'm sure you might find something interesting in what I have to say.

There you have it, friends. I'm returning to the blogging world. I swear. Unlike last season where I quit writing before training camp even began.

Let's go Lightning, let's go!

Game Over

2005-09-07T22:45:00.000-04:00

Scott Stevens and Vincent Damphousse have, pardon the irritating cliché, hung up their skates for good.

The Devils announced Stevens' retirement the other day, effectively ending a 22-year career in the NHL. He was drafted by the Capitals in 1982 and played for them for eight seasons. Following a year in St. Louis, Stevens moved on to New Jersey in 1991 where he finished out his career.

Damphousse exits the NHL as a Shark. Until heading to San Jose in 1998, he had been only with Canadian teams, including Toronto (where he was drafted in 1986), Edmonton (for a single season), and Montreal (where he spent seven years).

And then there's Pavel Datsyuk, who apparently has no interest in returning to the Red Wings unless they meet his demands. The only thing this hold-up was missing was gunfire — until Datsyuk signed on with a Russian club for the season. Adios.

The New York Islanders re-signed Rick DiPietro and the Lightning grabbed blue liner Todd Rohloff, who no one else really seems to want.

Last but not least before I end this abbreviated post is to mention that the Lightning training camp opens at the Brandon Ice Sports Forum on Monday, Sept. 12.

That about wraps it up. The pre-season begins in 12 days.

R&R: Nope, Not Dead...

2005-09-02T23:18:00.000-04:00

...I'm still alive.

But there's been no hockey news to report on over the last week. Or not anything worth an entire blog post. I don't like to write my posts a little at a time. As you can see I prefer a somewhat longer format containing useful (or useless, depending on how you look at it) information.

So here's what I know. The Atlanta Thrashers nailed down free agent Mike Dunham today with the future of their goaltenders a little bit foggy. Nurminen's knee injury the other day has basically put his career in jeopardy.

The Canucks signed goalie Brent Johnson the other day. If I'm not mistaken he was once a Blue. Matter of fact, does St. Louis even have a goalie now? Osgood just left for Detroit. Though, I guess if you count Patrick Lalime, they aren't in such bad shape.

Jose Theodore signed a three-year deal with the Canadiens. So he'll be staying there a while longer. But will this be a good year for him? He does tend to switch off between good ones and bad ones.

And Lyle Odelein was signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins. And if one more person says to me "the Penguins are going to win the Cup this year," I'm going to throw a Budweiser can at him. Sidney Crosby is great, sure, but no one guy is gonna win any team the Cup. And while I can't criticize some of their signings, rebuilding a team takes time. You don't go from last to first overnight. Look at the Lightning if you need proof.

Mike Emrick will call NHL games on OLN this year. He was signed on as the main play-by-play announcer. I remember him doing games on FOX back in the middle ages when they used to broadcast hockey. I remember I liked him. Plus he's been calling New Jersey Devils games for something like half his career — which has lasted 25 years to date.

That should wrap it up for tonight. Enjoy the satellite hockey arena photo below.

Pittsburgh's Hockey Mecca (Space's Perspective) This here is Mellon Arena, home of the Penguins. Why Pittsburgh today? Why not? Maybe because it's the weirdest looking arena I've ever seen from space. It kind of reminds me of the biodome-ish structure from The Truman Show.

R&R: Andreychuk Takes Two

2005-08-25T21:21:00.000-04:00

Jay Feaster might just be a miracle worker if I have anything to say about it. Not only did he sign Lecavalier and St. Louis to multi-year deals, but the team announced today that Dave Andreychuk is returning — for two years!

Figuring in his age and the fact that after 22 years he just won his first Stanley Cup, I would've guessed him to choose to end his career. But not our Dave. The captain is back for two years, likely the final two before he really does retire.

Other than that, news around the NHL was light today.

The Carolina Hurricanes decided to name Rod Brind'Amour captain, a title he held very shortly during his days in Philadelphia. He succeeds Ron Francis, who was traded to Toronto late last season, and has probably seen his last days in the NHL.

On a Lightning-related note, Cory Stillman was named an alternate captain, joining Kevyn Adams and Glen Wesley.

Also, the Capitals locked down Chris Clark, whose rights they acquired from Calgary a few weeks ago in exchange for a 2007 draft pick.

The new rules being implemented in the new NHL this fall are being met by a smidgen of controversy. Ed Belfour commented in the Toronto Sun the other day that the new rules allowing goalies to play the puck less is "a bit of a joke."

"Maybe some forwards should play with their opposite hand. Or, better yet, play with their sticks upside down. That's what I equate it to.

I'm sure the general managers who don't have a puck-handling goaltender were the ones who voted for this rule.

We have the world's fastest game, one of skill, and, like Marty [Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur] has said, they are taking one of our skills away. ... I will find a way around it, though."

Those were some of the Belfour quotes worth repeating. My brother, a recently graduated high school goaltender, strictly objects to the limitations being places on goalies in the NHL now.

That said, I found it funny that an article appeared on NHL.com today wherein Mats Sundin suggests patience as the new rules find their place. Seems to me that since Belfour mouthed off to a reporter, the league's looking to do a little damage control. Though I could easily be wrong.

Personally, I can't make an honest comment on the new goalie restrictions as I am not now nor have I ever been a goalie. However, any rule that opens up the possibility of more scoring is, in my opinion, worth trying out.

At Long Last After 22 years in the NHL, Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk finally earned the chance to carry the Stanley Cup. Now he's opted to add another two years in Tampa onto his career.

Bloggers Taking Notice

2005-08-24T23:03:00.000-04:00

Here's a rare sidestep from my overused "Relocating & Replacing" (R&R) posts. But I've been pretty surprised to see the number of other hockey blog writers who have actually read my blog. It's kind of shocking, really, mostly because I haven't been writing that long. Not only that, but they've taken the time to mention Delay of Game in their own blogs. Well as impressed as they are by my blog, I'm fascinated by theirs just the same.

Boltsmag This is one of my favorite hockey blogs mainly because writer John Fontana follows the Lightning even more closely than I do. I found it shortly after I started Delay of Game last month. The reason I think anyone else even found my blog was because I once posted a comment on his.

the habs blog Obviously, this is a Montreal Canadiens blog Ryan Henderson, like me, writes on the events of the league as well as the news of his team.

In The Crease Another blog worth mentioning is run by Buffalo Sabres fan Lindsey Ungar who was recently kind enough to point out my series of satellite pictures over NHL arenas. Apparently some of you think they are pretty cool.

HockeyBlogs.org The people at HockeyBlogs.org were kind enough to add me to their listings. Delay of Game is listed in the Tampa Bay Lightning section.

Obviously I'm fairly new to the world of hockey blogging. But I haven't even really begun yet. As soon as the Lightning hit the ice, I plan to expand my coverage of them. Personally, I think TampaBayLightning.com could use some new writers and, like John said recently, a facelift. I'd redesign it for them for free. They've had the same site for a few years now. Time to upgrade.

Not only that but I missed hockey so much last year that I really just want to immerse myself in it. And I lack a lot of friends with whom to discuss the sport and my team. Here, I can write to whoever, whenever. Floridian hockey fans are tough to come by.

Plus, in the few weeks I've been writing Delay of Game, I've already met a few new people with whom I can talk hockey. People who like the Lightning and know more than me. I'm happy to surround myself with smart people. They can only make me smarter.

Anyhow, I just felt like I should make mention of these cool blogs I've been introduced to since starting my own. Should any others come across my hockey radar, I'll be sure to make mention of them.

I think two posts is enough for today. Until next time.

Detroit's Hockey Mecca (Space's Perspective) This is for In The Crease's Lindsey Ungar who was the first to make a request for an NHL arena satellite photo (borrowed from Google Maps). Lindsey wanted to see The Joe from a bird's eye view. Enjoy.

R&R: Here To Stay!

2005-08-24T16:24:00.000-04:00

Marty St. Louis re-signed his contract with the Lightning today. For six years! Surely you know how important that is for a team coming off its first Stanley Cup championship.

Marty was the MVP and scoring champ last season and now he'll be a Bolt until at least 2011. The contract is worth $31.5 million, meaning that in all likelihood he'll be eating the last $5 million left in the team's salary budget for this season. That said, Tampa Bay is all but done with this year's contract signings.

It also puts a hurt on the possibility of retaining Brad Richards when he goes up for restricted free agency next summer. But that's still a year away and I'm going to pretend to be blind to it until then. Not only that, but none of this figures Dave Andreychuk into the mix at the moment. What matters now is our 2005-06 Lightning are pretty well locked down. A second consecutive Cup run is certainly not out of the question.

I knew Jay would get the job done.

With regard to the rest of the league, there isn't much to report today. The Mighty Ducks shipped Steve Rucchin to the Rangers for a six-pack of Labatt's or something and Mattias Ohlund inked a new contract in Vancouver.

Short show today. Let's all just revel in Marty's big commitment today.

All Smiles It took a few extra weeks to nail it all down, but Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis are both here to stay. And it's a good thing, too. We Lightning fans want to see another playoff run.

R&R: Heatley's Request Granted

2005-08-23T18:59:00.000-04:00

When I saw the ESPN.com headline earlier that read "Thrashers trade Heatley," I had to do a double-take. But reading a little more into it, it makes a lot more sense. Not only will the Thrashers collect ex-Sens Marian Hossa and Greg de Vries out of the deal, but Dany Heatley asked to be traded.

When he got drafted, he was touted as the next big thing. He didn't get the press Sidney Crosby has had this year, but he was a young player to keep an eye on. Things took a turn in the wrong direction, however, when Heatley was the driver in a car wreck that killed friend and teammate Dan Snyder in 2003.

A change of scenery might help to abate the dark cloud around him. As for Hossa, it's been anyone's guess as to whether or not he'd sign with or hold out in Ottawa. But when he finally did sign, his contract was transferred to Atlanta with stunning speed.

Hossa may be as or more skilled a player than Heatley is, has been, or ever will be (based on, if nothing else, Heatley's turbulent personal life). Hossa will obviously be a tremendous help to the Thrashers in the scoring department, as will de Vries on the blue line. Prior to this, Atlanta's only other big move of the summer involved the signing of free agent Bobby Holik.

Now all that is fine and interesting, but what I really care about is Marty St. Louis jotting his name down on a new Lightning contract. I understand that championship contenders (and defenders) are always going to have trouble keeping their best players under the thumb of a salary cap, but I really want Marty to come back.

I recognize the business of sports, like anything else, and I'm not blind to the fact that there's a very little amount of cash left in the till for a guy who went from making the league's minimum salary to winning the scoring title and NHL MVP in just a few short years. And as much as he deserves to make the big bucks, surely he can see the logic in staying with a team he knows he fits so well into.

All right then. Consider my peace said. It was a slow weekend on the free agent market, but below is the list of notable moves that happened the last two days.

Teemu Selanne decided the hot California sun beats the cold Rocky Mountains and so left the Avalanche to return to Anaheim;

Todd Simpson left Ottawa to join the Blackhawks;

Ex-Bolt Paul Mara re-upped with Phoenix;

The Blackhawks sent Steve McCarthy to Vancouver;

The Mighty Ducks shipped Mike Leclerc to Phoenix;

and Petr Sykora signed with the Washington Capitals.

What might be the most amazing thing is that I didn't know we ever had Jamie Storr until he was signed by the Flyers. That's weird, right? I only remember him ever having talent years ago when he goaltended for the Kings. So I guess it's no big loss.

The last piece of news for today is Stephane Quintal's retirement announcement. After 16 years in the NHL, he's ready to hang up his skates. Quintal considers his dreams fulfilled — he got the chance to skate for Montreal. Then during last year's entry draft, he was traded to Los Angeles. He signed a one-year contract with the Kings, which was nixed by the lockout. So he felt compelled to end his career on his own terms.

Nothing wrong with that.

Georgian Hockey I wrote a lot about Atlanta today, so I was going to post the Philips Arena satellite picture until I remembered I was there last year and have my own picture from the front. It's cooler anyway because of the way they spell out "Atlanta" with the beams. When you're standing in front of it, you don't notice it right away.

R&R: Moving Day, Part XII

2005-08-19T21:27:00.000-04:00

Don't worry, the whole "R&R: Moving Day..." thing will end soon. There's only so many more days before training camps around the league will begin and be followed shortly thereafter by the pre-season and regular season games. Hockey's back. I can almost taste it.

However, until then. There are more transactions of which to be aware. First things first. Marty, Marty, Marty. Get a new agent. Clearly the dope you have working for you now is not handling things well. You will come back to us, man. You will.

Now to direct my attention back to the reader, if you were unaware, Marty's rep decided to postpone today's meeting with Jay. Why? Because he sucks. I know Vinny got a huge wad of cash, but dammit Marty, you play for love of the game more than he does. Sorry, I slipped back into addressing Marty.

There's no other jersey I would be comfortable seeing him wear in October. He's got to stay with us. He's got to.

Then, of course there's the Stinkin' Panthers who took out an insurance policy on the whiny Roberto Luongo by signing Jean-Marc Pelletier (another in a long line of dual-named French Canadian, "once-a-Penguin-always-a-Penguin" netminders — Marc-Andre Fleury being the other).

Anyway. Luongo's arbitration hearing is Wednesday and if the Stinkin' Panthers dislike the result, they'll at least have Pelletier to fall back on. Not a bad plan but I sure wouldn't want to lose Luongo. I didn't want to lose Khabibulin. And I'd take Luongo over Khabibulin any day.

Moving on, now. Some other guys are getting new jerseys this fall. They are as follows.

Randy Robitaille, formerly a Thrasher, is the newest addition in Music City;

Ex-Lightning forward Steve Martins has left the Blues to join Ottawa;

Joel Bouchard is darting Manhattan for a job on Long Island;

and with his Chicago job gone, goalie Steve Passmore is now a Coyote (filling the void left by Pelletier).

You guessed it, now I will list the players re-signing contracts. In no particular order, they are Brenden Morrow of Dallas. Yeah I know, that was a long list.

Before I click "Publish Post," I thought I take a second to again mention the Comcast hockey contract. The press release came out today and it really has me looking forward to hockey on the tube. It looks like they are going to be offering more than ESPN ever did. The release mentioned new VOD (video-on-demand) capabilities that would include game highlights as well as more high definition broadcasts among other things.

The only question I have though, is who OLN will get to sit in front of the microphones? Will we get brand new broadcasters we've never seen/heard before? I would like to see OLN have access to Barry Melrose, Bill Clement, Gary Thorne, Darren Pang, et al. I don't know what their ESPN contracts (if they still have them) are like, but it's a thought.

Calgary's Hockey Mecca (Space's Perspective) Here's the Saddledome, home of the Flames. From the sky. If you're wondering why I posted this, I refer you to yesterday's post.

R&R: Overload

2005-08-18T19:11:00.000-04:00

I haven't written here in a few days, so things have started to pile up.

The most important bit of news is the re-signing of Vinny Lecavalier. He'll be counting nearly $7 million a year for the next four years with his new Lightning contract. That money could give the Bolts a problem keeping Marty St. Louis, but I'm not that worried. The two guys are equally important and Feaster knows this.

That was on Tuesday. Then today, Tampa Bay made several signings. Jim Campbell of the Islanders and Norm Milley of the Sabres will join the Bolts, if for no other reason than to stock the Falcons. We also re-signed Brian Eklund, who, based on my recollection, has never actually seen NHL ice.

With no more Lightning transactional news to speak of, below is a list of the players who have signed contracts with new teams in the last few days.

Most notably, Curtis Joseph beat a path out of Detroit to join Wayne Gretzky's Coyotes (if I'm not mistaken, CuJo and Gretzky actually played together in St. Louis);

Alexander Mogilny is leaving Toronto to return to the Devils, the team he once won a Stanley Cup with;

Jozef Stumpel will join the Panthers, leaving Los Angeles in the dust;

Anson Carter also left the Kings to play in Vancouver;

Curtis Leschyshyn turned down the Sens and is headed back to Denver;

and Andy Delmore is headed to Hockeytown after leaving the Bruins.

On the other hand, more players than not re-upped with their current teams. Among those players continuing on with their respective clubs are David Aebischer and John-Michael Liles of Colorado, Steve Sullivan of Nashville, Glen Wesley and Josef Vasicek of Carolina, Chris Bourque (son of Ray) and Dainius Zubrus of Washington; Dan Cloutier of Vancouver, Travis Green of Boston, and Radek Martinek of the Islandrs.

We're inching ever closer to that day on the calendar when the Lightning finally return to the ice to defend the Stanley Cup. Technically, October 5 is the opener, but I'm just looking forward to September 19, when they head to Detroit to begin the pre-season. September 24, on the other hand, will be the first Lightning game in Tampa since June 7, 2004.

It's been too long.

Oh, and don't let me forget. Comcast's OLN will be the new home of NHL hockey this season. It will certainly be different. ESPN has been covering hockey as long as I can remember. It should be interesting to see who they get as primary broadcasters.

The Comcast contract provides for airing games on Monday and Tuesday nights as well as the conference finals. I'm sure there will be other games covered. But that we won't know until OLN creates its hockey schedule.

Here on Bright House cable in Tampa, OLN is channel 74. And I can honestly say I've never had any reason to watch it before. In October, it's going to go from one of my least-watched channels to most-watched.

You watch.

Tampa's Hockey Mecca (Space's Perspective) I got bored last week and, well, ran out of good, relevant hockey pictures. So I managed to find all 30 NHL arenas from space via Google's Maps service. So first things first. This is the Ice Palace. More later.

R&R: Moving Day, Part X

2005-08-15T21:54:00.000-04:00

A few days without much player movement was driving me crazy. I wasn't sure how to process this. Then John LeClair moved across the state of Pennsylvania.

Pardon my use of an overused phrase, but it's quite possible that the Pittsburgh Penguins go from zero to hero this season. If Crosby's all he's cracked up to be and LeClair and Lemieux aren't too old, it's very possible that this team at least makes the playoffs. But as always, it's too soon to tell.

The Lightning are proof that players need time to adjust to and get to know each other before they can really play as a team. The Rangers are proof that stock-piling all-stars will get you zilch.

Anyway, there hasn't been much team-switching the last few days, but there have been quite a few contract inkings. I'm not about to list them all but some of the more notable re-signings were Pavel Brendl of Carolina, Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm and Brad Stuart of San Jose, Saku Koivu of Montreal, Oleg Kvasha of the Islanders, Tom Poti of the Rangers, Jason Arnott of Dallas, Jochen Hecht and Maxim Afinogenov of Buffalo.

By the way, I'm reminded that there was a free agent signing made yesterday that dashed the hopes of Tampa fans wishing for the return of original Bolt Roman Hamrlik. Hamrlik signed with our Western Conference nemesis in Calgary. A crying shame, that is.

Not much else to report here, except to say that Todd Bertuzzi is very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very sorry.

Very.

Sorry.

And "ice hockey" in Icelandic is "íshokki" in case you read my other blog and were wondering.

You weren't, were you?

That's okay.

Names You Know In Colors You Don't Isn't it so weird to see a Flyers jersey with "Forsberg" strewn across the nameplate and a Maple Leafs sweater donning an 88? What is the world coming to?

Coming Soon: Should the spirit compel me, Hockey Anagrams may begin this week. Don't ask. You'll see.

R&R: Moving Day, Part IX

2005-08-11T22:32:00.000-04:00

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.

R&R: Not Going Anywhere

2005-08-10T20:54:00.000-04:00

I think there were more re-signings today than their have been in the past two weeks combined. Quite a few players made the decision to continue with their current teams.

Sergei Samsonov and P.J. Axelsson of Boston, the Sedin brothers of Vancouver, Justin Williams of Carolina, Wade Belak and Aki Berg of Toronto, Robert Esche of Philadelphia, Andrei Zyuzin of Minnesota, Scott Hartnell of Nashville, Martin Havlat of Ottawa, Andrew Ference of Calgary, and Wayne Primeau of San Jose are all staying with their respective clubs.

With regard to the free agent market and players beating a path out of town, there are a couple of guys changing teams. Jan Hrdina, previously a Devil, is moving to Columbus and Mathieu Biron, formerly of Florida, is taking a job with the Capitals.

Plus, the Blackhawks, realizing that with Khabibulin at the helm they no longer needed anymore goalies, decided to trade Jocelyn Thibault to the Penguins for a fourth-round pick in next year's draft.

Among other news was the announcement out of Calgary that Dave Lowry and goalie Roman Turek are retiring. Lowry's staying with the club though, to coach the Hitmen (the Flames' minor league affiliate). Turek is 35 and wants more money than he's worth. Do the math.

Boyle Here To Stay This is a snapshot from a game last year during the Stanley Cup Finals. Dan Boyle and Brad Richards will be back for sure. Dave Andreychuk is still mulling his options for the future.

R&R: A Busy Day In Tampa

2005-08-09T21:07:00.000-04:00

I knew today would be more eventful.

The Tampa Bay Lightning made three important moves today. First, we re-signed blue-liner Danny Boyle. Boyle was a major defensive factor in our run to the Cup last season. Losing him would've caused a lot of problems. None of which we now have to consider for at least three years.

The second move came shortly thereafter. We will see Rob DiMaio returning to Tampa. If Fritz doesn't fill the void left by Roy, I'm sure DiMaio will be able to step in. And I say "returning to Tampa" because DiMaio was one of the original Bolts. In 1992, we claimed him from the New York Islanders in the NHL Expansion Draft. I think it'll be nice to have him back. We lost our last original a few years ago when Rob Zamuner was traded Ottawa.

The biggest move of the day was announced just a few minutes before I wrote this post. The Lightning signed aging goaltender Sean Burke to a two-year contract. Burke is 38 years old and a 16-year-veteran in the league. He's played for the Devils, Whalers/Hurricanes, Canucks, Panthers, Coyotes, and, most recently, the Flyers.

According to team management, Burke is a good choice to replace Khabibulin because he'll be up to the task of battling for the No. 1 spot with John Grahame. And should he lose that contest, he would take on a positive "team first" mentality — necessary to fill in the gaps for Grahame.

If Feaster is right in that regard, I think Burke will be good to have. In the six years Grahame's been in the league he's only been a back-up. Now he'll have the chance to prove he's worth headlining in the crease. Not only that but Burke should serve as a good mentor. Grahame turns 30 at the end of this month.

Personally, I think it'll be interesting to see what happens.

The latest free agent signings around the league are listed below:

Dean McAmmond joins the Blues after turning down Calgary;

Andrew Cassels will dump his Blue Jacket for time in D.C.;

Richard Park left Minnesota to sign with the Canucks;

and Calgary swapped a draft pick for Avalanche netminder Philippe Sauve.

Still, more players re-signed contracts than not. Among players continuing with their respective clubs are Simon Gagne, Kim Johnsson and Patrick Sharp of Philadelphia, Nils Ekman of San Jose, Kevyn Adams of Carolina, Pierre-Marc Bouchard of Minnesota, and Karlis Skrastins of Colorado.

I nearly forgot to mention another bit of Lightning news. The team also announced today that Dmitry Afanasenkov has re-signed. So that's another championship team member locked down for this year. Now it's just a matter of getting Marty and Vinny back on board.

It's just a matter of time. Just hopefully not too much more.

Getting Used To It Here are a few odd sights around the league that everyone will have to start getting used to. Paul Kariya's 9 sewn to a Predators sweater. Jeremy Roenick donning black and purple. And The Great One behind the bench (and in Phoenix).

R&R: Moving Day, Part VI

2005-08-08T18:19:00.000-04:00

After my post on Saturday Ziggy Palffy decided to leave Los Angeles and sign on with the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is pretty big news and I would have mentioned it sooner, only during one of those wonderful Florida storms the power went out, zapping our cable modem and leaving us without power all day.

But back to the situation at hand. Palffy joins the Pens who, thanks to sheer luck, drafted the most talked about prospect (arguably) since Mario Lemieux. Ironically, Pittsburgh drafted him too. But the important thing is, they can use all the help they can get. So we'll see if this deal pays off.

Below are some others players who are moving to new teams.

Ben Clymer is leaving Tampa to join the Capitals;

Stephanie Robidas will move to Dallas after leaving the Blackhawks;

Scott Nichol is also departing Chicago for a deal with the Predators;

and Chris Osgood is leaving the Blues to head back to Detroit.

It's not all love-'em-and-leave-'em. Among players staying with their respective teams are Rick Nash (2004's Rocket Richard co-winner) of Columbus, Matt Cullen of Carolina, Pierre Dagenais of Montreal, and Mike Grier of Buffalo.

The other big news is that Wayne Gretzky will finally stand behind the bench. The Phoenix Coyotes today named him as head coach. I guess will find out if he's as good directing players as he was scoring goals.

But that is not all for this day in hockey. The NHL announced today that it is reinstating Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi, who had been suspended indefinitely after breaking the neck of Colorado's Steve Moore back in the 2003-04 season.

He hasn't played hockey since then. He hasn't been allowed to. That said, the league felt he'd had his punishment. Moore sued Bertuzzi civilly so now his problems will be dealt with in court. Now, we'll see if the Canucks keep him. He's a good player who did something extremely stupid, so it's not likely they'll be too willing to part with him.

Short post today. Not as many free agent signings as I'd have thought.

Out Cold This was Steve Moore as he was wheeled off the ice after being attacked from behind by Todd Bertuzzi. Word came down from the league today that Bertuzzi's suspension will end and he will be reinstated this season.

R&R: A Rare Break

2005-08-06T22:52:00.000-04:00

At the end of a week filled with more contracts than a lawyer's office came a calm before an almost certain storm that will swell up again next week. It's true that this was probably one of the busiest weeks in NHL history with regard to player movement and contractual transactions.

And it's quite possible next week may give this one a run for its money. Raise your hand if you think that's crazy.

Put your hand down.

It's the weekend, so the lawyers and agents and everyone basically took the day off. There were only a few real transactions to speak of.

Colorado got busy after losing Kariya. They re-signed Milan Hejduk to a five-year contract and snatched up Andrew Burnette with a new deal since he apparently has no interest in returning to the Minnesota Wild.

The Hurricanes also continued to build their offense. After signing ex-Bolt Cory Stillman last week, Carolina got Ray Whitney's John Hancock on the dotted line. That's a couple of significant additions to their lineup. I'm not saying this will give the Lightning a run for their money, but at the very least, it won't be easy.

There being no other news, today's post will be a short one. And I may not even post at all tomorrow depending on any potential transactions. We'll see what happens.

By the way, I just wanted to point out that, on the sidebar I have the Lightning's pre-season schedule posted. As far as I'm concerned, hockey returns Sept. 19.

Five More In Mile High Here, Milan Hejduk tries to put one by San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov. Hejduk is one of the few members of the "I'm-sticking-with-my-team" club this summer. He re-upped with the Avs today, a contract good for next five years. You know, barring any trades or whatever.

R&R: Another Bolt Gone

2005-08-05T18:05:00.000-04:00

If you haven't heard the news, either you've been on the moon or you're not a hockey fan. Both of those seem crazy to me. But it is true. Nikolai Khabibulin, one of the top three reasons the Lightning won the Cup, has signed with the Chicago Blackhawks. It's a very sad day for Lightning hockey fans. Especially myself.

How could anyone want to leave a team he won a championship with? After everything he'd been through with that team, turns out what he really wanted was money. Players like that make me crazy. Yesterday I talked about how I won't miss Andre Roy, now that he's in Pittsburgh. I'm not sure I can say the same about the "Bulin Wall."

We got Nik as a free agent as the 2000-01 season was winding down. He refused to sign a new contract with Phoenix because he wanted more money than they were willing to give him. More than anyone was willing to give him. He played in the minor leagues for the entire 1999-2000 season before realizing he wanted back in the NHL, no matter what the pay.

The Lightning eventually signed him to a contract after acquiring his rights from Phoenix as part of a trade involving Paul Mara and Mike Johnson. He had been away from the league for nearly two years, playing only two games in that 2000-01 season. His next three seasons proved a triumphant return culminating in a Stanley Cup victory.

Now he's back to demanding more money. And this time, wearing that championship ring, he's more worth it. Especially to the Blackhawks. It's a shame, but it's what happened.

Hopefully the Lightning will be able to find someone equal to the task of replacing him but even if they don't, I think John Grahame will be able to handle the pressure. He proved that in the Bolts' Cup run.

Obviously I had a lot to say about Khabibulin, but he wasn't the only guy to change teams today. Below is a list of other notable signings.

Paul Kariya will become a Predator after year in Colorado;

Tony Amonte left the Flyers behind to join Calgary;

Jason Allison agreed to a deal with Toronto after a few years with the Kings;

Darren McCarty ditched Hockeytown for a few years with the Flames;

Martin Straka signed with the Rangers, leaving Los Angeles;

Brad May will join the Avalanche now that he's departed Vancouver;

Jim Dowd is bound for the Windy City after a term with the Canadiens;

and Martin Rucinsky will be moving to Manhattan after leaving the Canucks.

And just like I've been reporting every day, not everyone is signing elsewhere. Brendan Morrison of Vancouver, Tie Domi of Toronto, and Igor Ulanov of Edmonton re-upped with their respective clubs.

Finally, there's just a little more Tampa Bay news. The Lightning re-signed Nolan Pratt along with minor/draftee players Brandon Elliott, Brady Greco, Timo Helbling, and Mitch Fritz, who stands 6-foot-8, 260 pounds. To put it another way, he's enormous. Remember what I said yesterday about replacing Roy?

Speaking of replacement, there are more than a couple good choices to replace the newly departed Khabibulin between the pipes. Buffalo's Martin Biron. Florida's Roberto Luongo. Dan Blackburn or Mike Dunham from the Rangers. Philadelphia's Sean Burke. Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff. Chicago's Jocelyn Thibault. Colorado's David Aebischer. Detroit's Curtis Joseph. LA's Roman Cechmanek. St. Louis' Chris Osgood. Vancouver's Dan Cloutier. And most of all, Montreal's Jose Theodore.

They're all very available. The favorites are Luongo, Kiprusoff and Theodore.

In that order.

Gone With The Wind Nikolai Khabibulin is a Bolt no more. The sad news came down from Chicago today. Fours years. Twenty-seven million. What a dope.

R&R: Moving Day, Part III

2005-08-04T21:49:00.000-04:00

Open season on the free agent market continued today. The player trafficking wasn't limited to minor players either. Some pretty big names were being moved around.

For one thing, the Flyers realized that signing Peter Forsberg and company doesn't leave a lot of room for anyone else on the payroll when considering the NHL's newly christened salary cap. That said, nine-time all-star Jeremy Roenick is heading back to the Western Conference. Philadelphia traded him to the Kings for a draft pick. That's gotta feel good.

On the other side of that, the Avalanche came to the realization that with the loss of Forsberg and Adam Foote they've been pretty well gutted. Last night they signed Patrice Brisebois of Montreal and Pierre Turgeon of Dallas.

Speaking of the Stars, the flip-flopping Mike Modano finally made a decision. There was a wink then a slap then a hug which ultimately brought him to signing a five-year deal with the team he's played for ever since they were North Stars in Minnesota.

Beyond that, there were lots of players who signed contracts with new clubs today. They are listed below.

Scott Niedermayer made a bee-line for Anaheim to play alongside his brother Rob after many years with the Devils;

Alexei Zhamnov signed on with Boston after realizing the Flyers can't afford to pay him or anyone else;

Teppo Numminen beat a path out of The Big D to become a Sabre;

Oleg Tverdovsky, an ex-Devil, will be moving to Carolina;

Ville Nieminen of Calgary fame is now a Ranger;

Ex-Lightning draftee Daymond Langkow left Phoenix to join the Flames;

Columbus snatched up former Sens goalie Martin Prusek;

and New Jersey agreed to terms with ex-Flyer Vladimir Malakhov and ex-Bruin Dan McGillis.

Among all the team changes going on, some players actually know what loyalty is. Like Modano (see above), Mathieu Schneider and Chris Chelios of Detroit, Alex Tanguay and Kurt Sauer of Colorado, Brian Rafalski of New Jersey, and Alexei Kovalev of Montreal are sticking with their respective teams.

A couple other contracted players also switched teams by way of trades. Joining Roenick (see above) is Flames forward Chris Clark who is headed to Washington.

Then there's the second member of the 2004 Stanley Cup champion Lightning who will be donning new colors come October. Following Cory Stillman's departure to Carolina, enforcer Andre Roy signed a deal with the Penguins today.

I feel he's fairly replaceable. Roy's just a tough guy who likes to fight. There are plenty of those around the league who'd be more then happy to hitch their wagon to a contender. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not discounting some of his big moments during the playoffs. But if he wants to move on, I won't really miss him.

Pre-Game Lights I took this picture at one of the first games the Lightning played in the Ice Palace, which has since had its name changed to the St. Pete Times Forum. Yeah, that's roughly the same.

R&R: Moving Day, Part II

2005-08-03T20:24:00.000-04:00

I'm going to have to emphasize the point in my last post almost to the point of suggesting that the NHL may be unrecognizable in October. So many players switched teams yesterday. And that was nothing.

Today the big names came out in full force, pen in hand, to sign their lives (or at least a few years) away to brand new clubs.

Brian Leetch left the Leafs (like Nieuwendyk and Roberts) to head back to Boston, where he went to college;

Peter Forsberg left the Avalanche (like Foote) to head back to Philadelphia, where he was first drafted into the NHL;

Miroslav Satan booked some time in Edmonton, leaving Buffalo;

Bryan Berard signed with Columbus, leaving the Blackhawks behind;

Mathieu Dandenault sped out of Motor City to play for the Habs;

Sergei Gonchar is moving to Pittsburgh, ditching the Bruins;

and the Oilers made some big trades which landed them Chris Pronger from St. Louis and Michael Peca from the Islanders;

In other, less-interesting news, Manny Fernandez of Minnesota, Markus Naslund of Vancouver, and Jarome Iginla of Calgary all re-signed with their respective teams.

The bad news is for Lightning fans. The Carolina Hurricanes signed Cory Stillman last night after I posted. The second-leading scorer and now he'll be playing for one of our prime rivals. We'll have to see that abandoning back-stabber eight times this season.

The only good news in losing Stillman is that we did get Vinny Prospal back from Anaheim last season. We initially picked up Stillman because of losing Prospal to the Mighty Ducks in the first place. Now that we have him back, I guess Jay didn't see much point in keeping both of them.

Stillman was one of our top power play performers, but I'm sure Prospal can more than fill his shoes. It's sad to see Stillman go, but at least he helped us to a Stanley Cup. Something he won't be doing again any time soon.

I'll still be keeping a close eye on the wires until (at the very least) Khabibulin and Lecavalier re-sign contracts here in Tampa. All this waiting around is killing me.

Sorry, I have no pictures for you today. Wait until the season begins, I'll be having more pictures than I know what to do with.

Relocating And Replacing

2005-08-02T19:46:00.000-04:00

The free agent market officially opened yesterday at noon. Until that point, teams weren't allowed to talk to players without contracts. Since then, over a dozen NHLers have ditched their old teams to don new uniforms come October.

And I assure you this isn't the end of it. I'm just keeping up to date here. There will likely be a lot of big signings and probably more than a few trades in the coming weeks.

But as for the last two days, here are some of the guys who will be relocating next month:

Joe Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts left Toronto behind to sign with the Panthers;

Pavol Demitra ditched the Blues for sunny Los Angeles;

Adrian Aucoin left the Islanders for a stint in Chicago;

Dave Scatchard also departed Long Island for a job with the Bruins;

Bobby Holik dumped the Rangers and is bound for Atlanta;

Long-time Avs star Adam Foote will be a Blue Jacket;

and Philadelphia was on a roll snatching Derian Hatcher from Detroit, Mike Rathje from San Jose, and Chris Therien from Dallas.

Not only that, but to fill the void left by Aucoin's departure, the Isles inked Alexei Zhitnik, a long-time Sabre. Plus the Flyers traded blue-liner Danny Markov to Nashville for a pick in next year's draft.

Quite a few players have changed teams and that was just the first two days. Give it a few more weeks and the new NHL might look even more different when the teams hit the ice in October.

The free agent signing flurry wouldn't matter to me so much if I wasn't combing every transaction web page for the names Lecavalier and Khabibulin. I'm just hoping Jay Feaster works his magic and convinces those guys Tampa is where they should stay.

We would be a very different team without them. I'd almost venture to say they're irreplaceable.

Best Of The Best This photo has no relevance to today's story. It's just from the 2004 All-Star Game. We won't be seeing another one until 2007 so I thought at least if I posted a picture we wouldn't forget about the concept.

The Crosby Show

2005-07-30T22:17:00.000-04:00

Could the folks at TSN be bigger horses' asses? Pardon my frustration but I'm afraid if I hear one more glowing review of Sidney Crosby, I may quite possibly shoot someone.

It's not that I don't believe he's talented. I'm sure he is. But enough is enough already. Yes, he gets to be Super Mario's protege. And that's wonderful. For him. And the Penguins. As a Lightning fan, I couldn't really care less.

So obviously Pittsburgh snapped up Crosby with the first pick. The big question of the draft was who would go next. The Mighty Ducks answered that question with Bobby Ryan. And he was followed by Jack Johnson for Carolina's third overall pick. Two Americans in the in the top three. Impressive.

Benoit Pouliot, Carey Price, Gilbert Brule, and Jack Skille rounded off the top seven for the 2005 draft. Then San Jose traded up to spot No. 8 so they could snatch up a 26th-ranked prospect. Yeah, I'm not finding the logic behind their decision either.

But again, it doesn't affect me or my Bolts. What does are our particular picks. They were Vladimir Mihalik, Radek Smolenak, Chris Lawrence, Marek Bartanus, Blair Jones, Stanislav Lascek, Marek Kvapil, Kevin Beech, and John Wessbecker.

Beech is a goalie, Mihalik and Wessbecker are blue-liners, and the rest are forwards. Wessbecker is the only American and since he was the 225th out of 230 picks, I'm guessing he won't ever really see NHL action in this life. He'll just have a new line for his resume: NHL Draft Choice.

So with the draft being over, we now have training camp to look forward to. But that's still two months away. In the meantime, the Lightning desperately need to sign some of their superstars. Signing Ruslan Fedotenko today and Tim Taylor and Martin Cibak two days ago is a good start.

Now it's big fish time. Marty. Vinny. Khabby. Boyle. Stillman. Let's not drag our feet, Jay. Let's get this done.

Temporary Buddies Ryan, Crosby and Johnson (it sounds like a law firm but it's not) are thrilled right now to be the top three NHL draftees. But wait until the season starts and they have to face each other on the ice. That should be interesting to say the least.

On The Day Before

2005-07-29T22:42:00.000-04:00

I don't have much to write tonight. All I have to say really is that I'm looking forward to noon tomorrow and a live feed on NHL.com from Ottawa.

I'm not so much interested in who the Lightning get in the draft. We have the last pick in the first round, not to mention our building days are pretty much over for a while. We just won a Stanley Cup. What I'm interested in is whether the Pens really will take Crosby. I mean, sure he's good and everyone's just assuming, but you never know.

I'd also be interested to see if Anaheim does deal away the second overall pick. I know for sure the Panthers would be interested after getting so unlucky they get one of the last picks, second only to the Lightning.

They picked up Eric Cairns after his disastrous plays cost the Islanders the opening round series of the 2004 playoffs against Tampa Bay. But I'm pretty sure the Ducks aren't interested. They do have new owners now.

Disney gave them up, basically because they missed the playoffs completely the year after going to the Stanley Cup finals. Also they were hemhorraging cash. That tended to happen to a lot of hockey teams back then. Hopefully the new CBA has repaired that a little.

But back to the draft. If you watch it tomorrow when it starts, the names you should expect to hear early on include, but are not limited to, Jack Johnson, Bobby Ryan, Luc Bourdon, Gilbert Brule, Benoit Pouliot, Carey Price, Tyler Plante, Anze Kopitar, Martin Hanzal, Jakub Vojta, Tuukka Rask, Ondrej Pavelec Ondrej, and quite possibly Sidney Crosby. Possibly.

I'll be here some time after it's over to talk about it.

You know, if you have any interest whatsoever.

Number 87 This is the guy you should expect to see being handed a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey tomorrow afternoon to kick off the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. NHL.com is carrying it live everywhere but Canada. You guys have TSN and what not, eh?

Opening Night And The Days That Follow

2005-07-27T19:09:00.000-04:00

The waiting is over. That schedule I was moaning about on Sunday has finally arrived. Well, all 30 schedules, that is.

The league released the 2005-06 calendar which includes 15 games to be played on opening night. October 5 will see all 30 clubs in action, an unprecedented event. The people at ESPN.com are going to be busy that night. Not only that, but I'd be surprised to discover the NHL actually employs 120 referees and linesmen.

Who knew?

Still, it's opening night and you know what that means. The Lightning finally get to unveil and hang their one-year-old Stanley Cup championship banner in the Ice Palace. (Don't even think about correcting me. As long as I'm alive I'm calling it the Ice Palace!) Motivationless tantrums aside, I should point out that when the banner does go up, it will have been 484 days since they actually skated the Cup around the ice.

Then, in an ironic (or fitting, depending on how you look at it) twist of fate, Tampa could possibly be facing hurricanes on multiple fronts. There is of course the ordinary noun version, which is merely a possibility — albeit a good one. Then there's the proper noun — the Hurricanes from North Carolina.

If you found that difficult to follow, I can clarify only by saying that the Lightning's first game of the season will be against the Carolina Hurricanes on October 5. The date being relevant because, if last year was any indication, we may be looking at another very active hurricane season in the next few months.

If you disliked my pun, tough.

So I've been perusing the schedule this afternoon, taking notice of the large gap in the middle of February. The league is giving the players a breather from the 13th through the 27th to allow the better ones to take part in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

But more importantly, it's the Lightning schedule that has me intrigued. The NHL wasn't kidding when it announced that the new format would heavily favor division rivalries.

Tampa Bay's first three games are against Southeast Division opponents. And get this, 10 of our last 11 games of the year will be within our division. Three against the Panthers, three against the Thrashers, three against the Hurricanes, and as luck would have it, a finale against the Caps.

To be quite honest, I'm looking forward to it. With several of our big names not yet accounted for by way of binding contracts, we're not quite yet the Stanley Cup winning team we were two years ago. That said, I have faith in Jay Feaster. He'll get the job done and with any luck, we'll be back on top of the Southeast Division for the third consecutive time.

And as for those rabble-rousing local TV news outlets saying things like "Khabibulin may sign elsewhere," you'll be getting a piece of my mind later in the week. Nik, Vinny, Marty, and Boyle will all be donning Tampa Bay uniforms on October 5.

Or let me be struck by Lightning.

Matter of fact, I'll take the Lightning either way.

The Next Gretzky: It's more than likely and one might almost say it's a given that Pittsburgh will select Sidney Crosby with the first overall pick in Saturday's draft. But you know what happens when an 18-year-old kid gets too much hype. Yep, everyone's left disappointed. Let's see what happens when he and the Pens play New Jersey on opening night.

2005-07-25T20:13:00.000-04:00

Who's Next?: This was the scene in New York last Friday afternoon when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made the announcements of the 2005 Entry Draft selection order. My Bolts pick last. But that's the way it usually goes for the champs. The draft will be held this Saturday in Ottawa.