TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

2005-06 Recap
Record: 43-33-6, 92 pts (2nd in Southeast Div, 8th Eastern Conf)

Playoffs:

Lost to OTT 4 games to 1

Goals For: 252 (16th overall)
Goals Against: 260 (18th overall)

Power Play: 16.7% (23rd)
Penalty Killing: 81.5% (20th)


2006-07 Preview

Key Additions: G Marc Denis (trade from Clb), G Johan Holmqvist (UFA, Sweden), D Filip Kuba (UFA, Min)

Key Losses: RW Fredrik Modin (trade to Clb), G John Grahame (UFA, Car), D Daryl Sydor (trade to Dal), D Pavel Kubina (UFA, Tor)

RFA left to sign: none


Offense: Talented top end, with St. Louis, Richards and Lecavalier. Unfortunately for the Lightning they are also being paid like top end talent and the trio account for almost half ($19.925 million) of the team’s salary cap space. Doesn’t leave much room for support or help at other positions, which is why Modin is no longer in the mix. Prospal is a bargain at $1.9 million. With the top end talent the power play must improve on the 23rd overall standing if the Lightning are going to push into the playoffs.

Defense: Out go Sydor and Kubina, in comes Richardson and Kuba? Not exactly an upgrade. More pressure will be placed on Dan Boyle, and young sophomore Paul Ranger. Andy Delmore was signed, but he played in the minors last season. Not as effective a unit as the past two seasons.

Goaltending: They went from Khabibulin in the cup year to Burke and Grahame last season, now they are going with Marc Denis and Johan Holmqvist. Don’t foret they are still paying Burke $1.6 million to play in the minors too. Whether Denis is a big enough upgrade to get the Lightning back on track remains to be seen as he hasn’t had the starting role on a contender before. He has always been that goalie who keeps a bad team competitive, but this will be a new situation for him.

THE BIG QUESTION: Can John Tortorella last the season? Tortorella is a fiery coach whose in your face style rubs some players the wrong way (John Grahame in the playoffs for one). Coaches like this rarely last very long in one spot, but Tortorella had a free pass because of his Stanley Cup win. Now he has the constraints of a trimmed down roster and questionable goaltending, and we will see if he is the motivational genius he was when he had Nickolai Khabibulin in his prime guarding the Lightning crease. My guess is he will be gone by the all-star break, as he can’t keep his mouth shut, doesn’t have a filter between his brain and mouth, and hasn’t met a microphone he doesn’t like. That combination makes for good sound bites, but it will be his undoing in Tampa.

Synopsis: The increasingly competitive race for the playoffs in the East will be a grind, and Florida and Atlanta are better teams in their division, they can’t rely on beating up on division rivals for free points any more (other than Washington). They will not be a playoff team as they have been lucky that Richards, Lecavailer and St. Louis all played at least 80 games last year. One of them is bound to miss significant time to injury this season.