July 18, 2009
Notes on the Southeast: Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning may end up having one of the best 2009 off-seasons in the NHL.
This past season Tampa Bay finished 14th in the Eastern Conference and 29th overall by going 24-40-18. (Those NHL-worst 18 overtime losses are five more than the 2nd team in that category - Toronto.) Their 24 wins were the fewest in the entire league (with only 12 wins at home), and their 25th-ranked offense combined with a 26th-ranked defense. Their starting netminder, Mike Smith, was only able to play for half of the season. Their owners publicly feuded and the Lighting were troubled with financial issues, resulting in a summer meeting with Commissioner Gary Bettman.
Well, the times are a' changin' in Tampa Bay. GM Brian Lawton made some key acquisitions and, more importantly, selected a fantastic player in the Entry Draft. Victor Hedman, taken 2nd overall, is a 6' 6" Swedish defenseman who at 18 has already started drawing comparisons to future Hall of Famer Chris Pronger. Playing for MoDo, the Elitserien team from Örnsköldsvik, he tallied 7 goals, 14 assists, and 52 penalty minutes.
But Hedman truly shines through in his defensive game. He finished the past season a +21 in 43 games. As a teenager, he is already able to read plays extremely well, and he is far from a lunking "big guy", consistently showing smooth skating and impressive speed. Hedman has already shown dependability in important games, as he helped lead Sweden to two consecutive silver medals in the 2008 and 2009 World Junior Championships.
All Hedman needs is a good veteran mentor to ease his transition into the NHL.
And this is where recently-signed Mattias Ohlund comes into play.
The Swedish defenseman has spent all of his eleven NHL seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, becoming the Canucks' defenseman franchise leader in goals in 2007-08 and points in 2008-09. But like Hedman, Ohlund contributes most on the defensive end, playing a highly-physical game not associated with most European blue-liners. After finishing 2007-08 at -1, he finished this past season at +14. He also wore the "A" for Vancouver for a reason; he was one of the club's legitimate leaders. Ohlund has won two gold medals in international play, one at the World Championships in 1998 and the other at the Winter Olympics in 2006.
Last season, Tampa Bay's defense appeared much, much worse than it actually was. It was decimated by constant injuries, and their back six saw more personnel turnover than any other defense in the NHL. But GM Lawton wasn't satisfied, so he picked up Hedman and Ohulnd. He also signed free agents Kurtis Foster (6' 5", formerly of the Minnesota Wild) and Matt Walker (6' 2", Chicago Blackhawks). Both of these players are what you'd call "defensive defensemen"; they don't contribute all that much on the scoresheet, but their spot on the roster is justified by their rigorous and sound defensive work. Exaclty what Tampa's swiss-cheese defense needs. (Lukas Krajicek, a restricted free agent, was also resigned by Lawton.)
Now Tampa Bay's back end looks something like this:
Mattias Ohlund----------Victor Hedman
Kurtis Foster-------------Paul Ranger
Andrej Meszaros---------Lukas Krajicek
Matt Walker--------------Matt Lashoff
Very respectable.
(On the horizon, the Lightning also have up-and-coming Matt Smaby and Ty Wishart.)
Lawton also addressed the issue of backup goaltending for his franchise by signing Antero Niittymaki for one year at $650,000. Niittymaki became used to playing both starter and back-up roles in Philadelphia by sharing the crease with Martin Biron, so if Mike Smith is unable to play, the Lightning have a pretty decent Plan B.
Tampa Bay also signed Stephane Veilleux at forward, though this is much less significant. With Vincent Lecavalier (aka The Fearless Leader) and Martin St. Louis (aka The Little Engine That Could) leading the team up front, the Lightning shouldn't worry too much. Sophomore center Steven Stamkos, the 1st overall pick in 2008, will have a much better second season (though his 23 goals, 46 points and 9 powerplay tallies are nothing to snark at). The Lightning also have Ryan Malone and Vaclav Prospal on offense to provide support.
So get excited, Lightning fans. (All twelve of you.) Don't lose all your faith in a team that brought home the most coveted trophy in North American sports in 2004. This team isn't far off from becoming significant again. Sure Dan Boyle was great and his loss stung, but Nikolai Khabibulin has never been that good, and Mike Smith looks mighty promising.
We're predicting Tampa Bay to get into the playoffs this season, contending with the Carolina Hurricanes for 2nd place in the Southeast Division.
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