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Lightning Preview: The Time Is Now

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 4, 2007

TAMPA - Reminders turn up seemingly everywhere, yet at every corner the memories appear more distant.

There is the spectacular banner that hangs from the rafters representing the 2004 Stanley Cup championship. Staff members carry around bags with the championship emblem embroidered on the side. The lower concourse has a mural of each of the eight trophies the team captured that season, arranged around the locker room logo emblazoned on the wall next to the team pro shop, which still has Stanley Cup championship merchandise for sale.

But the biggest reminder of that championship year sits inside the Lightning locker room. Every time Tampa Bay suits up as a team in its new uniforms and takes to the ice, it is there.

When the Lightning were crowned champions of hockey on that June night in 2004, many on the inside will tell you it was because of the play of what has become Tampa Bay's big four - Brad Richards, Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis and Dan Boyle. Others were involved, to be sure, and were big contributors along the way.

But it was the young nucleus that led the charge - one the MVP of the regular season, another the playoff MVP. It was the core group of players the team revolved around, the core group the Lightning still revolve around.

Those four players are the only constant on the roster in the three-plus years since winning it all. How much longer they stay together is a question that will be asked often this season as Tampa Bay seeks to capitalize on the closing window of opportunity to capture another title with its core of four.

'I think their young talent is still online for a long time,' said Mike Emrick, the lead play-by-play announcer for Versus, NBC and the New Jersey Devils.

Too Much Tied Up

The constant criticism with the Lightning in the post-lockout NHL is that Tampa Bay has too much money tied up in the Big Four ($24.5 million this season for a $23.255 million salary cap hit), that there is not enough left in the Palace coffers to add complementary players.

Though Tampa Bay has qualified for the playoffs in four consecutive seasons - tied for the fourth-longest active streak in the league with Dallas - the past two have been a struggle, as Tampa Bay qualified in the eighth spot and seventh, respectively. It also has resulted in first-round playoff exits in the two seasons since winning the Stanley Cup.

With the lack of postseason success the past two years, can this team stay together if a playoff run dissipates this season? Can the core lead the way to more glory? Or is it all set to be broken apart with Boyle's contract up at the end of this season and Lecavalier's set to expire after the 2008-09 season?

Inside the Lightning locker room, that type of talk is kept to a low murmur, if it even exists.

'You can't worry about that,' St. Louis said. 'All we can worry about is what we do on the ice. If we take care of that, then things usually fall into place. But we can't worry if we are going to be here together. We don't even think about that. All we are thinking about is winning games and having this team going as far as it can go. After that it's up to the people that run the team.'

What's The Issue?

The immediate focus is how the team will perform on the ice this season. Parity is the name of the game in the Eastern Conference with many of the 15 teams considered to be on an even surface heading into the season.

'Tampa looks to me like a team that is going to be right on that cusp of either being in or being out,' Emrick said. 'If I had to draw a line today I would say in just based on the fact that they have Lecavalier; St. Louis who can shoot your lights out; they have a lot offense.'

Offense hasn't been the problem as Lecavalier led the league with 52 goals last season, while he and St. Louis became only the third pair of teammates since 1997-98 to each score 100 points in the same season. Boyle finished second among NHL defensemen with 20 goals. Richards, who slipped to 70 points last season, remains one of the game's top playmakers.

The Lightning's problems the past two seasons centered around keeping pucks out of their net. Tampa Bay was last in the league last season in team save percentage (.888) and allowed more goals (261) than any other playoff team.

Unless Marc Denis and Johan Holmqvist, the same tandem from last season, can solidify the goaltending, it could be another struggle to get into the postseason unless heralded rookie Karri Ramo does his best Ken Dryden/Patrick Roy impersonation.

'Health is one thing, confidence is another and I know Coach John Tortorella just had it with his goaltenders last season, and I think the fans did, too,' Emrick said. 'You just hope that it's better, but I don't know that it will be. The forecast is the same this year as it was last year, and last year they didn't live up to the forecast.

'So maybe this will be a year that it turns around for them. For their sake I hope so because then they will be a team that will have to do something at the trade deadline.'

Window Still Ajar

Another factor that will hang over the team, at least during the early part of the season, is the possibility of an ownership change. On Aug. 7, a deal was announced for an investment group called Absolute Hockey Enterprises to purchase the team from billionaire owner Bill Davidson and Palace Sports and Entertainment.

The group being put together includes former Columbus general manager and Florida head coach Doug MacLean, along with movie producer Oren Koules, co-founder of the 'Saw' horror movie franchise. While MacLean has the hockey background, Koules is a fan of the game, including the team he is attempting to purchase, and a former minor-league player.

There is recognition, from a hockey standpoint, by the new ownership group of the importance of Tampa Bay's Big Four.

'I clearly believe that Absolute Hockey, and in particular my conversations with Doug and with Oren Koules, they like these guys,' Lightning general manager Jay Feaster said. 'The clearly recognize how special the Big Four are. And Doug MacLean in my very first meeting with him made no bones about the fact that getting Danny Boyle re-signed has to be a priority. So he understands what Danny is about and how special he is as a player.

'And as Oren has told me, there are two teams that he records out west and that's Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, and it's Tampa Bay because of the Big Four. I think a big part of the reason they are paying for this hockey club, and I don't think we should ever lose sight of it, is because of the Big Four, because of the core of this hockey club.'

What About Now?

The core of four is far from the end of their careers. Both Richards and Lecavalier are 27, Boyle and St. Louis are 31 and 32, respectively. There is plenty of mileage left in their skates and none may have hit the high point of their careers.

'You will hit a point at some point in time where you will have to say that they are no longer in the prime of their careers. That's my point, when people ask how we are going to be better, because we didn't do all that we need to do,' Feaster said.

'Well, I don't think Vinny has hit his high-water mark at 27, but there will come a time when you say that maybe expecting bigger and better from that particular player just isn't going to happen because they are getting older.'

But that time is not now.

So Tampa Bay went out and added veteran defenseman Brad Lukowich, a member of the 2004 championship team, brought in top-six potential in winger Jan Hlavac and Michel Ouellet to play with Richards, and re-acquired center Chris Gratton to provide grit and a scoring threat to the third line.

Is it enough to make the Lightning a better team?

'If you asked me if we are a better team than we were last year, I think so, but it doesn't mean we are going to have better results,' St. Louis said. 'We still have to earn it and play. On paper you can look really good. But it's not the best team on paper that wins.'

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835 or eerlendsson@tampatrib.com.

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