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Gratton Filling His Role For Lightning

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By CARTER GADDIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 6, 2007

TAMPA - Chris Gratton's second homecoming in the Lightning's season opener Thursday will be remembered, and rightly so, for his third-period scrap with New Jersey's David Clarkson.

It was a brief, if hectic, confrontation that took place after Clarkson pushed Filip Kuba into Tampa Bay goalie Johan Holmqvist. And it took place despite the fact that Gratton missed all but two shifts of the preseason after suffering a right corneal abrasion early in the Lightning's first exhibition game.

'Give him high marks for standing in there with Clarkson,' Lightning coach John Tortorella said after the 3-1 victory, 'especially with his injury. Grats wants to play. He wants to be part of this club. I think he's trying to let us know he'll do anything to help the club win. So high marks there. I'm not crazy about him doing that, with the injury that he has, but in that situation ... high marks.'

It was the moment that stood out, for sure, but hardly the only example of why the Lightning organization has had its collective heart set for some time now on bringing Gratton back for a third stint with the franchise.

For Tortorella, that idea began to crystallize on Feb. 28, 2006, when Gratton fought 6-foot-5, 240-pound Russian Evgeny Artyukhin back when Artyukhin was throwing his considerable weight around for the Lightning.

'I watched him stand in with Artyukhin, when he went toe-to-toe with Artyukhin,' Tortorella said. 'Grats stood right in there. When I looked at that, to fight that animal, I said, 'Man, he's got something inside of him.''

He showed what he has inside him Thursday, demonstrating almost from start to finish why the Lightning believed it was well worth sending the Florida Panthers a conditional second-round pick in this past summer's draft to re-re-acquire Tampa Bay's first-round pick in 1993.

Gratton, 32, had mixed emotions about the deal.

'You look at Tampa Bay's lineup and the success that they've had the last number of years, any player would be thankful to get that opportunity,' Gratton said. 'But, you know, on the other hand, you're disappointed, because I really enjoyed playing in Florida and I liked that organization, as well. And I was hoping to stay there and be there for a while.

'But teams go in a different direction sometimes. The moment you sign your name to a contract, you know you can be traded at any time. And they asked me to lift my no-trade clause, and once that happens, I think you realize as a player it's best to move on.'

Or, in this case, return to his roots.

In addition to his late fight Thursday with Clarkson, Gratton demonstrated his playmaking ability by feeding fellow newcomer Michel Ouellet with a pretty cross-ice pass that set up Ouellet for what would have been his first goal in a Lightning uniform if goalie Martin Brodeur hadn't made a brilliant save on the point-blank shot.

It was the kind of play Gratton was expected to make for the Lightning more than a decade ago. But this time around is different.

It's certainly not like his first tenure (1993-97), when he was asked to shoulder the goal-scoring burden and did, in fact, put together a career-best 30-goal season in 1996-97. It's not like his second tenure (1998-2000), either, because as team captain back then he was expected to be a leader on and off the ice - again, the focal point, rather than a role player.

Now, after spending time with the Flyers, Sabres, Coyotes, Avalanche and Panthers, the 14th-year pro is being asked to do exactly what he did Thursday - center the third and fourth lines, alternating between providing the occasional scoring chance with Jason Ward and Mathieu Darche and injecting the burst of energy that comes from skating with big-bodied forwards like Nick Tarnasky and Andre Roy.

'It's fun to change it up, especially in the middle of a game,' said Gratton, who played nearly 13 minutes. 'If you're having an off night and things aren't going well, you get out there with Tarnasky and Roy and mix it up and try to get the team going by creating some energy. It's a fun way to play.'

Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or igaddis@tampatrib.com.

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