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Bolts Re-Sign Boyle; Prospal Off To Philly

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 26, 2008

TAMPA - The sun was shining and the sky was blue most of Monday afternoon at Cheval Golf and Country Club, where the Lightning held a charity golf outing.

Yet, even with a cloud of doubt hanging over the team as this afternoon's trade deadline loomed, things finally began to break late Monday with two moves that paint a clearer picture of what direction the team will take.

Defenseman Dan Boyle agreed to a six-year contract extension worth $40 million, with a salary cap hit of $6.67 million a season, while left wing Vinny Prospal was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for 22-year-old defensemen Alexandre Picard and a conditional 2009 draft pick.

What this all means for center Brad Richards, however, remains muddled, although things could become more focused before the 3 p.m. trade deadline.

The signing of Boyle was the first big piece of the puzzle that General Manager Jay Feaster needed to put into place in a game plan devised to help retool a team that sits last in the Eastern Conference and is all but assured of missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2001-02 season.

The next piece could be moving Richards. With Tampa Bay's big four locked into big-money deals - Marty St. Louis ($5.25 average salary), Vinny Lecavalier ($6.75 million), Boyle ($6.67 million), Richards ($7.8 million) - the math doesn't add up to retain all four players long term.

While Canadian outlets have reported that Richards has submitted a list of teams he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to move to, Dallas is believed to be the front-runner in a package that could include goaltender Mike Smith as the central player coming in return.

Feaster did not discuss what moves might be next on his list, but he anticipates being active in the hours leading up to today's deadline.

But getting the Boyle deal done was a big part of what Feaster wants to do.

"It's a huge sense of relief to be able to get this done," he said. "We as a hockey department felt that Danny Boyle is somebody that we could not afford to lose. Players like Danny and who do what Danny does do not come along very often."

For Boyle, it was a big weight off his shoulders to know he is going to remain in Tampa instead of moving to another team.

"I've been here for six years now, through the good and the bad. Management obviously knows what I bring and what I can do," said Boyle, who has a no-trade clause in his new deal for the first four years and a limited no-clause in the final two years. "I knew that I had hockey operations on my side, so I'm very thankful to have those guys on my side and they played a part in having the owners sign off on this deal because originally they did not want to."

Moving Prospal, who has a career-high 29 goals this season, was a plan Feaster had in mind for some time, and the 32-year-old forward didn't help his cause Feb. 12 when he publicly expressed his frustration toward the coaching staff in a postgame interview broadcast inside the arena.

Feaster said getting a Picard, a 6-foot-2 former third-round pick who played most of last season with the Flyers, and a pick was the best among six offers, most of which included a prospect and a pick.

"It's about trying to replenish our depth a little bit," Feaster said. "In the past with our pending free-agent players we have always let it run out, play it out and see how far we go in the playoffs. And it's unfortunate what has happened with our team this year, but the reality of it is that we have never had a player hit unrestricted free agency and not leave."

Feaster had a late Monday of additional phone calls lined up and plans on an early start this morning as the final hours count tick down to the deadline.

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

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