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Who's Who? Lightning Will Find Out Soon Enough
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Published: July 17, 2008
BRANDON - Tampa Bay has turned over its roster so dramatically this offseason, it's not a stretch to suggest that name tags will be handed out when players report for training camp Sept. 16.
There will be plenty of handshakes and introductions, as new faces will litter the locker room.
Some of the Lightning's summer acquisitions - Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi, Matt Carle and Adam Hall - showed up in town Wednesday to familiarize themselves with their new surroundings.
But for all the strange faces, it will still be the familiar ones leading the way, at least according to a pair of Stanley Cup-winning veterans.
"We've been around long enough to know this is Vinny Lecavalier's team and Marty St. Louis' team," said Roberts, a 22-year veteran brought in for his experience on the ice and in the locker room. "We're just here to complement those guys. I'm excited just to be part of it. As an older guy, you come in and you do your job the way you've done it for 20 years. That's not going to change.
"At some point, will I offer advice, or Mark? Probably. But we're not going to walk in here and rant and rave and try to make changes; it doesn't happen that way. It doesn't matter if you play 20 years or one year, you have to gain the respect of your teammates, and your performance on the ice is really what is going to get that."
Recchi, a two-time champion - with Pittsburgh in 1992 and Carolina in 2006 - said he and Roberts are "on the same page with everything" regarding their new locker room.
"I think the biggest thing is with the group of guys they have brought in, I don't think it's going to be as hard as people think to bring the locker room together because it's all character guys brought in to add to Vinny and St. Louis.
"To me it says a lot about what they want to do here, because everybody they brought in wants to be here for the right reasons. And when you do things like that it's going to make things a lot easier for the leadership in the room to put the pieces together and keep everybody on the right track."
Both veterans assured, however, that they are not here to be the leaders and step on any toes, but rather act more like guidance counselors who just happen to be sitting at the desk next to the students taking the same exam in the classroom.
"This is Vinny's team; we know that. We are here to help him," Recchi said. "That will be something we'll talk to Vincent about, but we know he's the leader of this team. ... He's been a champion and he knows what it takes to win. I think it just strayed a little bit the past couple of years. But I think once you get that feeling back again, it's easy to grab again. When you are not winning it's easy to go the other way."
PARTIAL SCHEDULE: The Lightning on Wednesday announced their preseason schedule and home opener.
Tampa Bay opens the preseason Sept. 20 at Pittsburgh, four days after players report to training camp. The Penguins visit Tampa on Sept. 22, and the Rangers come to the Forum on Sept. 23. The Bolts complete the North American portion of the preseason with a road game against the Rangers on Sept. 25. Tampa Bay then departs for Germany to play its preseason finale Sept. 28 against Eisbaren Berlin.
While the regular season opens in Prague, Czech Republic, against the Rangers on Oct. 4-5, the Lightning open their remaining schedule with their home opener Oct. 11 against Carolina.
In addition, the league announced the Lightning will play out-of-conference home-and-home series against Minnesota, Colorado and San Jose, which guarantees ex-Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle will return to Tampa this season.
Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835 or eerlendsson@tampatrib.com.
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