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Signs Point To Stamkos Playing More

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Nashville's Joel Ward gets knocked off his feet by Lightning defenseman Paul Ranger in front of Lightning goaltender Mike Smith during the first period Friday.

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 22, 2008

Updated: 11/22/2008 01:19 am

TAMPA - Since Rick Tocchet took over as interim coach, rookie Steven Stamkos has seen his ice time rise. Soon, he may see his responsibilities take on a greater role as well.

Tocchet said he would eventually like to try Stamkos in a point position on the power play, although that's not something that is going to happen in the immediate future.

"Somewhere down the road I'd like to see if he can play the point, but we'd make sure we'd do it in the right situation," Tocchet said. "We haven't practiced it yet and I don't want to throw him to the fire just yet, but that might be a possibility because we need right handed shots on the point."

Steve Eminger is the Bolts' only right-handed defenseman.

In the meantime, Tocchet has kept RW Marty St. Louis working a point position on the power play, although he'd like to give him shifts up front as well.

"I like St. Louis back there at the point, he calms things down, makes good decisions and can bring the puck up the ice," Tocchet said.

COACH SEARCH: Since the ascension of Tocchet to interim coach, the Lightning have been on the lookout to add another assistant to the staff. Goaltending coach Cap Raeder has been on the bench since the dismissal of Barry Melrose, but he ultimately would like to return to working primarily with the goaltenders in the organization and charting games from the press box.

To fill that role, it is believed the Lightning are talking to former associate coach Mike Sullivan about coming back to join the team. Sullivan, a former head coach with Boston, was part of former coach John Tortorella's staff but was not retained over the summer. Sullivan, who still has a year remaining on his contract, was interviewed during the summer for the head coaching jobs in Los Angeles, Atlanta and the New York Islanders.

TWO MEN OUT: LW Gary Roberts missed Friday's game with an upper-body injury, the first game the 42-year-old has missed this season. Roberts, who did not practice the previous two days, did skate on Friday and is considered to be out on a day-to-day basis.

C Chris Gratton also missed the game with a lower-body injury, although it is not a muscle related situation, which would discount a groin problem. Gratton took part in Friday's morning skate with the team and was scheduled to take part in pregame warm-ups to test the injury but never suited up. Gratton said he didn't think his injury would force him to miss significant time.

NUTS AND BOLTS: LW Ryan Malone and D Lukas Krajicek each missed the third period on Friday, but neither are expected to miss any time. ... RW Mark Recchi recorded his 1,394th career point. ... C Vinny Lecavalier recorded his 80th career power-play goal.

Erik Erlendsson

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