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Roster Moves Aplenty For Bolts

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 11, 2009

TAMPA - The Lightning's Rubik's Cube roster took a few turns Tuesday before Tampa Bay landed on a serviceable lineup against the Thrashers.

With Paul Ranger (upper-body injury) landing back on the injured list and D Andrej Meszaros (arm) still out, the team called up D Josef Melichar from the minors with the intention of Melichar making his Lightning debut three days after he was acquired from Carolina. But Melichar had to wait until after noon Tuesday - after clearing re-entry waivers - to fly to Tampa from Norfolk, Va.

Travel delays, however, prevented Melichar from arriving in time to play. He ended up being a scratch, although he made it to town and he will be available for practice today.

Tampa Bay was not left shorthanded on the blue line, however, after Marek Malik was activated off injured reserve. Marik returned to the lineup after missing nine games with an ankle injury. There was also some concern with D Matt Smaby, who was walking around the locker room Tuesday morning with a protective boot on his right foot but still played.

With Melichar unavailable, converted F David Koci found his way into the lineup as the sixth man on defense after he was scheduled to be a scratch as of the morning.

The Lightning have lined up 17 different defensemen this season and 42 players, numbers that are sure to increase when Melichar, acquired from Carolina for Jussi Jokinen on Saturday, likely makes his way into the lineup. LW Wade Brookbank, the other player acquired from Carolina in the Jokinen trade, cleared waivers Tuesday and was reassigned to AHL Norfolk.

MYSTERY REVEALED? Now that the injury to G Mike Smith has been made known, interim coach Rick Tocchet said he is relieved to a certain extent that the constant questions of why Smith isn't on the ice won't be asked on a daily basis.

But now the question of when it occurred, or how, remains a mystery. And with an edict coming down that all injury-related questions will be handled by General Manager Brian Lawton, Smith won't be available for comment anytime soon.

Smith might be the only who can answer that question, however, as he didn't report anything wrong to the training staff until after the game against Philadelphia on Jan. 30.

"He didn't know he had a concussion then. He just told me he wasn't feeling well," Tocchet said. "To me, his mood and stuff did not change. I had no idea. We won big games and he was in net. He was happy after games, so I don't know. It kind of hit me out of the blue."

NUTS AND BOLTS: RW Adam Hall was scratched for the second consecutive game. ... The line of 42-year-old Gary Roberts, overall No. 1 pick Steven Stamkos and RW Steve Downie scored for the second consecutive game. ... The announced crowd of 13,490 was a season low.

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