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Sharks' Boyle glad to return

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune
and TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 23, 2009

TAMPA - Former Lightning D Dan Boyle has moved on, but a part of his heart remains in Tampa Bay.

During six seasons with the Lightning, Boyle blossomed into one of the league's top offensive blue-liners and became a cog in the 2004 Stanley Cup championship team. Now in his second season with San Jose, Boyle returned to Tampa with the Sharks for Thursday night's game.

"There will always be a place in my heart for Tampa," said Boyle, who was greeted with shouts of "welcome home" from fans after Wednesday's practice in Brandon.

Boyle did not leave the franchise on the best of terms. After signing a six-year extension in February 2008 - a deal he believed would allow him to finish his career in a Lightning uniform - Boyle was forced five months later to waive his no-trade clause or face being put on waivers.

He reluctantly agreed to be moved to San Jose, where he is one of the team's alternate captains.

While he doesn't enjoy seeing the Lightning go through the on-ice struggles it has the past season-plus, he won't be sending Christmas cards to anybody involved with the current ownership.

"Knowing some of the guys I know, I don't wish them anything bad," Boyle said. "I want them to succeed. Selfishly, part of me, obviously, still has a problem with the guys up top."

In his last season with Tampa Bay (2007-08), Boyle sustained a severed tendon in a freak locker room accident when a skate fell on his wrist during the preseason. He was put back into the lineup too soon, required a second surgery to repair the damage, and was limited to 34 games.

Eventually, Boyle could come back. His south Tampa home has been for sale, but the lot on which he planned to build a new house sits vacant. He intends to hold onto the land in case he and wife decide to move back to the area after his playing days are over.

Young guns

With three teenagers playing prominent roles, the Lightning don't look like the typical NHL team of 10 or 20 years ago.

That's fine with Coach Rick Tocchet, who played 18 seasons in the league (1984-2002).

"We had very few 18-year-olds play," Tocchet said. "It's bucking (history), but you look at Colorado. They're off to a heck of a start and they have a lot of young players. Around the league, teams are putting a lot of young players in. We obviously have some young guys, which is nice."

Tampa Bay's youngest player, 18-year-old D Victor Hedman, entered Thursday leading rookies in average ice time at 24:38. C Steven Stamkos, 19, was second on the team in scoring, and rookie LW James Wright, 19, got his first career goal 30 seconds into Thursday's contest playing on a line with C Vinny Lecavalier and RW Marty St. Louis.

Nuts and Bolts

D Kurtis Foster was scratched in favor of David Hale. "Hale had a good game in Pittsburgh (a 4-1 loss last Saturday)," Tocchet said. "He played gritty, and we need gritty players." Coincidentally, Sharks C Torrey Mitchell also didn't play, as he is currently on injured reserve. Foster and Mitchell have not faced each other since March 19, 2008, when Foster, playing for Minnesota, broke his leg after Mitchell unintentionally tripped him. ... Tocchet addressed the players after Thursday morning's skate and said ice time would be allocated according to effort. "A guy makes a bad play, you can't just bench him," Tocchet said afterward. "But if a guy's consistently losing battles, if it's a trend, the ice time has got to come down."

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