Cool & Caution

TAMPA - Oren Koules has style, give him that.

If you could pick someone to just hang out with and share laughs, he might be the guy.

He's got brushed back hair, kind of spiked, and just oozes California casual cool. Very approachable and friendly. Open collar shirt and jeans. He wore a sports coat to meet the public Monday for the first time as the owner of the Lightning, but admitted, "I probably left the price tag on it somewhere."

He already has gotten in trouble with the NHL for talking too much, which is a major plus. Outgoing owner Bill Davidson (we think that was his name) did neither of those things - get in trouble, or talk. Or show up here, for that matter.

Koules also has a sense of what people want to hear.

He promises fun at the Forum.

He promises action.

He promises the team won't move to Vegas, Kansas City, or anywhere else.

All of that - the look, the promises, the cool - are good things. Koules clearly is a hockey guy, too. All of that seems to promise better days ahead for a franchise that could use some good news.

Koules and running mate Len Barrie, a veteran of 14 professional seasons, are not here to maintain the status quo. Who doesn't like it when the owner promises, as Koules did, to be "shockingly aggressive" in acquiring the talent to put the Bolts back in hockey's top tier?

A word of caution, though.

Davidson might have been an absentee owner but he has two things Koules doesn't, at least not yet - ownership experience and a Stanley Cup. That's important to remember as Koules begins to rebuild a team that fell to the bottom of the National Hockey League standings.

Perhaps it's appropriate that Koules' film production company is named Evolution Entertainment because his new hockey team is surely evolving. He produced the TV show "Two and a Half Men" too. Just so you know, it's a comedy - not a documentary on the Lightning's roster.

Hockey Guys

No owner comes in and promises things will be worse. Even when they do warn fans to expect a spoonful of medicine for a couple of seasons, as Stu Sternberg did when he took over the Rays, it is usually accompanied by something like free parking for everyone.

Koules did his part to ramp up the excitement in a couple of ways. First, he re-signed Vinny Prospal and put him on the line with Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis. Then he promised to surround newcomer Steven Stamkos with the kind of line help that will give him a chance to show what he can do.

"We're not going to let the kid be out there by himself," Koules said.

That's a hockey guy talking. Hockey guys don't say defensemen, they say "D" - which Koules did. The Forum isn't an arena, it's a "barn." For the record, Koules said it's one of the nicest barns in the league. That's good to know.

"We didn't buy this to sit in the owner's box and sip wine - well, we'll do that," Barrie said with a grin.

Everyone laughed.

There's no reason this can't be good and fun at the same time.

That brings us to our next point.

Not Far Away

More than once Monday, Koules talked about the Philadelphia Flyers. They went from last in the Eastern Conference two years ago to the conference finals this spring. It can be done.

That's the goal.

"We're going to make some moves that might surprise people," Koules said.

Today's move will be to formally name Barry Melrose as the head coach. That won't surprise anyone now because it may have been the worst kept secret in all of sports for the past month or so, but it raised an eyebrow or six when word first leaked.

The choice of Melrose is more than just putting a new coach behind the bench. It's an organizational shift from the driving style of departed coach John Tortorella to something a little different.

"Torts is a really, really good hockey coach and demanding," Koules said. "Some of the younger guys didn't handle that."

You can debate whether that is right or wrong, and over the coming months and years we certainly will. You can question the player moves or his choice of coach. Koules will make mistakes as he learns his way around the owner's box and if the Bolts don't win, no one will care how cool he is or what he looks like.

But he appears to have a plan and the resources to make it happen. As first impressions go, that's the one that counts. He made a pretty good one.