Vinik may need broom to sweep away melodrama

If my name is Jeff Vinik and I'm about to complete the purchase of the Tampa Bay Lightning, there is one more caveat before I sign the deal.

I want a broom - a big one - and I want to sweep the Forum clean. It's non-negotiable.

Given the events of the last couple of days, it's reasonable to ask just who the soon-to-be owner of Tampa Bay's hockey team can trust over on Channelside Drive. General Manager Brian Lawton? Rick Tocchet, the head coach?

The guy who runs the Zamboni?

Anybody?

Who could blame the new owner if he starts sweeping at the top and doesn't stop until he reaches the bottom floor.

All of this is over the decision Lawton made to replace assistant coach Wes Walz with Jim Johnson. Normally we wouldn't give two hoots over a change like this, but the Lightning have a way of making us care about even the most minor of transactions. So it is again.

The reason for the move seems innocent enough: Lawton, whose contract expires at the end of this season, said he believes Johnson can help with the Bolts' struggling penalty-kill unit. Maybe he will.

But Tocchet said he didn't know about the change until the deed was done, and he went public with his displeasure. Lawton said he involved a lot of people in the process, including the head coach.

"I did talk to him before I spoke to Wes Walz - before I informed Wes Walz, before I notified him," Lawton said.

Lawton basically conceded the decision was already made when he had that conversation, though.

"In my mind I had gone through the process," he said. "I had spoken to players, I had spoken to my staff, I had spoken to the coaches, I had spoken to Rick throughout the year numerous times about performance."

Your move, Mr. Tocchet.

"Brian's job is to get the best people, that he thinks, in place," Tocchet said. "But there's also communication with GMs, coaches and ownership to where everybody is going in the same direction."

Lawton has the power and responsibility to make that move if he believes it is necessary. The Bolts skidded into the Olympic break with three consecutive losses, but they're still just a point out of the playoffs. But things are never that simple with the Bolts, are they?

Walz is a close friend of Tocchet's. Johnson is a close friend of Lawton's. It's personal.

"Brian knows (I disagree with the move). Wes Walz is a really good friend and a really good coach," Tocchet said.

A move like this cuts Tocchet's legs from under him, even though Lawton insisted multiple times that it's just not so.

"Absolutely not. This is not an indictment of Rick. This is something that can make us better," Lawton said.

Upset as he is, though, Tocchet made a messy situation messier by going public.

This is the kind of thing that could have been handled with a shouting match behind closed doors. Instead, a team fighting for a playoff spot has an unwanted distraction with 21 games to play.

That's not to say Johnson will be a mole inside the coaching offices, reporting everything he hears and sees to the general manager. If you're Tocchet, though, how do you really know that? I'm not trying to be unfair here. It's just reality that a coaching staff is built on relationships and trust, and that dynamic was just shattered.

"There has been a lot of stuff happen in the last year-and-a-half and you want to have a bunker mentality," Tocchet said. "Bunker down here. That's how you win on the ice. The team has done a nice job of bunkering down, and that's what we do here. The decision has been made and we move on."

I'm not sure that's possible. If the Bolts make the playoffs, who gets credit?

By endorsing either the coach or his GM, the new owner would be choosing sides that could dictate the future of the franchise. Maybe Vinik will decide to do just that, particularly if the Bolts make the playoffs on the strength of inspired play by the penalty-killing unit.

Or maybe he just decides that there has been enough melodrama for one franchise in the last couple of years and it's time for a clean sweep. If the new owner is shopping for oversized brooms right now, it would hard to blame him.