Will Vinik be a boon for Bolts?

Sitting with National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman, whose smile said the check cleared, Jeff Vinik was introduced as proud owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning and its five-game losing streak Friday at the Forum.

By sheer (wink-wink) coincidence, the Stanley Cup visits Tampa today. Vinik, the fifth Lightning owner in 18 years (Hey, Gary, nice vetting process!) says he wants the Cup back, really back, surrounded by a championship team. This owner says he's in for the long haul. Can you say stability?

"I don't think 'stability' is the right word," Vinik said. "We're striving for excellence."

What do you give him - nine months?

Just kidding.

But we have heard a lot of this before.

Stability would be a very good starting point. So would spending to the salary cap. For now, all I know is I see real relief in faces at the Forum, employees who know they're going to get paid, an increasingly dicey proposition under now former Lightning owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie, who should be in their own "Saw" movie. Talk about blood and gore.

Jeff Vinik is a one-man show, and the show is loaded. He oozes stability. Vinik apparently paid a bargain-basement price for the Bolts - and paid cash. Unlike his predecessors, he has no debt service to worry about.

That's sweet music to Bettman, former steel cage referee for Oren vs. Len. It's a symphony of random serial numbers to a league that once gave Tampa a team because someone left $30 million behind a tree or something, and recklessly gave the thumbs up to Japanese mystery men, Art the carnival barker and, lastly, cowboys, a regular ownership menagerie.

Bettman longed for another Bill Davidson to make the Lightning winners again in the standings and the stands. He thinks the league, and Tampa Bay, has struck gold.

"If you had to computer-generate an owner for this situation, I think we got the right guy," Bettman said.

Granted, a computer generation might be livelier than the new owner, who will shun the spotlight and not run hockey operations, a blessing since the yahoos on the way out thought they were the smartest guys in the dressing room. The new owner says he will not run this team. He says he'll hire a "world-class CEO" to preside over the Lightning.

And Jeff Vinik said this, on March 5, 2010:

"I'm going to invest for the long term. This franchise is not going to be constrained by financial resources."

Write that one down, kiddies.

"A lot has been written about the economic health and ... the alleged fragility of this franchise," Bettman said. "You need not write those words anymore. This owner has the resources, the ability and the commitment, so we'll make believe the words 'economic fragility' are out of the lexicon down here in Tampa."

Write down that, too.

Vinik is already on the job. He and Lightning sharpshooter Steven Stamkos met with about 200 Lightning fans at the Forum on Friday. Vinik, a noted philanthropist, then attended a DeBartolo Family Foundation fundraiser. This morning, Vinik will meet Tim Tebow and work on Tebow's throwing mechanics. Actually, we're not sure about that last one.

Vinik said the right things Friday, which kind of means he said nothing, but he knows it's not about what he says, but what he does. Vinik has that CEO to hire, and a general manger to fire, and probably a coach, too. Wouldn't any world-class CEO want his own guys?

Then there's the $85 million question that is Vinny Lecavalier. Will the new owner keep No. 4 or try to move him?

"I have no problem having Vinny Lecavalier on the hockey team," Vinik said. "He's a great player, he's an elite player, he's part of the strong team we have here. All I can say is that this franchise is not going to be constrained by financial resources."

That's really not an answer.

Want a real answer?

"This franchise isn't moving," Gary Bettman said. "Jeff will be here forever."

Man, did that check clear or what?