Bolts shake up coaching staff

Even before the Lightning could resume practice Wednesday for their first gathering in nine days, the focus shifted away from the ice.

Tampa Bay made a coaching change, firing assistant Wes Walz and replacing him with Jim Johnson, who had been head coach for the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League, a Lightning affiliate.

Walz had been offered the opportunity to assume Johnson's role with Norfolk but declined the offer. Walz has one year left on his contract.

Perhaps the bigger issue extenuating from Wednesday's developments was how it all unfolded. The decision was made solely by Tampa Bay GM Brian Lawton without consulting Lightning coach Rick Tocchet.

"On this, none. I was told at 12 o'clock (on Tuesday)," Tocchet said when asked what kind of input he had into the decision.

When asked whether it bothered him not to have say in the decision, Tocchet shifted the focus to the ice.

"Right now it's irrelevant. I have 23 guys to coach and we are one point behind a playoff spot with two games in hand," he said. "We had things going pretty good here and we are trying to get these guys re-energized."

Lawton, meanwhile, said he has not been pleased with the way the team has played the past month and began thinking about making a change a few days into the Olympic break. The Lightning limped into the break on a three-game losing streak.

"When I go through a decision like this, I talk to the head coach, I talk to the rest of our staff, the assistant general mangers, I talk to the players," Lawton said. "That's the process that I use whenever I make a major decision, or minor one for that matter. What is this one? I wouldn't say it's a major decision but it's not a minor one, either. I would say it's in between. I went through that process and then I take the input from everybody involved and then I ultimately am the person responsibility for a decision."

Johnson spearheaded a revival in Norfolk after replacing Darren Rumble as head coach on Jan. 16. The Admirals were 17-23-2 when Johnson took over and turned around their season with a 13-2-2 run after the change heading into Wednesday's game at Binghamton.

Before taking over for Rumble, Johnson worked primarily in Norfolk on the top-three ranked penalty kill, an area in which Lawton indicated Johnson could help to improve. But Tocchet said it's undetermined where Johnson, who was not on the ice Wednesday, will fit in with a coaching staff that also includes associate coach Rick Wilson, Adam Oates and goaltending coach Cap Raeder.

Walz, meanwhile, learned of the news when he was called into Lawton's office Tuesday afternoon.

"I was stunned. ... This threw me for a bit of a loop," Walz said. "As a player I have been sent to the minors, sent to the ECHL (East Coast Hockey League), told I'm a (bad) hockey player and that I should go over and play in Europe, so nothing much rattles me very much. I have always had a lot of confidence in my abilities and this will not change that. I know that every player needs an opportunity and this will be no different for me now."

Bolts bits

C Zenon Konopka did not practice Wednesday after suffering a lower-body injury while training during the break. ... G Jaroslav Janus was recalled from Norfolk to serve as a second goaltender while G Antero Niittymaki represents Finland at the Olympics. In Janus' absence, Norfolk signed G Matt Lundin to a professional tryout contract. Lundin, a first-year pro out of Mercyhurst College currently playing in the IHL, is the younger brother of Lightning D Mike Lundin.

Erik Erlendsson