Trade talk is heating up as Olympics wind down

Though the attention of the hockey world will be focused on this afternoon's Olympic gold medal matchup between Canada and the United States, that focus will shift to the NHL hours later.

Even before an Olympic hangover can set in, the talk will center around potential trades and movement. That's because the Olympic roster freeze will be lifted at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, and Wednesday's 3 p.m. trade deadline looms.

That leaves roughly a 63-hour sprint for teams to make moves to buy or sell, to make improvements for a playoff push or plan for next season and beyond.

With Tampa Bay sitting one point out of a playoff position with 21 games remaining - and only Tuesday's game against Philadelphia taking place before the deadline - there are decisions to be made.

How will Lightning general manager Brian Lawton address his team? Perhaps a bit more aggressively than previously thought when just being in the playoff race might have been considered a victory.

"We wanted to get to this point when we sat down last year as a group to be playing meaningful games for the playoffs and we are there now, and that's not good enough," Lawton said. "Finishing ninth is not good enough for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Coming up a little short isn't good enough. We've got high expectations that run from our past ownership to our eventual new ownership. That is crystal clear, and everybody should understand."

Chatter leading up to the Olympics was at a roar and died down during the break. But now, with the roster freeze about to be lifted and the trade deadline approaching, talk has started heating up again.

"It's going to be an absolute sprint coming out," Lawton said. "And we are in a spot that we wanted to be. I've said that before and we are thankful for that, but we are getting a little greedy. We want more."

So as Lawton has been meeting with staff members throughout the break, breaking down not only the needs of his team but also categorizing those of the 29 other clubs from prospects to the NHL roster.

"You have to understand your competition so we can make deals that are fair for us," Lawton said. "I don't think anybody is going to steal from anybody; the other teams are just too good for that. But you want to make fair deals and try to uncover hidden value any way you can."

Perhaps on his short list of acquisitions would be scoring depth, a puck-moving defenseman or even a winger to play with Vinny Lecavalier to help boost the production of the second line. And it sounds like Lawton and the Lightning intend to be active.

"Aggressive is definitely a good way to describe it," Lawton said. "We want to do all we can."

Lawton also appears to have the blessing of incoming owner Jeff Vinik, who is expected to be formally introduced in the near future, possibly this week.

"I've been in touch with all the interested parties, and so far everybody has been great," Lawton said. "We have a clear-cut direction and we have to go out and execute on that."

Olympic return

There will be little rest for Tampa Bay's four Olympians.

After defenseman Mattias Ohlund and Sweden were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Slovakia on Wednesday, he was given time off to recover. Ohlund is in town, but he is not expected to practice until Monday.

For the Bolts' other three participants, it's another story.

Defenseman Andrej Meszaros (Slovakia) and goalie Antero Niittymaki (Finland) took part in Saturday night's bronze medal match. Left wing Ryan Malone, meanwhile, goes for gold this afternoon with Team USA.

Once they are done, however, it's a quick turnaround to fly to Tampa and get ready for Tuesday's game.

"We've got the Philadelphia Flyers, and they're ahead of us in the playoff push and we need all hands on deck right now," Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said. "Absolutely, they're in the lineup."

Class act

Speaking of Tocchet, it was a classy move on his part to allow goalie Mike Smith to travel to Vancouver to watch girlfriend Brigitte Acton represent Canada in the Olympic women's slalom race. She finished 17th.

"I try to put myself in positions of when I played as a coach, and coaching is not just X's and O's. That's part of it, but psychology and managing people is huge," Tocchet said. "And I try to manage it how I wanted a coach to manage me, so I had no problem with it."