Bolts' Tokarski quietly bides his time

Dustin Tokarski's first year as a professional turned out to be quite a learning experience for the 20-year-old goaltender.

Sure, there were the long bus rides up and down the East Coast in and out of Norfolk, the Lightning's minor-league affiliate, throughout the season; the daily preparation and practice habits needed as a pro to get ready for weekend games all while figuring out how to take care of himself while living on his own.

Those are all lessons commonly learned for any rookie. But Tokarski, who is taking part in Tampa Bay's prospect development camp at the St. Pete Times Forum through Wednesday, also got a crash-course in the coaching carousel that affected the Lightning organization as he and his teammates went through three different coaches and three coaching changes.

Darren Rumble stood behind the bench to start the season before Jim Johnson replaced him in January. Then just as the Admirals turned around a poor first half of the season and looked primed to earn a playoff berth, Johnson was promoted to the NHL club in February in what turned out to be more of a political play by former general manager Brian Lawton than a tactical move, leaving Leigh Mendelsen to call the shots for the Admirals. Finally, with Tampa Bay's season all but over, Johnson returned to Norfolk to finish out the season.

True to his personality, however, Tokarski took all the upheaval during his rookie season in stride.

"It's quite different, for sure, but I think most guys would admit they got mentally stronger during the year," he said. "There was a lot of stuff going on throughout the year, but you just had to do what you could on the ice, control what you can and go from there."

It's that kind of demeanor that makes Tokarski the most-decorated Lightning goaltender prospect in franchise history. During his draft season, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound native of Humboldt, Sask., led Spokane to a Memorial Cup championship before Tampa Bay selected him in the fifth round of the 2008 draft. The following season he was in net for Team Canada when the hometown team captured the gold medal at the World Junior Championships in Ottawa.

With that kind of pedigree, Tokarski appears to be on track to becoming the type of player the Lightning will eventually rely upon to mind the nets in the not-so-distant future.

"It's going to take time, and as long as I'm here, I'll be a patient guy with that," said goaltender coach Cap Raeder, who worked with San Jose before joining Tampa Bay two seasons ago. "Where I came from, we always had guys three years, whether it was (Evgeni) Nabokov, (Miikka) Kiprusoff or (Vesa) Toskala, they were (in the minors) three years it didn't matter how they were doing, we were going to get them ready."

That's why last year was a valuable season for Tokarski, who appeared in 55 games, posting a 27-25-3 record with a solid 2.51 goals-against average and strong .915 save percentage. And in the second half of the season, as fellow prospect Jaroslav Janus missed time with injury, Tokarski got the bulk of the playing time as the Admirals pressed for a playoff spot.

"Those are key games and that's all just part of the process," Raeder said. "But he's been in pressure games before and you can never get enough of them. Hopefully every year you get into a situation where you are training the mind and training the body, the emotions and the whole bit."

Perhaps just as important in Tokarski's development is his perspective. With Dan Ellis coming in as a free agent on a two-year deal to battle with Mike Smith for playing time in the Lightning's net, Tokarski fully understands the situation even as he tries to make an impression.

"It looks like they have their goaltenders here for this year, but I'm going to come in with the mind-set that, who knows what happens if you come in and work hard and prove myself," Tokarski said. "If something happens in the NHL, great, but if not I'm going to aim to be one of the top goaltenders in the AHL."