Season Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning
Major Additions: Brad Lukowich, Michel Ouellet
Major Subtractions: Luke Richardson, Eric Healey, Ruslan Fedotenko, Cory Sarich, Eric Perrin
Analysis
If any team is proof that the salary cap has risen beyond reason, it is the Tampa Bay Lightning. A team that features Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards and Dan Boyle, but has been knowingly thin behind those four and all but desperate for a starting goaltender cannot be sitting at nearly $8 million below the salary cap if they expect to compete for the Stanley Cup.
I can accept that there really weren’t any quality starting goaltenders available on the free agent market this summer but there are several available for trades at bargain prices (Martin Gerber might be worth a shot and Ottawa should be getting desperate to part with him as their negotiations with Danny Heatley and Jason Spezza heat up).
So if $42-ish million is the self imposed cap for the Lightning, what can they do to improve? Brad Richards is immovable. Lecavalier, St. Louis and Boyle are the heart and soul of the team. In other words, Tampa will ice a team that for all intents and purposes is identical to the squad bounced pretty darned quickly from the playoffs a year ago.
Tampa will remain competitive but unless their goaltending improves drastically they’ll be hard pressed to even make the playoffs. Marc Denis will get another chance and aught to do better than last year, though that’s far from guaranteed to happen. They will likely stand pat until they see how their goaltending stands up. If they appear to be on the outside of the playoff picture, Dan Boyle will command plenty of attention on the trade market. If they are a bubble team (likely) they’ll like just stay the course. Vaclav Prospal is the only significant forward on the roster who’s looking at unrestricted free agency next summer, so the team can afford to be patient for at least another year.
So what does this mean? It likely means that Tampa Bay fans will have more fun watching Vinny this year than hoping for playoff success, but it also means there’s good times ahead. If the cap - and I mean Tampa’s self-imposed cap, not the NHL salary cap - increases, there is ample room to add a top pairing defenceman and a veteran goaltender. And that would be a team to watch out for.