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Are you like me? At a certain point — probably around Tuesday, when they signed Brandon Bochenski, did you finally and completely lose count of how many player transactions the Tampa Bay Lightning had completed in the past three weeks? And further, did you wonder if they were planning to play four forwards and one defenceman most shifts under new coach Barry Melrose since it seemed as if every one of those new faces played up front (or did until Andrew Hutchinson signed the other day).
And that, in a way, was noteworthy too. Hutchinson played some for the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes team (enough to get his name on the Stanley Cup at any rate), but spent all of last season with Hartford of the AHL. He is an offensive talent (64 points in 67 games led all AHL defencemen) and will likely play in their top six this coming season, inheriting some of Dan Boyle's responsibilities on the power play. He represents a gamble, naturally, because if he had NHL-caliber defensive skills, he would have been in Carolina, a team so desperate for offensive help on the blue line that they eventually parted with Erik Cole (a significant contributor on that Stanley Cup-winning team) in the deal with Edmonton for Joni Pitkanen.
Nominally, Jay Feaster, the team's full-time general manager since 2002, has been on "vacation" since the entry draft and a settlement of the remaining three years of his contract was made official Friday. So he's out and has been for weeks, as owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie reshaped the team.
Presumably, Feaster — a qualified man who oversaw the team's 2004 Stanley Cup championship run and will soon find work again in the NHL - was satisfied with the terms of his settlement, given that in the official release noting his departure, he is quoted as praising the life out of the new ownership group: "For the past two weeks, I have watched from the sidelines as Brian Lawton, Len Barrie and Oren Koules executed to perfection the game-plan they shared with us prior to the NHL draft in Ottawa. During that time, it became apparent to me that this new ownership group did not need my advice or expertise, and I came to the conclusion it was time to move on." The important part from Feaster's perspective: "When I expressed that sentiment to Oren and Len, they immediately agreed to honor my contract and accept my resignation."
So Feaster will get his money; andn Brian Lawton officially becomes the top man in hockey operations. Meanwhile, Tom Kurvers, the former NHL defenceman, was brought aboard as assistant GM; and Claude Loiselle remains behind to handle contracts and CBA compliance issues, of which there may be many, given the number of players Tampa signed to contracts of late.
New faces destined to play regularly up front include a quartet of players who started last season in Pittsburgh (Ryan Malone, Adam Hall, Gary Roberts and Mark Recchi, although Recchi eventually ended up with the Atlanta Thrashers); plus Vaclav Prospal, who went to Philadelphia at the trading deadline, but returned; Radim Vrbata, formerly of Phoenix; plus Evgeny Artyukhin, who is returning from Russia; tough guy David Koci, who may or may not crack the line-up, since he received a two-way contract; and if you wanted to, you could include Ryan Craig, who played only seven games for them before season-ending surgery.
Then there is also Steven Stamkos, the first choice in the 2008 entry draft, who needs to make the team out of training camp, but will almost certainly be in the line-up on opening night.
It might have been probably easier to list the returnees: Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, their dynamic one-two offensive punch, plus Jussi Jokinen, who came over in the Brad Richards deal; plus Michel Ouellet, Jason Ward and Nick Tarnasky. Jeff Halpern is also there, but will start the year on injured reserve, recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, after getting injured playing for the United States at the world hockey championships.
Even with Halpern out until Christmas, that's too many bodies on one-way contracts. Assuming Lecavalier, St. Louis and Prospal play as one line and Stamkos, Malone and Vrbata play as another, that leaves Recchi, Roberts, Hall, Artyukin, Jokinen, Ouellet, Ward, Tarnasky and Craig — nine players — battling for six jobs, and no designated thug, since Andre Roy will not return and Melrose may well want to keep Koci around.
