30 teams in 30 days: Tampa Bay Lightning
Finished: 14th eastern conference
Leading scorers: Martin St. Louis 80, Vincent Lecavalier 67, Steven Stamkos 46, Ryan Malone 45
Who did they add?: Mattias Ohlund, Matt Walker, Stephane Veilleux, Kurtis Foster, Antero Niittymaki
Who did they lose?: David Koci
Overview: Second last in the east, in front of only the Islanders, is definitely not what the Lightning had foreseen for the 2008-09 season. A stellar offseason, where Tampa restocked and retooled, and had Steven Stamkos coming up, things looked to be getting back to what they were when they won the Stanley Cup in 2004. The season began, and the Lightning came back down to earth, and realized that the signings were all mediocre players who didn’t produce and were all injury prone. This offseason, they did basically the same thing, only they signed younger guys and restocked their blue line. The forwards are led by Vincent Lecavalier, who had a down season last year only scoring 67 points, but look for him to improve on that thing season. Leading with him are Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos. This trio is basically the only source of offense for the Bolts, who are loaded with grinders and will need Ryan Malone and Jeff Halpern to step up and produce for Tampa. The defense is retooled and is looking very good. Mattias Ohlund was brought in to help a young and up and coming defense corps that included Andrej Meszaros, Victor Hedman, Kurtis Foster, Matt Walker and Paul Ranger. A defense that is young and stacked, in my opinion, can shut down opposition and put up points. The latter will be a necessity in Tampa this year, as they will be hard-pressed to find scoring. The goaltending is in better hands than last year, with Mike Smith starting and Antero Niittymaki coming in to backup replacing Olaf Kolzig, or maybe share starting duties with Mike Smith. Tampa’s defense is much improved this season, so look for the goaltending to feel some of the effects and improve as well. The Bolts still need time to improve, and to find some scoring, so they will miss the playoffs this year. If they can keep the core of the team intact for the next few years and add some snipers in support, then they should be set for the future.
Winners or losers?: Winner, in my opinion. Winning teams always start at the back end, and Tampa is heading in this direction. They’re far from being contenders, but it will come with time. They also need to add a veteran scorer.
