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Tampa Bay Lightning: Are They For Real?
by Patrick Hoffman on 09/23/08 at 09:45 PM ET
Comments (6)
Last season, the Tampa Bay Lightning were not only the joke of the Eastern Conference, but also the entire National Hockey League finishing with the worst record at 31-42-9 for 71 points.
Going into this season, however, the Lightning may turn out to be one of the better teams in the league with new acquisitions Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Olaf Kolzig, Jussi Jokinen, Vaclav Prospal, Radim Vrbata, Mark Recchi, Andrej Meszaros, Matthew Carle and oh yeah, the No.1 draft pick of 2008, Steven Stamkos.
Put those players with the likes of new team captain Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, you’re suddenly looking at a team who has as good a chance as any to win the Southeast Division and make a run deep into the playoffs.
The team also has a new head coach in Barry Melrose, who knew how to bring the Los Angeles Kings together back in 1992-93 to reach the Stanley Cup Finals before bowing out to the Montreal Canadiens in five games.
Obviously, no one is expecting the Lightning to win the Cup this season but after winning two of their first three preseason games and getting solid play from all their positions, especially Stamkos, at least making the playoffs isn’t so far fetched.
Stamkos has shown so far that he can play with the big boys, taking lots of shifts in his first game against the Penguins, beating Crosby on face-offs, generating scoring chances and scoring the shootout winning goal. Tonight against the New York Rangers, he scored his first goal by beating the netminder (Miika Wiikman) with a perfect top corner shot. The Lightning probably hope that it will be his first of many, many more.
Stamkos isn’t the only player that the Lightning expect big things from as they are counting on all their new signings/acquisitions to provide the team with lots of offensive depth. The team was 16th in the league when it came to scoring goals last season so one has to think that that number will get better this season.
While the team’s scoring may be set, it’s their defense and goaltending that is questionable. Defensively, the team will rely on newcomers Carle and Meszaros to support what is considered a weak Lightning defense while goaltenders Mike Smith and Olaf Kolzig will try to provide the team with good enough goaltending to give their team a chance to win some hockey games.
I think that this team will surprise a lot of people this year and show their fans and the league that Stamkos and all their new signings/acquisitions were worth it. Remember, this team won a Cup four years ago and the only things that are different with this team is their questionable defense and goaltending. If they can take care of these two areas, a divisional title might turn out to be a reasonable goal for the new Bolts.
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Barry+Melrose, Martin+St.+Louis, Steven+Stamkos, Vincent+Lecavalier,
Comments
Don’t you have the experience to know not to make judgments on how a team’s season will go based on preseason games? I remember the Isles went unbeaten in the preseason a couple of years ago. No matter how good their offense is, it’ll be tough for their defense to do enough against the high scorers in the East.
Posted by NHLJeff from Pens fan in Chicago, IL on 09/23/08 at 10:33 PM ET
they’ve looked pretty good thus far. especially considering lecavalier hasn’t played yet. smith looked very promising against the rangers. jokinen has been superb. stamkos and malone have shown a lot of heart and have had great chances. the defense has also looked much better. i’m predicting they win the division slightly over washington.
Posted by josh from tampa on 09/23/08 at 10:35 PM ET
How have people not realized that the preseason means nothing about what will happen during the season?? They could win their next preseason game 9-0, and it shouldn’t influence your regular season prediction. The preseason is not about winning. It’s about testing systems, seeing who plays well together, picking a team, etc. A winner just has to come out of each game, but that is not the team’s number one goal until the first regular season game.
Posted by NHLJeff from Pens fan in Chicago, IL on 09/23/08 at 10:39 PM ET
How have people not realized that the preseason means nothing about what will happen during the season?
Too many, considering the number of Detroit Lions fans who had high hopes for the team coming out of preseason, only to have their dreams of grandeur shattered with three horrible loses—so far.
A team can “look good” in intra-squad scrimmages or during preseason games, but none of that matters at all when you get to the regular season. All bets are off, and it’s a clean sheet of ice for every team.
Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 09/24/08 at 09:44 AM ET
That’s the problem with being a homer, you see everything through rose-colored glasses. Go back and check last year’s preseason standings and see how many teams with winning records made the playoffs. I’ll give you a hint; Atlanta, Florida and Carolina held the top three spots in the SE in the preseason. What do they all have in common? That’s right, none made the playoffs.
Posted by billie.b from raleigh,nc on 09/24/08 at 12:36 PM ET
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The only things that are different are the goaltending and defence? That’s just really not the case. They also don’t have the coach that won them the cup. Or the GM. Or their Conn Smythe winner that year. Or most of their other forwards.
In fact, the only pieces of the Cup winning team that still remain are Lecavalier and St. Louis.
Posted by Ryan from Toronto on 09/23/08 at 10:24 PM ET