3 - Tampa Bay Lightning

One season removed from battling all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Tampa Bay Lightning took a significant step backward in 2011-12 when they finished eight points back of the conference's final playoff spot. Lightning coach Guy Boucher told reporters on breakup day that the unexpected success the previous season may have placed unrealistic expectations on 2011-12. "The reality is we didn't have the same team and we had injuries to start the year, so you have to be scared a little bit of the results," Boucher told the team's website. "I felt we were overconfident at the start of the year as a group. We weren't arrogant, just a little too overconfident." The Lightning lost 321 man-games to injury, its highest total since losing 351 during the 2008-09 season. Key losses came in all areas, including defensemen Mattias Ohlund and Victor Hedman; forwards Vincent Lecavalier, Ryan Malone and Adam Hall; and goalie Mathieu Garon. The first order of offseason business that general manager Steve Yzerman attended to was upgrading the back end, the club ranked 30th in the NHL with 278 non-shootout goals allowed. Yzerman acquired goalie Anders Lindback in a trade with the Nashville Predators and signed the 24-year-old to a two-year contract. The idea, it seems, is to have Lindback grow into the No. 1 role while splitting duty with Garon. Lindback played 16 games last season with the Predators, going 5-8-0 with a 2.42 goals-against average and .912 save percentage as the backup to Pekka Rinne. The 6-foot-6, 203-pound goalie has appeared in 38 career NHL games, all with Nashville, going 16-13-2 with a 2.53 GAA and .914 save percentage. "My dream all my life has been to be a No. 1 goalie in the NHL and I think I have a great opportunity to be that in Tampa Bay," Lindback said. Tampa Bay also bolstered its prospect pool between the pipes at the 2012 NHL Draft, choosing Andrey Vasilevskiy with the 19th selection. The 6-foot-3, 204-pound Russian helped his country to a silver medal at the 2012 World Junior Championship, going 4-1 with a 2.01 GAA, .953 save percentage and two shutouts. Yzerman also signed defensemen Sami Salo, Matt Carle and Matt Taormina. With the acquisitions of Salo and Carle, the GM locked up a pair of top-four defenders. Carle, who spent the previous four seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, was signed to a six-year deal. "We are comfortable with him in our top four. [Carle] can play in all situations and he takes pressure off some of our younger guys," Yzerman said. The Lightning also added forwards B.J. Crombeen, Benoit Pouliot and Kyle Wilson via trades, and re-signed Teddy Purcell, who was coming off a career season with 24 goals and 65 points skating primarily alongside Lecavalier.
Additions: D Matt Carle, G Anders Lindback, D Sami Salo, LW Benoit Pouliot, D Matt Taormina, RW B.J. Crombeen
Subtractions: D Bruno Gervais
UFAs: D Brett Clark, D Mike Commodore, C Ryan Shannon, G Dwayne Roloson
Promotion candidates: LW Cory Conacher, LW Alex Killorn, D Radko Gudas, G Dustin Tokarski, RW Richard Panik

Pouliot, acquired from the Boston Bruins in exchange for forward Michel Ouellet and a 2012 fifth-round pick, signed a one-year deal July 1. "He's a big guy who can skate, who has good hands and who is still relatively young," Yzerman said of Pouliot, 25. "We think he can play among the top nine and really help us, and we still think he has potential to become better." In addition to Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay was thrilled to land defenseman Slater Koekkoek of the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League with the 10th pick at the draft, the first of its two first-round picks. "He's a terrific skater, a very good puck-mover and he's a puck-rusher, he can play on the power play, he gets his shot through to the net or gets it into the passing lanes, and he's a terrific one-on-one player defensively who keeps a real tight gap," Lightning director of amateur scouting Al Murray said. "He keeps his stick on pucks and finishes his checks very well." On the injury front, defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron underwent surgery to repair a disk in his back last February and is expected to be ready for training camp. Ohlund missed all of last season and required a titanium implant in his knee, so his availability is unknown.

Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman reacted to the disappointment of missing out on the Stanley Cup Playoffs as any top decision-maker within an organization would, with a few big changes. Not surprisingly, the retooling began with some significant moves in goal and along the blue line. Considering the Lightning finished last in the League with a 3.39 goals-against average and 26th on the penalty-kill with a 79.2-percent efficiency, it's no wonder he decided to begin upgrading his club from the goal cage on out. Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier is confident the team will rebound. "We played hard every night and I thought we really finished [last season] strong," Lecavalier told the Lightning website. "I think we can take the positives out of [last] season and use them to our advantage to get back to the playoffs next year." The Lightning can take pride in the fact they finished the season strong, going 21-13-4 over their last 38 games. Over that stretch, the team posted winning streaks of three or more games on four occasions.

Anders Lindback only has 38 games of NHL experience over the last two seasons with Nashville. At this stage, it seems his offseason acquisition will enter training camp with the goal of being Tampa Bay's starter. He has 38 games of NHL experience over the past two seasons with the Nashville Predators, but he does have plenty of upside. "He'll get an opportunity to play for us, and we think he's got the ability to develop into a No. 1 goaltender," Yzerman said. "We've watched a lot of his games. He doesn't have a lot of experience, but we like his size (6-foot-6), we like his athletic ability and we like his technique." The Lightning acquired his rights from the Predators in the hope he'd become their starter for the foreseeable future. In the interim though, Lindback may battle for playing time with Mathieu Garon or 22-year-old prospect Dustin Tokarski. Garon is under contract for one more season and Tokarski led the team's American Hockey League affiliate in Norfolk to the Calder Cup championship with a 12-2 record, 1.46 goals-against average, three shutouts and a .944 save percentage in the postseason. One thing is certain, the addition of Lindback is an upgrade at the position. The foursome of Sebastien Caron, Garon, Tokarski and Dwayne Roloson combined for a 3.23 GAA and .893 save percentage last season.

At 36, St. Louis ranked second in the League in average ice time (22:37) among forwards while extending his franchise record streak for most consecutive seasons with at least 70 points to six. He played in 77 games and ranked first on the team with 49 assists, and second in both goals (25) and points (74). While St. Louis saw his consecutive games played streak snapped at 499 after being struck in the face with a puck during a morning skate at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 8, there's no question the 5-foot-8, 176-pound wing has the goods to eclipse the 70-point mark again. It doesn't hurt having Steven Stamkos feeding you the puck, either.

Of the Lightning's 232 goals scored last season, Steven Stamkos connected for a League-best 60 of them, accounting for nearly 26 percent of the team's offense. He became the 20th player in League history to score 60, and finished second to Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin in the scoring race with a career-best 97 points. He won his second Rocket Richard Trophy, but lost out to Malkin for the Hart Trophy. Stamkos connected for a League-leading 12 game-winning goals, including an NHL-record five in overtime. In a season where the Lightning lost 321 man-games to injury, he proved it really didn't matter. An improved supporting cast is another reason for optimism. "What I like is that he just pushes always for more," Lightning coach Guy Boucher told the team's website. "He just wants more all the time. It's never enough, and it's not the goals. He never has enough of getting better, that's why he scores the goals. It's a byproduct of his attitude, his work ethic, and his willingness to pay the price." Stamkos played all 82 games for the third straight season, while averaging a career-best 22:01 of ice time. His 37 assists were third on the team, and his plus-7 and 42 takeaways were second. He finished fifth on the team with 109 hits and third among Tampa Bay forwards with 37 blocked shots. "It's not just about skill," Boucher said. "Skill, in his case, is not the biggest [factor] in why he scores those goals. It's just desire."

Yzerman was focused on upgrading the blue line for the upcoming season, not only following his blueprint of developing players from within the system but acquiring a few big names via free agency. He signed Brendan Mikkelson, Brian Lee, Keith Aulie, Artem Sergeev and Evan Oberg, all of whom are under the age of 25. Yzerman also inked unrestricted free agents Matt Carle, Matt Taormina and Sami Salo. Yzerman is undoubtedly looking to develop a young defensive core around Lindback in attempt to make certain his young goalie is given plenty of support. The defense has been given an upgrade over last season, though the Tampa Tribune reported in April that veteran Mattias Ohlund might not return after enduring major knee surgery last winter. The club will look for guidance and spirited play from Eric Brewer and Victor Hedman, as well as newcomers Carle and Salo. Don't be surprised if prospect Mark Barberio makes a nice enough impression during training camp to earn some playing time with the big club. Barberio earned the Eddie Shore award as the AHL's most outstanding defender in 2011-12, producing 13 goals and 61 points in 74 regular-season games for Norfolk.

Vladislav Namestnikov, a 2011 first-round draft pick (No. 27) has had a productive two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the London Knights, producing 30 goals and 68 points as a rookie and 22 goals and 71 points in 2011-12. Yzerman signed his prized prospect to a three-year, entry-level deal in March and he's expected to begin the season with the team's new American Hockey League affiliate in Syracuse. He could, however, make the decision tougher on the Lightning management team with a solid training camp. "Vlady can play on any of the top four lines in your organization because he's dedicated and can kill penalties," director of amateur scouting Al Murray told NHL.com. "He can play with top offensive players, so he has a lot of versatility moving forward. He'll be in competition with others for our NHL team since we have a third-line center spot open, or he'll be on our AHL team."

Believe it or not, Tampa Bay did have five different players with 20 or more goals last season, which tied three other clubs for second most in the League behind the Boston Bruins (six players). The list included Stamkos (60 goals), St. Louis (25), Teddy Purcell (24), Lecavalier (22) and Ryan Malone (20). That's quite an accomplishment for a team decimated by injury and without the services of departed Simon Gagne and Sean Bergenheim from the previous season. Perhaps 2010 first-round pick Brett Connolly will approach the 20-goal mark this season. Connolly played 68 games as a rookie in 2011-12 and notched four goals and 15 points. Connolly said he needs to improve defensively in order to earn more playing time, he averaged 11:28 per game. He could fill in as a third-line wing this season while improving in both zones. With the Western Hockey League's Prince George Cougars, Connolly connected for 30 goals in 2008-09 and 46 in 2010-11 before turning pro. "He's eventually going to be one of those great skill players who has the grit," Boucher said. "But [Connolly] is also going to be reliable defensively."

When Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman re-signed defenseman Victor Hedman to a five-year contract last November, he did so with a keen eye toward the future. Yzerman no doubt believes Hedman, the second pick of the 2009 NHL Draft, will at some point become the foundation of the organization's defense. While that may be true, Hedman has had to deal with his share of growing pains in his initial three seasons with the Lightning. In 2011-12, for example, he missed 13 games with a concussion and an additional eight at various times because of an upper-body injury. His confidence never wavered, however. It's that very reason why having a healthy and determined Hedman in the lineup this season would certainly go a long way in aiding Tampa Bay's quest to return to prominence in the Southeast Division. "He's one of those guys you want to hurry up and blossom," coach Guy Boucher told Damian Cristodero of the Tampa Bay Times. "He's going one step at a time, but he's climbing the ladder and looking really good." The thing is, Hedman needn't make major offensive contributions; rather, just maintain a strong, consistent game that the coaching staff has come to expect from the 6-foot-6, 229-pound Swede. Hedman played in 61 games last season and produced five goals and 23 assists while establishing a career-high in average ice time (23:05). He was second only to defenseman Eric Brewer (23:16) in ice time on the team. Boucher told the team's website that the 21-year-old defenseman, in some ways, reminds him of Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara. He said he expects Hedman to gain even more confidence, physically, as he gets older. "The one thing about Victor, he's a very dedicated athlete," Boucher said. "He's a horse in the gym. He never misses anything. He's always first on the ice and last out. I would certainly bet on [Hedman] to keep getting better." Hedman did exhibit a gritty side to his game last season, ranking first among Tampa Bay defenders with 65 penalty minutes, third on the team with 127 blocked shots, and ninth on the club with a career-high 96 hits. He also ranked fifth with 33 takeaways. "At the end of [2010-11], he was in the right places and he was rubbing guys out," Boucher said. "Right now, he's hitting guys, finishing checks and he's everywhere on the ice where the opponents are. He's been a consistent threat defensively." During Tampa Bay's remarkable run to the Eastern Conference Finals two seasons ago, Hedman impressed with his play in the postseason. In the final 14 games of the run against Pittsburgh, Washington and Boston, he had five assists and a plus-4 rating. While the injuries he received probably kept him from improving even more last season, he still managed to earn big minutes against top lines while playing on both the power play and the penalty killing units. "I'm trying to become a good two-way player and be a force on the ice," Hedman said. "It's a process. They believe in me and I believe I can be a difference maker. If the play is there, I'm going to jump in and try to make a play. If you look at the best defensemen in the League, they're consistent on both ends of the ice and that's what I want to be." If Hedman becomes that type of player in 2012-13, the foundation may be realized much sooner than later.

 

 

After the Tampa Bay Lightning were the darlings of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, coming within one goal of reaching the Cup Final with a new general manager and new coach, they crashed out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference last season. The defense corps was never whole because of an injury to Matthias Ohlund, and a thin group was crippled by further absences. The goaltending was terrible, and a strong offense wasn't enough to compensate.
General manager Steve Yzerman landed a pair of prominent free-agent defensemen, Matt Carle and Sami Salo, to help shore up the blue line. Anders Lindback could be the long-term solution in net, though Dustin Tokarski might still have something to say about that. Several players who starred for Norfolk during the Admirals' historic season in the American Hockey League and Calder Cup championship run could graduate to bolster the Lightning's depth, which has been a serious issue for several years. The Lightning still have plenty of firepower, and better play at their own end of the ice could mean a return to the postseason.
Forwards

Martin St. Louis - Steven Stamkos - Teddy Purcell

Ryan Malone - Vinny Lecavalier - Brett Connolly

Benoit Pouliot - Vladislav Namestnikov - J.T. Brown

Tom Pyatt - Nate Thompson - Adam Hall

B.J. Crombeen - Dana Tyrell
Defensemen

Matt Carle - Eric Brewer

Victor Hedman - Sami Salo

Marc-Andre Bergeron - Brian Lee

Brendan Mikkelson
Goaltenders

Anders Lindback

Mathieu Garon

NOTES: To be clear, there really aren't forward "lines" in Tampa Bay. Sure, coach Guy Boucher sends three forwards onto the ice at a time, but he doesn't just switch them around from game-to-game or period-to-period, he'll mix and match on a shift-by-shift basis some nights. That said, there are some areas of need to fill during training camp. The Lightning need to find a No. 3 center, and a couple of top-nine wings from a collection of younger players. Several key figures from Norfolk's run will be part of the competition. Cory Conacher needs to prove he's more like St. Louis and less like Keith Aucoin, another diminutive dominator at the AHL level. Tyler Johnson faces similar concerns. Richard Panik and Alex Killorn could also squeeze onto the roster. Brewer and Hedman played together last season, but Boucher's system is pretty unique so he might not want a defense pairing of two guys new to it logging heavy minutes early in the season. Keith Aulie, Matt Taormina and Mark Barberio could end up on the third pairing with a strong camp. Lindback and Garon will likely split time in the early going, but don't discount Tokarski playing a prominent role for the Lightning at some point.