Lightning active at trade deadline

After making three trades in the two weeks leading up to the trade deadline, Bolts GM Steve Yzerman made three more on Monday's deadline day.

First, Yzerman sent a conditional 2013 7th-round pick to Detroit for D Mike Commodore.

Commodore is an experienced defenseman and a Stanley Cup champion. He is 32 and a free agent at the end of the year, but he should help support the defense.

Yzerman then pulled off the biggest trade of the day, sending top prospect F Carter Ashton to Toronto for D Keith Aulie.

Aulie is also a highly-touted prospect. He is only 22, and is huge: 6' 6", 225 lbs. He will bring some size and good puck handling to the Bolts, and if he pans out will be a force on the Tampa Bay blue line for years to come. Losing Carter Ashton is a big price, but scouts tend to think the Aulie has a higher upside. The Lightning also have good organizational depth at forward (such as Labrie, Conacher, and Namestnikov) and weak defensive depth.

The final trade of the day sent D Matt Gilroy to Ottawa for D Brian Lee.

Lee is 24, 6' 3" and 205 lbs, another big body and an up-and-coming talent. Many will say trading a defenseman for a defenseman is a lateral move, but Lee is three years younger than Gilroy, and is a bit more of a stay-at-home defenseman, rather than offensive minded like Gilroy. Gilroy is also an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, while Lee is restricted. I was really liking how Gilroy was coming along this year, but the trade seems pretty fair.

As far as new jersey numbers go, Aulie will wear No. 3 and Lee will wear No. 15, and Commodore will forego the much called-for Commodore64 in favor of 23.

Overall, I really like the trades that Yzerman has pulled off this year. These trades help set the Bolts up for both the future and the present.



Lightning: Trades, the Future, and Playoffs

Sorry for not post in a long while. It's grind time in school now, so postings may be quite spread out. I do have a project I am working on, however, and that should be out soon. But for today, I'd like to talk about the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Certainly a lot has occured around this franchise since the last time I've posted about the Bolts. They are 7-4-2 since they beat the Blue Jackets back on January 24, they have made several trades, injuries have occured, and the Norfolk Admirals are in first place and in the middle of a team-record 9 game winning streak.

The Bolts have made three major trades leading up to the deadline: Dominic Moore and a 7th round pick to the Sharks for a 2nd rounder; Pavel Kubina to the Flyers for a 2nd and 4th rounder and AHL LW Jon Kalinski; and Steve Downie to Colorado for Kyle Quincey, who was flipped to Detroit for a 1st rounder and ECHL D Sebastien Piche.

These trades were hard to swallow for many fans: Moore always showed heart and hustle, Kuby was a Stanley Cup champion with the Lightning, and Downie was the enforcer and skilled offensive player that always becomes the fan favorite. However, Steve Yzerman was able to aquire a fantastic return for 3 players that, while good, were not great, and not really a part of this team's future. Moore brought nothing special offensively, Kubina is getting older and slower by the day, and Downie took far too many penalties (although, many of those penalties were simple 2 minutes for Being Steve Downie). All three will be free agents this Summer.

For Yzerman to acquire a 1st rounder, two 2nd rounders, a 4th rounder, and two players for three replaceable players and a low draft pick was a steal. The Lightning can now choose to either draft a bunch of top players this year (they will have 2 1st rounders and either 3 or 4 2nd rounders in 2012) and build up the minor league system, or perhaps trade some picks for a top-tier goalie or defenseman.

Speaking of the minors, the Norfolk Admirals are pretty good. As stated earlier, they have won 9 in a row and are in the first place in their division. This is actually hurting the NHL club; guys like PC "Nacho" Labrie, Carter Ashton, Cory Conacher, and Mark Barberio are busy helping the Ads in their own playoff push, and it is actually better for those players to gain the experience of a playoff run than to fill in for the Lightning. The Ads players on the Lightning roster right now - Mike Angelidis, Trevor Smith, JT Wyman, and Evan Oberg - have handled themselves pretty well, but their skill levels are not quite that of the others'.

So, for now, the Bolts will have to push for the playoffs shorthanded, especially with Lecavalier and Hedman out now. Do I think the Bolts can make the playoffs? Yes. But they are far too inconsistant for that to be likely. Right now, the only line that is scoring is the St. Louis - Stamkos - Purcell line. While that line has been out of their mind recently, having little support is not going to push this team to the playoffs.

Perhaps, however, the Lightning can tap into their inner Ray and pull off a miraculous late-season comeback.

Bolts win fourth straight heading into All-Star break

The Lightning defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-2.

The Lightning have now won 4 straight games, and within that span they have moved from last to 11th in the Eastern Conference. If they can stay hot, they may be able to sneak into a playoff spot, and of course everyone there starts at 0-0-0. There's still obviously a long way to go, however.

Much of the Lightning's struggles have been due to injuries, which hoepfully will be resolved with a lengthy break for the All-Star game in Ottawa. But this recent streak has been due in large part to the successes of the recent call-ups to replace the injured players. Pierre-Cedric "Nacho" Labrie (who reminds me a lot of former fan favorite Evgeny Artyukhin), Trevor Smith, and Breden Mikkelson have been impressive in their time with the Lightning. And last night, Mike Angelidis scored his first NHL goal in his debut, and Evan "Yo-Yo" Oberg finally got to play after numerous call-ups, healthy scratches, and demotions. I remember a few years ago, the Lightning had a poor farm system; now, it's showing strength.

Bolts bruise the Bruins, end losing streak

The Lightning defeated the Boston Bruins, 5-3.

Throughout the midst of a 0-6-1 record in the calender year of 2012, the Lightning have had a problem of giving up goals, taking penalties, having an abysmal power play, and allowing goals within minutes of scoring themselves. All those problems affected the Lightning last night, and yet they found a way to beat the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Vinny Lecavalier, Tom Pyatt, and Ryan Malone each scored for the Lightning, but the Bruins answered each time, including tying the game at 3-3 with what seems like the Bolts' eighty-bajillionith shorthand goal allowed this year (in reality, just their 7th, but that's still really bad).

Luckily, Dominic Moore was able to put the Lightning back ahead with a blistering shot over Tim Thomas' shoulder, and Mathieu Garon survived a furious attack from the Bruins and kept the puck out of the net. Steven Stamkos added his 31st goal of the season on an long-distance empty-net shot from his own defensive end to seal the Bolts' first victory of the new year.

Bolts rally, fall in shootout

The Lightning lost to the Vancouver Canucks, 5-4 in a shootout.

Lots to talk about in this game. Tonight had pretty much every part of the up-and-down season for the Bolts. There was bad defense, bad goaltending, bad power play, good Steven Stamkos, the ability to fight back late in games, a good third period at home, and failure in the shootout.

Once again, it seemed like every time the Lightning scored to narrow the gap, the Canucks would come back and score their own goal. Heck, the Lightning scored with about 35 seconds left in the second period, and the Canucks scored with 1 second left. However, the Lightning were able to pick up two goals in the third to tie it up, the tying goal coming from Ryan Malone, who knocked the puck in with his skate and the goal somehow stood. Should it have been overturned? No; there was no obvious kicking motion. But I think everyone in Tampa Bay was expecting the reviewers in Toronto, generally not Florida-friendly, to call it a no-goal, especially against a Canadian team. Luckily, the goal stood, and the Bolts picked up a point.

Both teams had some good opportunities in OT, but the game went to a shootout, where the Canucks won 1-0. Roloson was beat on a tough spin-o-rama, and Malone, Dominic Moore, and Stamkos were stonewalled in their attempts. I have no idea why our shooters continue to either shoot to the glove side or to get in too close before attempting to go top shelf; shootouts have been a problem for a few years now, you think they'd be working on it more.

It was good to get a point in a game that seemed lost, but it's tough to get excited about this inconsistent team right now.

Lightning beat down on Flyers

The Lightning defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-1.

Steven Stamkos scored twice, Mathieu Garon stopped 31 shots and the Lightning picked up two points over a very good team in Tampa Bay's return to the ice from the Christmas break.

The Flyers outshot the Lightning 17-4 in the first period and 12-4 in the third, but Garon stood strong in net. Several highlight-reel saves kept the Flyers from scoring, and the Lightning's offense was able to give some support and ended up scoring 5 goals.

Hopefully this big win against one of the top seeds in the Eastern Conference spurs some confidence in the Bolts. After many games on the road to start the season, the schedule is finally balancing and the Lightning will play the majority of the rest of their games inside the soon-to-be Tampa Bay Times Forum. They're going to need to take advantage of the home ice and string some more wins together.

Lightning buried by Avalanche

The Lightning lost to the Colorado Avalanche, 2-1 in overtime.

I was unable to catch Friday's game, but from what I've read, the Bolts came out flying in the first period while falling off for most of the second and third. It's entirely possible that the Mile High altitide issues of Denver had an effect. That and some more dumb luck on the Bolts' part led to Tampa Bay's first loss in overtime since October 15.

At least the Lightning were able to get a point. They've picked up 5 of the last possible 8 points, which isn't mind-blowing but is certainly an improvement.

Lightning fall flat on West Coast

The Lightning lost to the San Jose Sharks, 7-2.

Given that this game started at 10:30 PM, it's likely that not many people in the Tampa Bay area were able to stay up and watch. Much like the Bucs' blackouts, this was probably for the best. I for one could only last through the 5th San Jose goal with a few minutes remaining in the first period. The Sharks came out flying, and the Bolts looked asleep. West Coast trips tend to make East Coast teams look sluggish, but the last Lightning game was on Saturday, so they had a few days to travel and get accustomed to the time change.

The only bright spot of the day was the return of Marty St. Louis, who played for the first time since he basically broke his face during a December 8th practice. Previously thought to be out indefinately, possibly well after Christmas, Marty added another part to his "tough guy" resume. St. Louis has had to deal with his fair share of injuries, and coming back so quickly from this one is amazing. The fact that he scored a goal in his first game back adds to the impressiveness. He was wearing a full face cage on his helmet, as he likely will for some time. I think all Lightning fans hope he begins to wear a visor when the cage finally comes off.