Finally, after days of silence, Eric Erlendsson at the Tribune finally breaks the media silence of Craig Adams slashing attack on Tim Taylor in the final minutes of Tampa’s victory over Carolina.

Oh sure, the play was replayed on ESPN but doing a search on Google yesterday brought nothing from the online media with regards to the incident. This is the reason why the Todd Bertuzzi suspension is sickening — it’s not supposed to be for what happened because of the attack, but the attack itself. Too many guys are getting away with cheap shots, clutching and grabbing and worse on ice, and league officials are scared to show any type of policing.

Get rid of the instigator, will you? Let enforcers take care of these cheap shot artists and give a firm, “Don’t mess with my team-mate” message to players who play like goons – as Todd Bertuzzi (and arguably Steve Moore after the Naslund hit that gained him such revilement from Vancouver in the first place) and Craig Adams respective incidents have made them out to be,

Speaking of retaliation and revenge that spawned the Bertuzzi/Moore incident — the Bolts host the Canes on Saturday in the final meeting between the two teams.

The Lightning are playing the very best hockey of their short existence – they are 23 games over .500, they have 93 points, they are the first team to clinch a playoff berth in the East and in the 2003-04 season and they are in the running for the Presidents Trophy…

No, this post is not to gloat, ladies and gentlemen. This is a post made to shine some blackness on the positives of the season. The very best Lightning team still is a business question mark to owner William Davidson – sometimes refereed to by LightningNation members as “Dollar Bill”. Davidson is not sure if Hockey can survive in Tampa Bay as he and his Palace Sports and Entertainment company complain that the team has suffered 50 Million dollars worth of loses since they bought the team in 1999.

Some of you have already read that stuff in the news. Some will gloat that this is just proof that hockey in the south is a mess. This is proof – to others, but probably a minority – that owners are liars. I bring up that liar bit because Palace Sports / Davidson bought the Lightning mostly for the Ice Palace / St. Pete Times Forum and not the team – and his company has had great success with the venue while not having a very rosie tax deal with the city with regards to the arena’s value.

Can Hockey survive in Tampa Bay? When you look at Fan support — raw fan support, we’ll get into other economics in a moment — the Tampa Bay area is one of the most loyal regions for sports in America. We stuck with (and loathed) the Buccaneers during their years of sub-mediocre play from 1983 through 1996 where the team continued to draw 30 thousand in a terrible stadium and with a terrible team. The Lightning are another case of this, as the team continued to draw crowds between 8-15 thousand with the occasional sell out during 4 straight years of 50+ losses. Only hockey-mad towns such as Montreal – where the Canadians have a long history with the region – Toronto and New York could host larger crowds consistently while their team was playing abysmally. There’s also the fact that the Lightning hold the #2 regular-season attendance record (which had been the all time attendance record up until the Heritage Classic this fall in Edmonton) as well as the playoff attendance record. Fan do turn out for the Lightning, and it’s not like they are an unknown commodity to the region.

But, that goes back to economics and the game of hockey. We go back to fan support and one can bring up the vice that Tampa Bay fans dollars are stretched between the Bolts, Buccaneers and abysmal Tampa Bay Devil Rays (along with AFL’s Tampa Bay Storm and other sports pastimes throughout the Bay area that may cost money). With the NHL’s skewed economic system, seating prices that mirror top markets will not float in Tampa Bay and that is part of the reason Davidson is one of the owners stone-walling for a salary cap and other economic changed in the new CBA. In fact, this becomes a topic of all NHL teams and their viability under the economic system where player costs are currently 75 percent of team income and ticket prices are sky-high in order to regroup costs. How does the game of hockey stay relevant if fans can’t afford tickets? This isn’t an issue just with Tampa, this is an issue with every market.

Yes, Canada, that means you too. I know i have come across plenty of ultra-nationalists online that believe every American team that is south of the Mason-Dixon line should be contracted or relocated to Canada / a northern market in the US. If you did that, you would still run into the same economic problems that the league is facing now with a fan base that doesn’t expand, but laterally moves. Some of these I have come across believe that it’s a sign of weakness when a market like Tampa or Carolina or Dallas or some other city in the south is not drawing sell outs nightly. Yet from these same people’s lips, it’s ok in markets such as Boston, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Ottawa and elsewhere to not sell out nightly, or during the playoffs. Why? The logic given to me vary from how big the market is, to how long the NHL season is, to how much (!) ticket prices are. The main excuse, however, is just length of existence of those franchises. At no time could a northern team not selling out nightly, or in the playoffs for that matter, be in danger as long as they are in a northern / traditional market, even if the majority of the NHL is losing money hand over fist – including these markets. :rolleyes

Fans in the north won’t always be willing to pay outrageous ticket prices — and most hockey fans will agree they would rather not pay outrageous ticket prices for games. Ticket prices have to increase to make teams viable with cost escalation of player salaries, marketing, arena upkeep, etc, etc… Bill Davidson’s statements aren’t so much a decree that the Tampa Bay market is not viable as so much as questioning the viability of the NHL in the market in it’s current economic configuration.

What’s with the officials in tonights game between the Lightning and the Hurricanes?

This isn’t sour grapes or sour winning, but besides Dmitry Afansenkov and Marty St. Louis being manhandled all game, there is one specific incident in the closing seconds of the game that really pisses me off with how the officials pussy-footed around calling penalties.

Empty net and Affy breaks away on the lower boards — he gets tied up with one of the Canes players stick work and passes off to Tim Taylor. Taylor goes in on the empty net to score but on the way, Craig Adams gives him a blunt foul by taking a stick to his HEAD.

No call. No nothing. Yes, it was the end of the game, but nothing from the officials and it was like that most of the night at RBC Center. The Lightning were outplayed but there was a sense of desperation — “We have no hope so we desperately have to try to take these guys out” from the Canes. I’m not trying to stir things up, or trying to evade the fact physical play is part of the game – but with some of the non-calls tonight… It’s just insulting. Officials have a hard job – yeah, but they also have to be able to call penalties right in front of their eyes… If they can’t — send them home and give someone else there job.

Postscript: I thought I was the only one who saw this and thought of how malicious the attack was. Turns out that the crew hanging at Sunshine Network’s message board are full aware of it and just as pissed.

The CBC has compiled a list of top 10 Hockey violence lowlights in the wake of the Todd Bertuzzi / Steve Moore incident.

It gives you a glimpse of how the sport has “evolved” with violence — it has gone no where and the penalties have tended to be lackluster due to hero’s of the game being involved. At least that’s my take on it….

MAPLELEAFS.COM: commentators

Tampa Bay general manager proved dozens of prognosticators wrong as he made good on his word to keep netminder Nikolai Khabibulin in Tampa Bay even though he could become an unrestricted free agent next season.

Feaster made only a cursory move Tuesday, bringing back injured defenceman Stan Neckar. But Feaster took care of business early in the going, bringing in former Stanley Cup winning defenceman Darryl Sydor.

The team has been on fire since Sydor’s arrival from Columbus and along with becoming the first team to clinch a playoff berth, the Lightning are now fighting for top spot overall in the conference.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it may apply more fully to the youthful, talented Lightning than any team in the league.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…? What is he talking about? I thought we were supposed to make significant upgrades and Feaster said so! Feaster Said so!!!

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” What a concept….

We must get thee to a thuggary…

As the season winds down there is something I am noticing a lot of – repetition. No, it’s not the repetition of outcomes to games, it’s repetitions to what is happening in games.

Ottawa and Philadelphia imploded the other night into an all out brawl while games such as San Jose vs Dallas, Colorado vs Vancouver and Colorado vs. Calgary have turned out the same way.

Why do I mention repetition? Because I can remember this happening before. The entire league imploding into fight-nights at games (DOn King promoting top ranked boxing and then hockey games breaking out at the arenas) as the season winds down. There’s also something that disgusts me but it doesn’t shock me or surprise me at all – that being Todd Bertuzzi’s hit on Steve Moore last night in the Canucks / Avalanche game.

I’ve seen it before. How are you, Mr. McSorely? Feeling better, Mr. Brashear?

Oh, of course I am not sitting back and saying “oh it’s just more of the same — let them be and stay out of it Vancouver PD and Colin Campbell”. I’m saying, more importantly, that this has happened before and it isn’t as surprising. Personally I think that Bertuzzi should be suspended for the remainder of the regular season and the extent of the post season — and that’s just the start..

The retaliation from Vancouver for Moore’s hit on Naslund a few weeks ago should be clean checks and intense play against him — outplaying the guy and putting him in a legal hurt locker is all fair in love and war. The problem is Bertuzzi let this get to his head and went too far, way too far, with Moore suffering two broken vertebrae, a concussion, face lacerations, etc.

Joe at Tasca’s Take provides an interesting take on the situation — Bertuzzi, deserving what he gets, is a scapegoat of the cheap shots that tend to happen around the league with non-calls abounding. Being suspended for the result and not for the action is a bit of a wrong reason.

Maybe it’s time to put a ref in the stands to stop games when he sees flagrant penalties that aren’t called? Something’s gotta be done because the on ice officials aren’t getting it done. That is more of the same, as is the Bertuzzi/Moore incident, as is the blowups near the end of the season.

Stanislav Neckar was re-acquired by the Tampa Bay Lightning for a 6th round selection in this years entry draft…

*John cocks and ear to listen to the disdain of all too many members of LightningNation*

Well, would you prefer Darren Rumble as the #2 reserve D-man? Would you prefer getting fleeced on a deal for a forward that may or may not fit into the lineup? I know plenty of you will tell me that the lateral move doesn’t help us int he long run… You’ll tell me the point is to get as far in the playoffs as possible… And the logic that fails to inspire that I throw back is “At what cost?”

It’s a phrase plenty have heard before and have grown sick of, but I use it again to your revilement.

TSN.ca – NHL – Canada’s Sports Leader

Khabibulin, named Defensive Player of the Week, extended his eight-game winning streak for the Lightning by going 4-0-0 with a 1.99 goals-against average.

He also posted a .927 save percentage and picked up his third shutout of the season in a 3-0 victory at Colorado on Monday, beating out Dallas Stars goaltender Marty Turco for the award.

Is this the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. the Detroit Red Wings…

Or is it the upstarts vs. the elder statesmen?

Is it Mike Ilitch vs. Bill Davidson? The Palace at Auburn Hills vs. Joe Louis Arena?

It’s one hell of a match-up, that’s for certain, and it’s 4 hours away as I write this.

The Lightning are one win away / one Panther loss away from clinching the Southeast Division and thus a Playoff Berth.

With the Panthers having 13 games remaining and a possible 26 points with a current 65 point total, they can only manage 91 points total… While the Lightning already have 90 points. With a win or tie tomorrow, the worst they can do is finish 3rd in the East and be declared co-champs of the SE.

Posted on Hockey Punduits WebLog

New Orleans Devils?

Apparently the NHL has moved the New Jersey Devils to New Orleans and only told UPI.

Leave ti to the Media to distort the truth :smile

2 days before the NHL trade deadline with the local team leading the NHL, upon opening the paper and going to sports, what NHL coverage (general league stuff) can I find in addition to the usual mess that I find in the St. Petersburg Times?

Nada.

Zip.

Zilch.

Squat.

There was no talk about the chief rivals the Lightning will face in a playoff run or speculation who in the Southeast will be selling off talent — which has been a minor mainstay here at Boltsmag seeing I keep bringing up division rival Washington’s firesale — or which of the top teams are going to try to further themselves before the deadline… All of this news right now matters to the Lightning and Lightning fans because we may be on top of the league at the moment, but being on top only means everyone is trying to pull you back down.

In fact, the lack of coverage in the Times makes me think of the Tampa Tribune and it’s good-ole-boy network — where football, college sports and the New York Yankees take precedence to everything else. In the Times, there was plenty of NCAA coverage, there was a feature story on recruiting, Bucs free agency coverage… and yet the general NHL coverage in the Times was a page and a half, not counting Gary Shelton’s awkward article about the Lightning being not great – yet.

This is a wakeup call to the local media. You know those occasional stories you run about how the Lightning were perceived as the league joke a few years ago? Your lack of coverage and lack of league coverage continues the joke, at least for hockey fans in the region. Traditionalists will continue to paint us and other southern cities as not deserving hockey while you focus on traditional southern sports of football and college basketball.

“It’s a mixed up, mumbled up, shook up world…” Ok, enough about a song about a transvestite…

The Oilers grabbed Nedved from the Rangers. Edmonton can thank Sather for that favour. The Flames aquired Chris Simon today. The Canadiens added Kovalev. The Leafs added Leetch. Bondra went to Ottawa.

What are the small market, Canadian teams doing adding players when they are supposed to be poor, and unable to compete in this market? The coming labour war makes for strange bedfellows. Who would have figured the Rangers would dump $15 million in payroll in a week? Teams with bloated payrolls are cutting, and teams with room under the expected cap are adding.

Could this be a common trend in the new CBA world? Lets hope so. Allowing markets like Calgary, Edmonton and Nashville to improve themselves is only good for the NHL. When all teams can compete for players, the league as a whole benifits.

After last night’s stunning victory at Times Palace (which I happened to attend), the Lightning are currently in the middle of a 7 game winning streak. This goes on top of their 14-game point streak and monumental record since New Years.

Yet tonight is a real test from a real underdog team. After sinking to the Blues in Overtime and facing a scare vs. the Chicago Blackhawks, the Bolts travel south to Sunrise to face Roberto Luongo and ghosts of Tampa Bay’s past in the form of Rick Dudley and company with the Panthers. Luongo has own the Lightning (as has Dudley and co) for the most part this season and unless the Lightning get back to firing on all cylinders, the first loss in quite a while may come at the hands of one of the hottest talents in the NHL in the form of Luongo.

Solve Luongo and the streak continues. The Bolts were able to figure him out a few weeks ago… There’s little question if they could do it again. The true question is — will they?

Damian Cristordero reports in the Times today that the Lightning and Ducks aren’t going to be dealing unless Anaheim falters and is out of the race by Tuesday, and the Lightning either pick up a portion of Vaclav’s signing bonus from this off season along with trading an untouchable prospect…

Chalk that deal up as a big “thanks but no thanks.”

There is still rumblings among the fanbase that the Lightning will bring in top players on D or on O to bolster the team, but I write that speculation up as a form of panic button pushing. It’s the same type of panic-button-[ushing going on with other contending teams when they see the deals other contenders are making as of late.

Fact is, the Lightning have been scoring like gangbusters with the offensive unit they have as is — an upgrade is a luxury and shouldn’t be done at a high cost. The defense, while not full of marquee players, is formidable enough.

Expect minor moves if any from Feaster and a lot of bitching among certain members of the fanbase because — well, it’s a chronic thing they do with trades. They hate them, they thought another player would have been a better fit, they think Feaster is a fool, think Bill Davidson is cheap, the Times Palace is in a rotten location, etc, etc, etc… :rolleyes

The Lightning are contenders, there’s no way to hide that fact or downplay that. They’re at the top of the East and at the top of the league right now and they are going to be vying for the Stanley Cup if they keep playing hard in the weeks ahead….

But I am starting to realize that, with the trade deadline looming, many of the Lightning fans out there might be aiming a bit too high with who Jay Feaster might be keenly interested in for the Playoff run.

Oh sure, the dominant talk is Vaclav Prospal and Prospal is a former Bolt — not a big shake up there. But then you have people who take the Daryl Sydor trade to heart and they had actually thought Robert Lang could be the next acquisition…. Or Brendan Witt. Or Jeff O’Neil… Or some other big name.

That’s not Feaster’s MO. That’s not the Lightning’s MO for that matter.

I’m not saying the Lightning aren’t going to be players in the next 4 days with the Deadline, but I am saying that Feaster isn’t going to bring in a big name… Prospal isn’t a huge name – his contract is huge and he played huge last season for the Bolts, but he’s not a big name. I could see him sifting through the waiver bin to pick up another player (Brad Norton would have been a great pick up for depth but the Capitals got him first) but I don’t see him trading for the big names available. In fact, the Lightning don’t have that many prospects to deal off as is – they aren’t stocked full, though Rick Dudley did put stuff back in the cupboard during his tenure as GM. Trading off prospects and picks to vie for the Cup this year doesn’t guarantee the team will have a winner in the future – especially if the team doesn’t have anything in it’s system in the future because it dealt off for the now.

Just because the Lightning are on top, I don’t see them being major players at the deadline… I see them being smart players and getting by with brains instead of bucks… but that’s just me.

It would seem Tom over at Canucks Corner and Brian Burke – the Canucks GM — gets it. Don’t give in to the pressure to make a move.

Going into tonights action, the Lightning remains in a dead heat in the Eastern Conference — on top of the division through statistical ties. Possibly, tonight, this could be cleared up just a bit…. As well as the league lead race where Tampa (and Toronto and Philly) are one point behind the Devils for the best record in the NHL.

First game to bring up in the Flyers facing off against Ottawa. Ottawa is in the Northeast division dogfight with the Maple Leafs and Bruins and they would no-doubt love to be a part of this conference-seed race.

Meanwhile, over in the west, the Vancouver Canucks will be trying to derail Detroit. The Canucks being a point behind Colorado in the Northwest division should be incentive enough for this game, but to knock off another Western Conference team – and the conference leader – would be huge.

Of course the Avalanche are in action to against Pacific Division leader San Jose. And who else but the Lightning square off against the New Jersey Devils at Times Palace…

Sports Illustrated’s new issue (on newsstands March 8th) features a short article on short stuff Martin St. Louis and his rise in shortness to the top of the NHL.

I don’t know when or if the article will appear online but here’s the link to the issue itself.

I’ve been trying to figure out how long it will take for the Lightning to clinch the Southeast division and therefore a playoff spot…. We might clinch a playoff spot sooner but my concern right now is trying to figure out when and where the Bolts will shut the door on the Southeast.

TB’s closest competitor in the South is the Florida Panthers who not only are 21 points back, but have played 2 more games than the Lightning (68 to 66 respectively). They have a possible 28 more points they can achieve between now and the end of the season. Meanwhile the Lightning have a possible 32 points they can pull home over that span… 4 point differential..

So, with my porous math skills and my abysmal statistical skills, does that mean the magic number is 2 (a combination of Lightning wins and Panther loses)? Someone with more knowledge than me, please chime in on this….

I was checking around the web today and went to the Tampa Tribune site, which I tend to avoid due to lack-of-non-Tampa coverage (this is the Tampa Bay area and the St. Pete Times does a better job with Bay area coverage while the Tribune does an ok job with Tampa-alone coverage)… Lo and behold I come across an interesting story that makes you wonder how effective the campaign will be.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are advertising at three Bay-Area spring training sites — the Dunedin Stadium (knology field – Toronto Blue Jays), Bright House Networks Stadium (Clearwater – Philadelphia Phillies) and Legends Field (Tampa — New York Yankees) in an effort to lure baseball fans by day to hockey games by night.

The timing is pretty good too, at least for trying to lure Yankee fans. The Bolts face the Devils tomorrow at the Times Palace, the New York Rangers next Friday and then the Islanders on March 16th.

For those of you not in the know – and I wouldn’t think there were many of you — Playoff tickets go on sale Saturday at the St. Pete Times Forum at 10 AM

Detroit wins vs. Calgary

Tampa Bay wins vs. Chicago

16 Games to go…

Tampa Bay goes into the game tonight versus the Blackhawks on top of the Eastern Conference for another day. Pending a loss by Detroit, the Lightning (pending a victory by the Bolts, of course) can overtake the sacred Red Wings for the top spot in the LEAGUE by one point, in a quest for the Presidents Cup….

I think Keanu Reeves said it best – woah.

Of course this post certainly has no substance besides calling off the very obvious. There are 17 games to go for the Lightning and anything can happen during that time. Who knows – they could lose them all and then lose their playoff spot…. But outside a nuclear bomb going off in Chicago tonight, I don’t think that is going to happen…

Tampa Bay fighting for the conference title is huge — fighting for the Presidents trophy seems unreal…

This just in, the New York Rangers have reportedly traded Brian Leetch to the Toronto Maple Leafs. No details just yet from my end but the firesale continues in New York – does Sather get points or bullets for trading this long-time Ranger?

TSN.ca – NHL – Canada’s Sports Leader

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Wednesday evening that the hockey club has acquired defenceman Brian Leetch and a conditional draft choice from the New York Rangers in exchange for defenceman Max Kondratiev, forward Jarkko Immonen, Toronto’s first-round pick in the 2004 Entry Draft and the team’s second-round pick in 2005.