I was going to start this post off with just the facts - but talk about disrespect.

Nolan Pratt re-upped with the Lightning…. And even though he is a key contributor on a defense that has holes at current, his signing was second-tier news on TampaBayLightning.com in favor of Mitch Fritz and other probable Minor Leaguers.

Ouch

Of course, with Fritz specs (6′ 8″, 258 lbs, LW) you woudl think that the Lightning are priming him for contending for the spot vacated by André Roy.

We’ll see at camp.

Pratt opted to stay with the Lightning when he had the option to escape the team (a la Roy) as a 10 year vet not making the league average. He’ll be a UFA in 2007 under the new deal (which is sorta impressive seeing he was all but cast off the last few years by the club).

Thank you, Nikolai, for making up your mind, taking the money and running…. 4 years and 27 million dollars? Every TB contract gave you five years and relatively the same money.

What does this mean for the Lightning? It means they have moneyt o throw at Vincent Lecavalier without flinching now. It means the same for Dan Boyle and Martin St. Louis and the rest fo the teams RFA’s. It means they can browse the market for a goaltender to tandem with John Grahame in net.

If Nik had been signed, money would have gotten much tighter, much faster and trading away one of Lecavalier, St. Louis or Boyle would have had to be a serious thought by the BOlts because there would be little room under the cap to keep all three around.

I’m not mourning. He was a hired assasin when he was brought in by Rick Dudley and he did his job between the pipes and raised the Lightning from the ashes to the champions of the NHL. Unlike his first year with the Lightning, he didn’t carry this team to their goal in 2003-04. He was a passenger at more times than not with the defense making things easier for him.

Disagree if you like, but the fact of the matter is that the Lightning lucked out with Nik walking. There will still be more financial insanity (and the Lightning are yet to be players in that) before it’s all said and done but this insanity just gave the Bolts more room to breath and more room to think.

Concern with the Lightning focuses on restricted free agents and UFA Nikolai Khabibulin. On Defense, the team is likely to lose defensiveman Brad Lukowich and has already lost Jassen Cullimore the previous offseason….

It’s ironic that who Jay Feaster coveted is a UFA now. Former Lightning player (our first draft pick ever) Roman Hamrlik is on the market. There isn’t much in the air around the area with the way of rumors but one just has to use some deduction to guess that Roman’s agent might have gotten a call from Jay Feaster.

First factor in what I’ve already stated - the Lightning are down two defensiveman — both of top four quality. Then factor in Jay Feaster has tried to acquire Roman in the past. Not once, but twice.

Are the Lightning chasing Roman? Or have they inquired about Mr. Hamrlik’s desires? Who else on the defensive front has Jay Feaster had a jones for in the past and had to pass on?

John Romano chimes in on who is going to be left standing (out of Lecavalier, St. Louis or Khabibulin) when the music stops playing in Tampa:

Which brings us to St. Louis, who is 30 and at the peak of his career. He may have another terrific season in 2005-06. Maybe the next season, too. But, eventually, his size will become a liability. He will always be tenacious, he will always be dedicated, but he’s not always going to be quick enough.

Romano asks us to look at things logically with the three men in question - but only admits to the bleak possibilities (above) with St. Louis.

The fact that Khabibulin has had only one positive playoff year his entire career (last year) is a liability, as is Khabibulin’s lack of focus at times that makes him a liability in net.

Lecavalier may be the It-Boy that is all of 25, but this is an It-boy who has embraced prima-donna status before the age of 24 — holding out for more money, pouting when having his captaincy removed, requesting a trade instead of working out his problems (and improving his game) with coach Tortorella. This also isn’t to say that Lecavalier hasn’t struggled for the majoriy of his career until recent. He’s had two solid seasons but has been deemed the franchise since he was putting up so-so numbers in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

That’s not saying I want to see Nik leave or Vinny go, but the new NHL demands a roster of players that realize “There is no I in Team”. Of these three that Romano ponders about - only Martin St. Louis had been willing to discuss a long term contract at a less-than-going rate for an MVP caliber forward (rumored).

The odd man out is likely Khabibulin unless he continues his waiting game — because the money will run out elsewhere and that will leave only a re-signing in Tampa. Lecavalier could be the odd man out simply because he choses to be - he’s discussed taking only a 1 year contract. The odd man out is the Lightning, because the wild game of “Hired Assasin” around the NHL is going to effect re-signing their players under the cap.