“Looks like Jay Feaster got reamed on this one, folks.”
Give it up to Jes Golbez at Hockey Rants for stating a lot of things in his most recent post that I was too much of a coward to address during the “Vinny isn’t signed! OHmygodwhattodo!” crying from Lightning fans (and Montreal fans for that matter) over the last few weeks.
I’ve said in the past, after being told Lecavalier was the best player in franchise history, that he wasn’t even the best player currently on the team. He’s the franchise player because of what we have labeled him since his drafting. All the while the true performer — his former line-mate at Rimouski and Notre Dame, Brad Richards — gets overlooked and undermined.
Maybe it’s a bit of ego - not wanting to see Montreal get their way as Habs fans poke and prod and declare what Vincent wants without Vincent actually saying it. Maybe it was just bad writing on my part - gutless writing to go against the flow and say “Hey Jay, be responsible…”
Unfortunately, Jay Feaster is more inclined to continue his tenure as “not the General Manager that let Vinny Lecavalier get away” all while setting himself up for being the GM that let Brad Richards get away. (Or Martin St. Louis, or Pavel Kubina, or Ruslan Fedotenko, etc).
I guess the crux to the situation is Vincent’s age. One may argue he is going to get better with time - he’s just starting to break through…. But when his numbers have been inconsistent in his career and his attitude has been troublesome at times… You have to wonder if it will come up again on ice? Will he and John Tortorella clash again because of styles that Vinny picked up while playing in Russia? Will they clash again over some unseen aspect in the new NHL? And what happens when that occurs? What happens if Vinny pouts if he is not handed the C after Dave Andreychuk finally retires?
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6 Comments until now
I, too, was surprised to read the criticisms on Jes’s page and not your own. Feaster has to realize a player’s value and make those difficult decisions accordingly. As it stands now, Lecavalier will have to be the team’s top player the next four seasons, simply due to economics.
I’ll say only this: If Lecavalier is a team’s best player, they won’t win the Stanley Cup. The Lightning are fine this season, especially considering how weak the Southeast Division is yet again, but next year could be a tough one without some of their key parts.
Just to clarify. I think Vincent LeCavalier has been the best player in Lightning history to date. He’s been a consistently good player who has been with the team longer than St. Louis or Richards. So I think when you argue with me that he is not the best player currently on the team we are actually in agreement. Clearly, St. Louis was the best player in the last NHL season (MVP!) and still is in my book.
That said, I could imagine very easily the situation where a Tampa team does win the Stanley Cup and LeCavalier is their best player. Afterall, Canada won the World Cup in 2004 and LeCavalier was named MVP of the tournament.
However, the reason Tampa won’t likely win the Stanley Cup is goaltending. They don’t have the players in net to make that kind of a run this year - barring further changes to the roster.
John,
You’d forget more about the Bolts that I could ever know
(although I do know it was Sandy McCarthy who set up Vinnie for his 1st NHL Goal)
It’s your own damn blog, so don’t ever be afraid to say what you want, when you want. If anything, the fanboys/fangirls of the world need a good spanking once a day to keep them in line.
I guess the one thing I can say about myself is that I don’t visit Lightnings message boards and I don’t talk with many of their fans…so I’m not in ‘tune’ with the fanbase or the environment down there. I just look at things from an outsider’s perspective, so I’m not sure how deep the Lecavalier love is. You’d figure Richards would have stolen some love, but perhaps his dull personality has made it hard to win over the Lecavalier crowd.
Oh, and what ever happened to the ‘home town discount’? I’d hate to think what Lecavalier would have asked for in a place he didn’t like
James, the hockey in Russia is more defensive than anything Lecavalier has ever played. The Bolts played a nice aggressive style, so I’d assume that Lecavalier would be pretty happy to play in Tort’s system compared to the Russian style of ‘first goal wins’.
…I think the Thrashees will give the Bolts a run for the money in the SE. Not so much b/c of the Bolts themselves, but because Atlanta will improve thanks to the maturity of their young players and some key roster additions.
Seems like there isn’t much room left to give Marty an equal or better deal than Vinny. Feaster making a clear signal that Vinny is the future of the Lightning. Wonder how Marty feels about that as they try to push a smaller package his way.
I’m not sold on Atlanta at all… there are still a ton of holes in the roster, and the defence leaves a lot to be desired. Are they a potential playoff team? Definitely. Nowhere near finishing ahead of Tampa, however.
Evidently Marty isn’t very pleased if his comments to TSN today are anything to go by. Feaster apparently hopes to re-sign him to between $4-$5 mil per season, yet what is Marty to think when he has the season like 2003-04, rakes in three individual awards, helps lead the Bolts to the Cup, and then sees younger Vinny earn a whopping payday. Vinny, a player who only outscored him by 8 points in the 2002-03 season. A player whom he outplayed by a wide margin in 2003-04, and that includes the playoffs in both years.
Gonna be interesting.