Yeah, yeah… It’s pre-season and it don’t mean jack…

But the Lightning were listless tonight after a few days rest – falling to opening-night rival Carolina 5-2. Ruslan Fedotenko and Pavel Kubina accounted for the Lightning goals and Daryl Sydor notched a pair of assists.

I don’t know exactly what John Tortorella wanted to focus on with the Bolts in tonights game but it wasn’t shooting. The Lightning, over the course fo three periods, notched only 15 shots on goal. This was a trend when the Springfield-bound prospects were playing games against mostly-NHL-Calibre players a few days back, I would not expect it to be the same just five days before Opening Night.

Andy Rogers started tonight in the #6 defensiveman slot, he was a minus 1 with 4 PIM’s with 15:48 of ice time. Sean Burke gets the loss while stopping 23 of 28 shots.

The Lightning also lost the shootout — 1-0. Cam Ward stopped the Lightning snipers dead while Rod Brind’Amour notched the lone goal for Carolina.

Eric at Off Wing has a question regarding the NHL’s “MyNHL” Ad Campaign:

Over and over again, I’ve been told that this ad isn’t meant for the hard core fan, but rather that it’s meant to attract the casual fan.

Fair enough. But tell me, what happens when you try to market to new customers in such a way that you seem to be deliberately antagonizing your most loyal customers?

It’d be nice to have an answer from the league over it.

Well you have already been informed that every single Lightning game will be televised (on NBC, OLN and SunSports TV)…

Now here is new news– The HD Broadcast schedule of Sun Sports:

SUN SPORTS/BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS
2005-06 TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING HD GAMES SCHEDULE

Available to Bright House Networks’ HD customers in Tampa and Central Florida

Pre- and post-game coverage for games will also be offered in HD

Wed Oct-5 7:30 NHL Carolina @ Tampa Bay
Fri Oct-28 7:30 NHL Washington @ Tampa Bay
Mon Nov-14 7:30 NHL Philadelphia @ Tampa Bay
Thu Dec-8 7:30 NHL St. Louis @ Tampa Bay
Sat Dec-17 7:30 NHL Detroit @ Tampa Bay
Tue Jan-24 7:30 NHL Florida @ Tampa Bay
Sat Feb-4 7:30 NHL Washington @ Tampa Bay
Sun Mar-19 5:00 NHL NY Islanders @ Tampa Bay
Sat Apr-8 7:30 NHL Pittsburgh @ Tampa Bay
Tue Apr-18 7:30 NHL Washington @ Tampa Bay

Subject to change.

DirecTV may also select some or all of these games listed above to offer their HD customers in the NHL-approved Lightning TV territory (N. and Cent. Fla.). They usually place them on their HD Ch. 95 and have indicated they will most likely select next week’s season home opener as one of their HD NHL offerings that night. But customers should check with DirecTV to verify.

Saturday and Sunday were tryouts in Ontario for the WHA Super Junior hockey league… On Sunday in the US, there was a tryout camp as well at the Tampa Bay Skating Academy in Oldsmar, Florida where WHA brass showed up to begin the launch of the WHA Super Junior league.

The first portion of the WHA SJ consists of the Southeast Junior Hockey League which I’ve covered from time to time on the site. The SEJHL still exists, as I had been confused about what would become of it, and has been purchased by the WHA for their use. The SEJHL continues to be a C-level Junior hockey affiliation under USA Hockey bylaws but the quality of play is supposed to be improved under WHA ownership.

Bobby Hull was in attendance, as was Brad Park of New York Rangers fame and several other former pro hockey stars. Hull and Park, during evaluations, were impressed by the number of “diamonds in the rough” that were participating in the tryout camp. There were around 60 local kids and bay area based hockey players that participated.

Hull tried to explain to players and parents the fact that the WHA was alive and well and that this was an extension of that. He also spent time trying to explain that the players would be put under a microscope by the media because of who the organization was and what they were trying to accomplish.

Hull hoped to compose two teams out of the players who showed up (out of the planned six) and the league was planning to use the uniforms for the LA Sharks for the Oldsmar Sandsharks. Other teams would have original WHA monikers in the league. There was also talk of more Junior Hockey leagues being purchased by the WHA but that talk will remain speculation for now.

The WHA still hopes to re-launch at the professional level – with perchance some of the kids that are to partake in the Junior Hockey(s) that the WHA will own and operate… but for the moment, eyes will shift to Florida for the continuation of the grand experiment: Junior Hockey in the sunshine state.

Andy Rogers has impressed Jay Feaster and John Tortorella enough to keep him after two cuts of Training Camp envitees. Timo Hebling and Rogers are the only two defensivemen left who haven’t been given starting roles and Andy has a legit shot to be on Tampa Bay’s opening night roster…

If he’s signed, that is… Or the Lightnign do not pick up another defensiveman off waivers or hrough trade.

Damian Cristordero reports that Andy’s willing to take much less than the standard going rates of a first round draft pick to stay on TB’s roster. To play in the NHL takes precedence to a payout in Andy’s opinion.

Number Nine…
Number Nine…
Number Nine…

Eh, sorry for the redux with the #9 stuff…. But Nine are off the Lightning training camp roster as of this evening:

C Ryan Craig Springfield (AHL) Training Camp
LW Andre Deveaux Springfield (AHL) Training Camp
G Brian Eklund Springfield (AHL) Training Camp
LW Mitch Fritz Springfield (AHL) Training Camp
C Jason Jaspers Springfield (AHL) Training Camp
RW Marek Kvapil Springfield (AHL) Training Camp
D Doug O’Brien Springfield (AHL) Training Camp
D Todd Rohloff Springfield (AHL) Training Camp
C Nick Tarnasky Springfield (AHL) Training Camp

Artyukhin, Hebling and Rogers remain… Defensively: Timo does not surprise me but Andy Rogers? That one does. Big time.

“We will continue to monitor the situation in terms of our presence, and just as importantly our opponents,” Feaster said. “Detroit, Montreal, the Panthers … haven’t been doing much scrapping in their preseason games. But Sunday’s opponent Buffalo appears to have a couple of guys trying to fight their way on to the team, at least that’s what it looks like from here.”

This article was actually published yesterday in the Tampa Tribune but it brings to light a concern the fans have expressed with regards to the Lightning’s lack of physical presence – IE an Enforcer.

At 6′8″, 258 lbs. Fritz fits the bill but does not have the hockey ability to keep himself on the Tampa Bay roster full time (skating ability is lacking and such)… Yet for opportunities that need on-ice policing (rivalry games with the Panthers and such) Fritz will always find himself a spot on the roster.

It’s nice to trounce your “rivals” as the Lightning did tonight with a 5-0 Shutout… But there was a bigger feat in Tampa Bay sports that this entry will be devoted to…

The University of South Florida came of age tonight… In it’s first game in the Big East versus top ten ranked Louisville, the Bulls overcame the Cardinals offense and staked it’s claim in both the Big East and college football rankings with a 45-14 win. Both timely defense and timely penalties played their part in the Bulls taking down the Cards…

But, don’t rejoice for two long… South Florida is headed to South Florida to face the Hurricanes next weekend and this victory will be short lived.

For those who want to WATCH the game live… Arenavision is still broadcasting at this moment (mid 1st period).

Not the easiest to follow everything but it’s better than nothing

EDIT: And no sooner than this gets published, the Arenavision feed is turned off. Bah!

Yes, it’s only the pre-season…

Yes, it matters worth nothing at all…

But tonight, for the first time since defeating the Calgary Flames in game seven of the 2003-04 Stanley Cup Finals, the Tampa Bay Lightning will take to the ice at the St. Pete Times Forum where they will face off against the Florida Panthers.

It’s the first of ten meetings between these two squads (2 pre-season matchups and 8 regular season matchups) and of course – it being pre-season – there are plenty of tickets availible for tonights game. $20 dollar donations to the Red Cross thru Ticketmaster gets you a seat… (and from what I’ve heard of ticket sals, there will not be many other opportunities to grab prime seats this cheaply durign the regular season).

John Tortorella plans to play most of his starts tonight and Sean Burke will be in goal…

And there’s just a chance that Arenavision may still be up and running during the game so keep that in mind around 7:30 tonight…

Number Nine…
Number Nine…
Number Nine…
Number Nine…

It’s the Beatle fan in me trying to force the White Album on readers everywhere as I kick off the Howe of Carnivale — Carnival of the NHL Number 9. I guess it’s rather fitting I put the Beatles reference in there because the first highlights of this Carnival are supposed to be geared towards older posts by bloggers (greatest hits if you will)… I had asked for posts from 2003-04 and onward (from during the lockout up until now) and I must say I am happy with the results.

We’ll start off with the guy who gave me the job of presenting the Carnival this week — Eric McErlain. Eric chimed in with two incredible posts with regards to two separate topics from years past…

We’ll start with a 2002 post where Eric comments on International losses improving game play for leagues. His post starts out talking about the NBA and the falling quality of players in the league and then goes on to talk about the famous Canada vs. Russia tournament that changed the entire attitude of play and course of the NHL. Dated September 20th of 2002, it’s the oldest post of the carnival.

Another submission from Eric is timely because it is just past the 2nd anniversary of the passing of the man who built and managed the US Hockey squad in 1980. Herb Brooks was an icon and we lost him well before his time….

Yesterday, on a highway outside of Minneapolis, America lost a hero. A team lost it coach. A family lost its father. And I said goodbye to a cherished piece of my childhood. Rest in peace, Herb Brooks. And thank you. Thank you for more than you could ever know.

The man who lifted America’s morale when we needed it the most is better than a cheesy Disney movie. We miss you, Herb Brooks…

Lyle over at Spectors sent me a What If piece he wrote in November of 2003… I’ve reposted it and have been nodding in agreement while going over it… It beats some mainstream media what-ifs by a year and I know I’ve had discussions with friends regarding who they’ve lost over money and bad management that could have kept their squad a contender or perhaps put them over the top.

I know I usually mention Tommy from Sticks of Fire on here about something or other but another local blogger who I am just getting acquainted with — CT over at Population Statistic — submits a plethora of bit stories from the past year. Lets start out with the strangest of them all that will get Canadians up in arms about the Stanley Cup being held by Tampa Bay over the last year…

Young people were turning to Shuffleboard.

Kitschy, my ass…..I’m telling you, this can be correlated directly to the lockout; these hipsters normally would be kickin’ it at the St. Pete Times Forum instead of making like Sheldon Shuffleboard.

CT also takes the time to comment on Gerald Coleman – Yoga Guru, Blue Ice Specials and a flash in the stands for tween players….

The man, the myth and the legend that is Gordie Howe kept playing well past his prime with thanks to the WHA… The WHA had various attempts to get back into the fray during the lockout and Jes at Hockey Rants (the man, the myth, the legend in his own Write ) took the opportunity to report on the fallacy and fantasy that was WHA Hockey 2004-05…

Lets start with the “Fantasy draft” and then work our way up to the WHA’s death knell

Really, it is no big surprise that the WHA never got going in the first place. Their business plan ($15 mil payrolls are not workable for the WHA), stupid franchise names, and lack of good management could not make up for Bobby Hull’s big dreams.

What’s really sad is just how quietly and pathetically the WHA has died.

He’s just getting warmed up here, ladies and gents! Jes takes on the Bobby Hull Invitations and has some scathing rhetoric for the deep-in-lockout NHL and the PA:

While the NHL and NHLPA would like to manipulate our opinions into their vision of financial utopia, the WHA seems to be treating the fans with some respect. The WHA knows that it has to provide an entertaining product in order to entice and keep fans. Why not asking the people what they want? If the NHL ever really listened to the fans (and I’m not talking just looking at attendance figures), they would probably clue in to the fact that their product needs tweaking.

A comment that remains true to this day.

And then there’s the 3rd incarnation and the fourth incarnation that makes you wonder just why the hell keep trying things under the WHA label? The name suggests they can’t get off the ground now, instead of suggesting they are competition for the NHL.

Tom Benjamin’s blog was wiped out sometime after the 2003-04 season concluded, he had been blogging from around the start of the year till it’s close…. Though a server crash cost hockey readers everywhere insight into the past of Tom Benjamin’s NHL Weblog, the innovations of the web — namely the WayBack Machine at Archive.org — allow all a glimpse at this foursome of posts by Tom…

First, I thought Canuck fans might be interested in what I wrote about Anson Carter before he started his first full Ranger season. In early December I decided the Flames were for real and as the playoffs neared I was terrified of them. Of course there is a post on the night this post written the night before the seventh game.

This would have been a Gordie Howe hat trick worth of posts from the past… Fortunately you don’t have to go “Wayback” to see Tom ready to drop’em.

And for Tom’s sparring partner, James Mirtle? Everyone’s favorite heavyweight scored an interview with former Rangers goaltender Dan Blackburn back in February. Blackburn has suffered another injury while trying to come back from irreparable nerve damage in his shoulder and may be retiring instead of returning to the minors.

Greg at the Puck Stops here points to a post from this summer with sabermetric ratings of the greatest players of all time in the NHL.

There was a good piece of writing I’ve encountered in the past with a porous comparison — that’s in my humble opinion. Ottawa fans can pass there own judgment on this as Jean-Pierre Allard of The Smarting Senators decrees that the Ottawa Senators are in danger of becoming Hockey’s version of the Montreal Expos.

Mike Chen had submitted a story from his archives during the writing of the Carnival but if you have noticed, his hockey blog has fallen down and gone boom . The Archives were totally wiped out and unrecoverable due to a hacker’s fun and games. Mike’s post deals with a subject dear to my heart and I’ve taken it upon myself to repost it in it’s entirety… Of course, the post is about Eklund . It’s also timely as the Farce of Eklund has started a paysite and people are actually paying for his lies. Go figure!

As the lockout ended, Phil over on The NHL Is Back addressed an issue that the NHL had to focus on now. He threw money at the wall post-Lockout and maybe Bill Wirtz is warming up but I still believe this post saying Wirtz has to be dealt with by the league holds sway.

Edit: Late entry to the Carnival… PJ presented a note from his mom and his doctor so he is excused for being tardy in his submission (get well, man!) and this absolutely knocks my socks off…

PJ’s got a detailed look at the AIHL which is composed of teams in Japan, Russia, China and Korea. There are pictures of Esa Tikkanen in Korea and… Well, it’s just one big eye opener to thsoe who focus on North America and Europe as Hockey hotbeds and not the Orient.

Ending the look back,, I pay homage to both my team and fellow Lightning blogger Christopher Smith at Delay of Game with a link to the little piece of metal that will forever journey in this Lightning fans heart.

***

Chris over at Hockey Country takes a long, hard look at Sens cuts. No surprises here yet his devotion shows with the in-depth look.

Dave at the Ice Block addresses fan reactions to strict rule enforcement this preseason — and preaches patience.

Tom at Sabre Rattling submits an old-but-relevant-now post with regards to the Captaincy of the Sabres. He was hoping for Daniel Briere and it turns out Daniel will be sharing the Captaincy with Chris Drury. He also takes time out to give an update on the Sabres in the form of a Training Camp Update.

Over at Sidearm Delivery, Brush expresses some bitterness over Deadspin and their interpretation of Sidney Crosby’s debut (in exhibition play). He’s also got words for Jeff Jacobs after Jacobs suggested Ron Francis’ number belongs retired in Hartford – not with the former Whaler franchise in Carolina.

In case you missed it, Brett Mirtle laid the smackdown on EA’s NHL 2006 on Redline Sports… Without trying to give too much of the review:

While the on-ice graphics are stunning, the user interface leaves much to be desired in some cases. Cycling though player and team stats is a chore. And why is it that there is only enough space to see the top 4 or 5 player stats on your team (before having to scroll down)? That’s idiotic. I miss the good old days when an entire team’s player stats would be displayed on on page without scrolling. Putting together trades is also very clunky and time consuming. They really could take a page from the Microsoft point and click system.

And that’s not even giving you a full on description of gameplay difficulties and the few positives Brett could find.

Lastly in this week’s Carnival, in the comments of one of my posts on Boltsmag, Tiny of Tiny Little Dots decided to drop in another blog entry from Drawn that I would think is worth checking out for humor sake and for marketing sake… Where’s Peter Puck when you need him?

That’s all she wrote for Carnival #9… Thanks again to Eric for giving me the nod to oversee the Howe of Carnivale… Kukla’s Korner will be hosting Carnival #10 next week, good luck to him with that.

The Lightning started out pre-season with a dominant offensive outburst and have been silent in one form or another since then. They’ve fallen to the Montreal Canadiens and tonight they fell to the mighty Carolina Hurricanes.

It’s pre-season. What did you expect?

It’s kind of sad when your team is lacking a #6 defensiveman, a majority of D-men are re-assigned and the focus with those cuts it he lack-of-enforcer on the Bolts. It’s an issue, but there are more pressing concerns…

Here yesterday, gone today, back… when?

Pos. Name Assigned to
G- Jonathan Boutin — Springfield (AHL)
RW- Jim Campbell — Springfield (AHL)
G- Morgan Cey — Springfield (AHL)
G- Gerald Coleman — Springfield (AHL)
D- Mike Egener — Springfield (AHL)
LW- Brandon Elliott — Springfield (AHL)
LW- Mitch Fritz — Springfield (AHL)
D- Brady Greco — Springfield (AHL)
LW- Adam Henrich — Springfield (AHL)
RW- Zbynek Hrdel — Springfield (AHL)
LW- Justin Keller — Kelowna (WHL)
D- Vladimir Mihalik — Red Deer (WHL)
LW- Norm Milley — Springfield (AHL)
LW- Dennis Packard — Springfield (AHL)
D- Harlan Pratt — Springfield (AHL)
D- Paul Ranger — Springfield (AHL)
RW- Darren Reid — Springfield (AHL)
D- Jay Rosehill — Springfield (AHL)
C- Jean-Francois Soucy — Springfield (AHL)
C- John Toffey — Springfield (AHL)

I’m shocked — Egener sent down without even a preseason game played. Cey, Coleman and Boutin sent down seems a bit early because you knew these players were going down anyway.

Andy Rogers is still up with the club… And I had him penciled in for a cut down much like Vladimir Mihalik (who is heading to Red Deer).

Sticks of Fire Reigns Supreme!

Congratulations to my friend Tommy on being Weekly Planet’s Editors pick for best Web Site in Tampa Bay!

EDIT: And Boltsmag is named the “Definitive Lightning Fan blog” in tbt*’s latest edition that chronicles local bloggers.

Just a friendly reminder there is less than 36 hours to submit entries for this weeks Carnival of the NHL… Submissions are due tomorrow by 10 PM EDT.

I was made aware this week about the WHA Super Juniors hoping to base their operations out of Florida… I decided to ask around and had people telling me that they’ve only heard whispers of rumors and things like that, not solid stuff.

I got solid stuff for you now.

Bobby Hull and others will be descending on Tampa Bay this upcoming week and the WHA will be hosting tryouts at the Tampa Bay Skating Academy in Oldsmar this Sunday from 1 to 3 PM (this coincides tryouts in Canada on Saturday night and Sunday morning).

The league will be six teams and from the looks of things, the SEJHL has been totally swallowed up by the WHASJ (plus the SEJHL web site returns a 403 forbidden error). The Ellenton Eels are not one of the franchises as they were having difficulty staying afloat as was.

None of this — the WHA ties — comes as a surprise if you look at who is the father of the S.E.J.H.L. Dave Beaudin is son of WHA alumnus Norm Beaudin…

Yeah, I know, I know…. It’s exhibition…

I know, I know… It means nothing whatsoever…

Sean Burke is expected to be in goal tonight as the Lightning face off agaisnt Les Habitants De Montréal. The Boy from Ile Bizard will also be participating in tonights matchup at the Bell Centre.

Taking a guess at some of the lines for tonight for the Bolts:

Prospal/Lecavalier/Fedotenko
Afanasenkov/Andreychuk/Reid
Campbell/Jaspers/Milley
Fritz/Soucy/Deveaux

Sydor/Kubina
Mihalik/Ranger

…pencil in 2 from last night or a mystery guest that I’ve totally forgotten and you have the makings of who will be on ice in Quebec this evening.

It’s a rare happening when Lightning owner William Davidson is in the building to watch the Lightning play… Davidson likes to stay up in Michigan as much as possible – home of his Palace Sport Empire — and coming down south to Tampa is a rare spectacle entirely.

Davidson wasn’t going to let a measly 35 minutes keep him away from the Bolts while they played at the Joe last night… He and his right hand man, Tom Wilson, attended the game and were pleased with what they saw… Of course, how can’t you be pleased when your team wins?

But either writers in attendance, questioning Davidson and Wilson, decided to make business a discussion item or Wilson thought it pertinent to make mention of certain financial factors with the Lightning.

“You feel like you have a chance to make a dollar and be competitive,” Wilson said. “Now under this system, if you can manage it right, you can be competitive every year. You can keep your players, control your ticket prices and you can start to grow your business.”

Under the old system, Wilson doesn’t know if the Lighting could have stayed competitive. The contracts of most of the team’s top players expired in the summer or will expire next summer.

“If we would’ve kept our guys, our payroll would have gone up 60 percent,” Wilson said. “We would not have been able to keep everybody together under the old system.”

That’s the type of logic that was missing from bitterness expressed during Team Canada’s training camp after the Lecavalier signing. Brad Richards was certain everyone could have been
inked under the old system… Not with the economics of the Lightning as it stands.

Wilson went on to speculate that the Lightning will need to go into the 3rd round of the playoffs to break even this year – while team president Ron Campbell believes the 2nd is the break-even point.

Words like “Sale” and “relocation” were also floated around in the article – maybe out of force of habit when talking to a Lightning owner, maybe out of relevance for the discussion?

What took you guys so friggin’ long?

It’s only exhibition but it’s a pleasing result. The Bolts win 5-3 in Detroit. The line of Modin – Richards and St. Louis have been white hot in practice scrimages and it is no different here. Richards with 4 points, Modin with 3, St. Louis with 3…. Each man had at least one goal while Evgeny Artyukhin acounted for the sole goal from someone outside that line.

The score on NHL.com will read 6-3 as a final as the Lightning won the for-practice shootout 2-1. Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards scored for the Bolts while Jason Williams had the lone tally for Detroit.

I’ll have more on the game tomorrow as I wasn’t able to listen…

Anyone ever see AI: Artificial Intellegence? Haley Joel Osment kept asking his adoptive mommy “Is it a game?” while she was trying to avoid him….

Right now, that phrase is so painfully appropriate. I’m trying to comprehend this — the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to be playing a game… It may be exhibition but it’s the first competative game this franchise has played since they won the Cup…

Even stranger — last time we played the Red Wings, we clinched the Southeast and a playoff berth…

No news on the rosters but I will update that as soon as I know.

Mike Chen puts up a few comments regarding early exhibition play and penalty results in those games:

As expected, the pre-season has led off with some teams not understanding the crackdown on obstruction. The LA Kings have been one of the early consistent offenders with 11 penalties against San Jose and 12 penalties against Anaheim. Amazingly, a Minnesota/Chicago game had a grand total of only 3 penalties. On the other hand, Chicago was in the box for 17 penalties against Calgary, so what works for one pre-season roster may not necessarily work for another.

…that or one ref squad is calling games a certain way and another ref squad is calling games entirely different.

It’s the same-old-same-old in the league, or at least that is what I am fearing. While we’ll see a strict enforcement of rules at times, that will slowly fade and what once was called will be overlooked. It happens every year, every single frigging year and when the playoffs commence? Rules are out the door…

I got livid during the 2003-04 playoffs because it was a mockery what wasn’t being called. It’s detrimental not only to the game being played but the future of the sport when someone watching a game sees two different interpertations of a suspected infraction… In one game? It’s called, in another? It’s overlooked for the sake of “letting them play” or not interfering with the rhythem of the game…

It’s coaches jobs to make sure their players don’t interfer with the rhythem of the game — play smart or bench the guy for infractions – and the refs job to call penalties so players know not to do that kind of crap on ice! It’s that simple, and yet it’s been incomprehensible for some reason…

Yahoo Sports and SI.com have published a Season Preview for the Lightning that really seems to lack content or a true preview… It just talks about who plays for the Bolts and who’s moved on…

I was concerned about Gerard Dicaire and it turns out he has a disease I can’t even phonetically try to spell out:

He has been diagnosed with neurocardiogenic syncope.

“Basically what it means is after … he finishes working out, the heart rate drops and continues to drop and doesn’t stabilize,” general manager Jay Feaster said. “And the blood pressure drops, continues to drop and doesn’t stabilize, and then he passes out. The doctors want to increase the potassium and sodium in his blood. They want to treat it with salt tablets and less water.”

Nix one from the prospective #6 Defensive slot.

Speaking of which, Mike Egener is not joining the team on their trip north to play exhibition games in Detroit and Montreal.. Tom Jones has speculated in the St. Petersburg Times that Feaster has his eyes affixed to the waiver wire and hopes something pops up between now and October 5th.

Who’s traveling north?

Forwards (25): Vaclav Prospal, Vincent Lecavalier, Dmitry Afanasenkov, Ruslan Fedotenko, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis, Fredrik Modin, Chris Dingman, Dave Andreychuk, Martin Cibak, Rob DiMaio, Tim Taylor, Jim Campbell, Jason Jaspers, Ryan Craig, Adam Henrich, Norm Milley, Mitch Fritz, Darren Reid, Marek Kvapil, Andre Deveaux, Evgeny Artyukhin, JF Soucy, Brandon Elliott and Nick Tarnasky.

The 10 defensemen: Cory Sarich, Pavel Kubina, Darryl Sydor, Dan Boyle, Nolan Pratt, Doug O’Brien, Andy Rogers, Timo Helbling, Vladimir Mihalik and Paul Ranger.

…Rogers heading north while Egener stays in TB? And Andy is due to head to Juniors again… Weird…

While the Lightning are looking for a 6th defensiveman and haven’t had anyone step up into the role, one prospect that is stepping up and making people take notice is Morgan Cey:

On Saturday, he stopped 20 shots against Team Blue, but it wasn’t his play in regulation, it was what he did in the shootout. In succession, Cey stopped Fredrik Modin, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards in the regulation round of the shootout, eventually won by White in the seventh round on a goal by J-F Soucy.

Team White happens to feature Vinny Lecavalier, Vaclav Prospal and Dmitry Afanasenkov among others.

Meanwhile the Times and the Tribune feature player articles today… Rob DiMaio is cast as the true original in the Tribune story (treading on his original-team status) while Vinny Lecavalier gets Franchise treatment in Tom Jones Evolution of a Superstar article:

“Vinny is at another level right now,” said Pierre Maguire, hockey analyst for Canada’s TSN and former NHL coach. “Vinny is about to explode on the scene. Everybody knows how good he is, but now he has become a more complete player.”

Mike Brophy, senior writer for the Hockey News, said whatever everyone else is thinking.

“Lecavalier can take his game to the next level and be the best player in the league,” Brophy said.

There’s a quiet buzz among the Lightning, even Lightning executives who are slow to praise players. This could be the year Lecavalier throws his helmet into the MVP ring.

And on a final note — I’m eating my own thoughts so far this season with the Bucs… They are 2-0 but two games in leaves a lot of season left for things to implode…

My good friend Sharon was kind enough to send me a link to several photographs she took at Training Camp. There are 30-odd pictures… Take a look and enjoy.

EDITEdited the link – don’t know if it will work or not… Shutterfly is not a good hosting company.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages and of course you too members of the blogosphere… Let me draw your attention for un momentito with the announcing that Boltsmag will be hosting the Carnival of the NHL #9 — the Howe of Carnivale, as I like to call it.

Where we – fans, readers, bloggers — are at right now is one level of limbo or another… A calm after one tremendous storm (free agency) with another storm fast approaching… The storm that we’ve been waiting more than a year for: the return of NHL on-ice action. It’ll be starting before this Carnival gets underway in the form of pre-season games but that’s still not the official return of the “Coolest Sport on Earth.”

What I’m looking for in Carnival #9 isn’t so much current news pieces and observations… What I’d like is a “Best of” Carnival — past posts that aren’t current that deals with memorable writings from the 2003-04 season, or memorable posts from the past of other blogs that haven’t been around that long (and there are some great blogs that have only come into existence during the lockout). These posts will have precedence in the Carnival over current event submissions…

Submissions are due a week from today – which will beSeptember 22nd – at 10 PM EDT… I’ll try to have things posted on that Friday but I may take longer… I will keep everyone in the know if that is the case.

As I said — I’m looking for “Best Of” posts. If you previously operated your blog but lost a ton of your entries when switching domains or software, you may want to look at http://web.archive.org and the Wayback Machine…. It’s a valuable tool that both readers and bloggers can use.

Either submit posts via the Contact form on the site or email me webmaster at boltsmag.com