Some people think he’s an outright bad seed, others think he was the victim of character assassination by way of the St. Petersburg Times. Regardless, he’s caught the Tampa Bay regions attention and inspired Tim (from The Journey of Jack Tripper) to write and record the Elijah Dukes is my Daddy Blues.

(Hat tip to Sticks of Fire where I saw Tim’s post)

The following was originally posted here in 2004. I still find it to be my thought on the draft. After watching last night’s mockery event, there are probably more things worth pointing out that I hate about the NHL draft

I continue to hate how the NHL Draft is conducted.

The big board behind the main stage for example… The fact every f’n executive for a team shows up when a player is selected… The fact that the cities keep changing and the response from the crowd is fickle -at best – at times.

I’m not saying over-hype the draft like the NFL but I do believe that the league needs to move forward with regards to how they conduct the draft and stop having such a low-quality operation. They could either stop making the draft a spectacle (which would be bad for the league and would anger a lot of people) or they could start solidifying the event with something that isn’t caked with “tradition” (the big board “tradition”, the revolving cities “tradition”, etc).

For example: move the draft to one place and have it there year after year. I’m not going to suggest New York, however. Probably Toronto at a theater-like location instead of an arena. Or perchance Chicago — which hosts a storied past for their franchise if not a current intensity of interest for hockey. Fans of hockey will turn out in any event at either location…

Start making the draft about the players and not about the executives making the selections! There is not enough clips about players and there is not enough information on team needs being talked about by those covering the draft.

And as for that billboard/big board that lists all the picks? “Mr. Commissioner — Tear this board down!”

———

OK, 2007 thoughts:

Do we really need 20+ speeches being made thanking the host city and getting a cheap pop from the crowd when their home town is mentioned? Shouldn’t Gary Bettman be focusing on the state of the game instead of how wonderful a city is and a franchise in particular is when he’s speaking? Shouldn’t there be some type of continuity — such as a limited amount of time between picks? And while we are at it, shouldn’t podiums look like podiums instead of like cups of iced coffee?

The entire event is antiquated and vaudeville-like. It doesn’t feel like a pro sports league is conducting this event.

The fire sale in Nashville continues as Tomas Voukon has been shipped into the Southeast division and to the Florida Panthers for the Panthers first round pick (#10 overall) and 2 second round selections.

This also confirms the Lightning had #47 snatched up by the Panthers this year (which was the conditional pick in the Chris Gratton trade).

Shane O’Brien joins Filip Kuba and Dan Boyle as the third D-man under contract for next season. He signed a two year deal with the Bolts.

It’s an RFA signing but still significant seeing what the Lightning paid to obtain him (1st round draft choice and goaltender Gerald Coleman).

Lyle’s outdone himself… Or should I say Bruce Garrioch at the Ottawa Sun has outdone himself and Lyle at Spectors has simply called a spade a spade in simplicity and eloquence?

Bruce will get us started here — rumor-mongering about the future of Brad Richards in Tampa Bay, as summarized by Lyle:

Bruce Garrioch reports league sources claiming Tampa Bay Lightning GM Jay Feaster might be willing to shop Brad Richards and his $7.8 million per season contract to Chicago, Philadelphia or Phoenix in hopes of landing one of the top three picks in this year’s draft. Garrioch claims Richards might be expendable after the Bolts acquired centre Chris Gratton last week from Florida, and this move would be done to clear up cap space to land a quality goaltender

Now, after a grand debunking of the rumor — Lyle leaves us with the comment that was so profoundly true that I consider it an absolute gem:

nd considering Richards “expendable” because of the acquisition of Chris Gratton is laughable.

This is the literal truth to the matter… At least for me. When I read the original summary — I broke out laughing after reading why Richards had become expendable. Chris Gratton’s acquisition leads to shoving Brad out the door? That’s about as likely as the Beatles getting back together. Chris Gratton replacing Tim Taylor is logical and makes sense long term. Chris Gratton spending time on wing on the top two lines if someone else fills the role of 3rd line center better than him makes a degree of sense as well. Gratton being Tampa Bay’s #2 center….? Excuse me, I’m going back to fits of giggles over this one…

Thanks for the laugh, Bruce! And thanks, Lyle, for confirming my right to laughter.

Boltprospects.com is down and out at the moment with thanks to a lightning strike. As it’s team of writers note — it’s an irony of ironies…

They’ll be back up in a jiff though, and surely will be live again before the NHL draft commences Friday.

The draft days away and the unveiling of the updated logos and jersey’s of all 30 franchises is imminent…

But reportedly the Caps new jersey has indeed been leaked and it sure ain’t pretty.

A little south of Obscured:

Find more funny toons about the NHL at The Instigator

Jan Hlavac has signed a one year deal with the Lightning. He’s been in Europe the last three years while being an NHL veteran of five.

The move is for depth at wing, I can’t see much more than that. Yet Jay feaster puts up the on-a-wing=and-a-prayer praise that Jan will be the 2nd line answer that has eluded the Lightning this season:

‘Jan Hlavac is a highly skilled player who we believe will fit in well within our group of top six forwards and a player we hope will develop some chemistry with Brad Richards,” executive vice president and general manager Jay Feaster said. ”He is an excellent skater and is both a playmaker and a guy who can finish. The ‘new NHL’ is tailor-made for Jan’s game, and he expressed through his agent a strong desire to return to the NHL as was evidenced by the cap- and budget-friendly contract Jan signed.”

So is this a solution to problems on the roster (on the cheap!) or is it a bottom-dollar move that the Lightning hope will pan out? It’s worked for the Bolts so far…

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages… Your 2007 Off-season guide to Lightning transactions! I’ll attempt to list all on the roster but no one is perfect.
Here’s a breakdown at current of who’s signed and who’s not… Who’s on the roster and who’s been moved:

Last Updated 6-13-2007

(Signed, unsigned (UFA and RFA), left via free agency / via trade, UFA signing, acquired via trade)

CENTERS:
Vincent Lecavalier
Brad Richards
Tim Taylor
Andreas Karlsson
Chris Gratton
Nick Tarnasky
Eric Perrin
Ryan Craig
Blair Jones

WINGS:
Ruslan Fedotenko
Rob DiMaio
Jan Hlavac
Martin St. Louis
Vaclav Prospal
Jason Ward
Kyle Wavnig*
Karl Stewart
André Roy
*Evgeny Artyukhin*

DEFENSE:
Dan Boyle
Filip Kuba
Shane O’Brien
Cory Sarich
Paul Ranger
Nolan Pratt
Luke Richardson
Matt Smaby*
Vladimir Mahlik*

GOALTENDERS:
Marc Denis
Karri Ramo
Johan Holmqvist

NOTE: * = Minor Leaguer / European player or prospect that is property of the team

Follow all the latest team transactions through TSN.ca

Chris Gratton is back…?!?

That’s right, Lightning fans, Jay Feaster went out and brought back Chris Gratton to the Lightning for — and get this — a second round draft pick in 2007 or 2008.

I’m sorry, Jay, but what the bloody hell…?!

“Chris Gratton is the ideal third-line center for our hockey team,” Feaster said. “He has great size and strength, he is very good on face-offs, he has excellent grit and is willing both to take care of himself and defend his teammates, he is fearless when standing in front of the net on the power play and he has developed over time into a solid penalty killer as well. We believe Chris brings to our club a host of elements that we need in order to have the depth necessary to continue to be a top caliber team.

“We have been pursuing Chris for some time now, and I honestly thought we were going to be able to get a deal done to acquire him at the trade deadline this past season. While that did not happen, we never lost our interest in adding Chris as an ideal complement to Vinny and Richy as a big, strong, multi-faceted third-line center who shares our organizational commitment to winning. They say in life that ‘the third time is the charm’ and we truly believe that his third time in a Lightning uniform is going to be a great one for Chris and our team, and we welcome him back to the Lightning family.”

*Emphasis added by me.

OK, so that’s what the bloody hell. Like the Jason Ward trade — it looks like this is a preparatory move for life without a Lightning veteran. In Ward’s case, it was life without Rob Dimaio. In Gratton’s case — it’s life without Tim Taylor who’s hip will be operated on later this off season and is out until at least February 2008.

But for a second rounder?

The Lightning system is already thin on offense, and losing a high pick either this year ror next year hurts. If the pick is this year — it doubly hurts as the Lightning already parted ways with there #1 in trading for Shane O’Brien.

It’s an upgrade over Taylor but I’m not jumping up and down. I do credit the re-acquisition of CHris Gratton from the Flyers as what got my interest back int eh Lightning after the dark days of Phil Esposito’s last years on the job. I’m also not angry over the decision to make this trade but I do question what it took to pull this off.

Speaking of transactions, Nick “Nasty” Tarnasky (and yes, Marsha, I blew his nickname ) is back in the fold after a 3 year deal was re-signed along with Kyle Wavnig. The Lined Up Update will be amended to reflect all moves the last 72 hours…

First off, let me give belated congratulations to the Anaheim Ducks for their 2006-07 Stanley Cup victory. For the third season in a row the Fianle for the NHL has been a USA vs. Canada affair and for the third time — Canada has been stymed.

But I need to congratulate both franchises for what they accomplished… see, three years ago I dubbed the 2004 playoffs the “Pass the Friggin’ Torch Tour” as I believed it signified a changing point in the NHL. It wasn’t predicting the lockout of 2004-05 but it was saying that the franchises that the new expansion franchises of the past 15 years were coming of age and coming into their own. Two out of the four 1992-1994 expansion teams have now won the Stanley Cup while all four have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.

On a sidenote — I’ve made soem minor changes to Boltsmag for the off season… A new background was put up jsut for kicks and I changed some stuff with the quote areas on posts… Nothing major

…so sayeth the Tampa Bay Lightning.

OK, I’m participating with some other fans from across the continent concerning the Stanley Cup Finals over on FanHome. Any and all Boltsmag regulars (or general hockey fans) who want to join the discussion (or liven it up) are invited over there to participate.

It’s a piece of marketing work that is absent from the NHL by and large — though the individual markets see it more often than not — teams reaching out to do something for the fans that supports the base and keeps the NHL product in plain view of all those who wish to see it.

It would seem the Lightning themselves are the ones to thank for getting Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals on broadcast television in the greater Tampa Bay metro area. After WFLA abandoned ignored passed over hockey fans in the area and the chance to broadcast the game — they didn’t step up to find a host for the show in their “absence”.

The Lightning, on the other hand, did.

The Lightning brokered a deal Friday afternoon to have the game be shown on WTTA-Channel 38. The game is being broadcast by NBC, but WFLA-Channel 8, the local NBC affiliate, could not carry the game because it is carrying its annual All Children’s Hospital telethon.

It’s believed the Lightning is spending $20,000 to buy up all the local advertising time so that Ch. 38 would agree to show the game. Channel 38 is channel 6 on Bright House Networks cable systems and channel 14 on Verizon.

(hat tip to RJ)

UPDATE: THE DEAL FELL THROUGH. The Lightning game will only be broadcast locally on Catch 47 (Bright House Cable network) and WFLA’s HD channel…

RJ at Bolts Blog pointed out a travesty in the local media market that needs to be rectified — STAT!

In case you haven’t heard, channel 8 is preempting the game Saturday to run the All Children’s Telethon. As of yet, there has been NO alternate channel named that will carry this game in the Tampa market. If you want to see this rectified, call NBC Corporate (212) 664-4444, and Channel 8 locally (813) 228-8888, and tell them to get off their behinds, and get this game on down here. To think that in an NHL market, there would be no way to watch game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals is just ridiculous.

To be fair — WFLA has been carrying that telethon for years upon years and pre-empting important things in favor of fundraising. That being said, they sure-as-shit could and should have already done something to make sure the game airs locally for hockey fans around the greater Tampa Bay metro area.

Please take RJ’s advice: Call NBC corporate and WFLA and make some noise about things.

UPDATE: Lee let it be known in comments that WTTA TV 38 will be carrying the game for the hockey fans in the area.