Mike Chen can’t look away at the train wreck here in Tampa, and who can blame him? Ooh, blame… Good subject for an article Mike! Have at it!

The real culprit? I can see why people can point fingers at one guy or another (though Stamkos is absolved of everything other than simply being an 18-year-old rookie learning the ways of the NHL) but when it comes down to it, everyone is at fault here from the wacky ownership duo of Len Barrie and Oren Koules to Melrose and his then-assistants to veteran leaders like team captain Vincent Lecavalier.

Yep, you’re all guilty and you should feel bad because the fan base that slowly built up from the early 2000s is now disintegrating as the team becomes one of the biggest sideshows in professional sports.

Mike goes on to break down the X’s and D’oh’s of the Lightning, post-Palace Sports, like an ESPN analyst without a bone to pick with a former employer. Blame lies from the top down, and from the bottom up. As a fan, I’ve focused on the top-down side instead of looking at the players, the lock room and the atmosphere generated by team leaders…

Just to tickle my fancy on the blame heirachy, lemme highlight the one paragraph that stands out for me:

The thing that I don’t get is that even though moviemaking (Koules) and real estate (Barrie) are completely separate businesses than running a pro-sports franchise, the basic tenants of “get good people/have a plan/work hard” are still in place. Here’s how any organization, pro sports or otherwise, should work: leadership at the top has a vision and a plan. They bring in supervisors (coaches) to create strategy for that plan, then the supervisors motivate the workers (players) to properly execute the plan with a good attitude and strong work ethic while providing feedback about what’s working and what’s not. I don’t see any of this here.

Some people really hated Palace Sports ownership… I mean, seriously despised “Dollar” Bill Davidson and outside-the-area ownership. They didn’t care for Rick Dudley or the types of players he brought in at the get-go of Palace Sports tenure of ownership.

But — this is inarguable — Davidson, Tom Wilson, Bill Campbell and the rest of Palace Sports had a plan and a vision of all facets of the operation. On ice, the venue, the administrative organization… They assigned a well-versed individual into a role and let them work.

With OK Hockey? It’s been anarchy without a general MO of the moves, without a definition of the how or why.

Mike goes on to dissect coaching and then throwing some blame the players ways… Not everyone, just the C and A’s of the team. The article is certainly worth a read and a thought or three.

In essence, it comes back to the volatility of the off season as a foreshadowing of the season so far. A new administration does indeed have a right to put who they want in positions of power… But these people need to know what the plan is, spread the plan down the chain of command and get everyone on message and in sync on that.

Right now, we’re still devoid of that vision / message from any level of command.

…which has contributed to the Bolts being run straight into the ground.

“Steven is not ready for the NHL,” Melrose stated on the Fan 590. “Steven is going to be a good player…right now he’s just not strong enough physically to play against defencemen who are 6′3″ or 6′4″ that can skate as good as him.”
– Barry Melrose

You are an 18 year old hot prospect that is thrust into a team that is making a volatile transition of it’s roster, from speed and an offense-driven-defensive system to… well, to Fantasy Hockey. You’re paired up with big names and you’re listed as a big addition to a club that is in transition and changing chemistry.

Do you thrive under that as you learn the NHL game? Do you reach the high expectations?

Lemme throw you another what-if: What if ownership hadn’t changed? If Palace Sports were still calling the shots, if Jay Feaster were still in the front office (or Bill Barber for that matter, or someone else picked out by Ron Campbell or Tom Wilson) and John Tortorella was still behind the bench… What if that Lightning franchise drafted Stamkos #1 overall? Where would Steve be playing right now?

Odds are, back in the CHL for another year of maturing.

That is not pissing on Steven Stamkos or his game. This is not an attempt to undermine the kid or his future. The point is that, in a different scenario or situation, Steven would not be in the NHL this season or not pressed in the way he has been. Of course, in the aforementioned scenario, this would be a very different Lightning team.

As for the rest of Melrose comments (and Len Barrie’s retorts) — I’m just going to take the high road and dismiss this pissing match. Barrie has a track record of mouthing off and bad blood is being spread from somewhere in this organization… Tortorella, Dan Boyle and now Barry Melrose have expressed displeasure with their departures from the club. This is a very different atmosphere than what this fan is used to – where a transaction for the club did not generate such hostility.

Yes, bad blood and hurt feelings happens in sports or the business world when there is an abrupt change, but this is a grand departure from a classy face the Lightning used to operate under.

As for the rest of the Lightning roster… Maybe this is all playing out in order to light a fire under the players? A fictional drama? One can dream, right?

“This is futile,” the text message from my buddy Bill read. “They get one a minute in and they’re done. It’s like the Ludzik days all over again….Every time I watch, there are a couple of new numbers out there on the ice.”

Bill is no casual fan… He’s been through the times of despair, times of hope and times of glory when it comes to the Lightning. He may not be a season ticket holder but he’s as committed to the team as anyone else out there… And he’s been there since the start.

And this is part of the reason why there is so much distress out there among Lightning fans. No one is going to swoop in and save the team (even if OK Hockey thinks adding more offense is going to change things). The chemistry has turned to mud and the focus on the roster was on numbers and reputation more so than how well pieces of the puzzle fit together.

Bill’s venting brought back memories of the end of the 1990’s as Palace Sports started their ownership tenure with a cast of has-beens, cast-offs, never-were’s, and yet-to-be’s:

(the 1999-2000 TBL roster and stats from HockeyDB)

1999-2000 Roster

I kept looking at the roster and seeing grim reminders of days past. The former Detroit Viper trifecta of Stan Drulia, Dan Kesa and Ian Herbers for example…

Drulia, Kesa, Herbers…
Drulia, Kesa, Herbers…?
Drulia, Kesa, Herbers… Oh my!
Drulia, Kesa, Herbers… Oh my!
Drulia, Kesa, Herbers, OH MY!

Note, that wasn’t a chant of endearment…

But the grim difference between that roster and this one is that Palace Sports refused to spend much to begin with, with the Lightning, and focused on player development and roster moves. Some panned out over time and some didn’t… But enough panned out that Lord Stanley’s cup was secured in five seasons of play.

You didn’t expect a roster where the one constant was mediocrity… Where the head coach’s experience was the IHL level (and dumping in the puck seemed to be the only attempt at offensive gameplay). To think that the 2008-09 roster is currently made up of a plathora of big names, big contracts and similar production numbers (what production?) seems like a sick joke.

In the 1998-99 offseason, as Rick Dudley took over General Management duties of the Lightning from Jacques Demers, Demers is supposed to have told Dudley the sick truth. “There’s nothing in the system, the cupboard is bare.”

That quote was part of the hopelessness of 1999-2000 and the promise of days ahead. While Dudley has been shit upon by fans for his perchance to acquire soft Euro’s and Russians, he did put together a majority of the roster that would go on to win the Cup. He did (as he so often liked to chirp about) go about collecting assets yet again.

The only focus of the 2008-09 Tampa Bay Lightning franchise is at the top of the pops. The NHL Team… and with a roster of names (if not roles), the team’s performance compares directly to this franchise’s darkest days when it had nothing at all.

The Lightning went on to win 19 games in 1999-2000 (19-54-9-7 54 points). The current pace — 6-13-8 in 27 games, 20 points — is 18.

Barry Melrose, Rick Tocchet… It doesn’t matter right now. Thus Steve Ludzik is on our minds, but the promise and hope that better days are ahead seems absent.

I don’t know how far and wide this has carried since I saw it first mentioned in a St. Petersburg Tiems article last week, but Vincent Lecavalier wants to stay in Tampa. That isn’t news (though our friends in the province of Quebec would tell us otherwise)

What is news is Kent Hughes telling the world it’s not a short term deal. It’s a long one. To paraphrase: rest of his career.

And nwo Erik Erlendsson at the Tribune gets a money quote from Vincent:

Despite a pending change in ownership and a certain change in head coaches, Lecavalier said he intends to discuss signing a long-term deal that could keep him with Tampa Bay his entire career.

“I want to. I just think they want to wait to be officially in charge before we talk about it,” Lecavalier said Tuesday. “I’m looking forward to the new owners. They have a passion for the game. Oren Koules and Len Barrie have played the game. I’m encouraged about the new owners, and I’m excited about things.”

There’s no time line. There’s only the talk…

And right now I am still wondering what to make of the direction of the Lightning, as they transition to OK hockey from Palace Sports.

This falls squarely under the “WTF” category…

The sale of the Tampa Bay Lightning from Palace Sports and Entertainment to Absolute Hockey LTD. has fallen through

Palace Sports nixed the purchase agreement when Absolute Hockey did not come up with a required $5-million payment. Now the investment group has splintered as Coral Springs real estate developer Jeff Sherrin is suing Hollywood producer Oren Koules for allegedly failing on Nov. 13 to make a capital contribution of $4.16-million.
Sherrin is asking $50-million in damages.

…

While the deal as originally announced with much fanfare on Aug. 7 is no longer valid, don’t be surprised if a deal is resurrected at a later date with Koules or a group led by him.

Well, looking at the above alone, one can be thankful things fell apart (long term) because if they can’t get their act together to make a money payment – how are they supposed to cover player paychecks and other franchise bills?

This also paves the way for a group of owners minus Sherrin to purchase any other NHL franchise for sale. So the team being sold from Palace Sports to another group with Koules as part of it may or may not happen. Though a team sale would be likely if the right group came along (per Tom Wilson’s quotes from that faithful August 7th morning).