Lined Up Update (2006 Edition)

A few corrections:
Cibak and Dingman are both gone. They weren’t given qualifying offers. That makes them unrestricted free agents.

Andreychuk’s final contract year was bought out by the Lightning. They take the salary cap hit for 100% this year.

The Lightning still must negotiate a contract with Denis.

You really expect Alexeev on the 2nd line over Afanasenkov? I’ll bet on Opening Night, Afanasenkov’s on the Richards’ line and Alexeev’s either on the 3rd/4th or in Springfield.

As stated in the post above:

These aren’t line projections as so much alloting spaces for players under contract with Tampa Bay:

I should break it down Center / Wing instead of line by line but I thought line-by-line would be better.

I know Dingman and Cibak weren’t made qualifying offers and aren’t supposed to be back but stranger things have happened.

And I never saw that the team bought ought Andreychuk…?

TBO

There was a single paragraph at the end of the article about trading for Denis. Here’s the comment from that article:
[quote]
Also, the Lightning bought out the contract of former captain Dave Andreychuk. Feaster said the team did not buy out the contract of veteran goalie Sean Burke, who is due to make $1.6 million in 2006-07, but whose status now is in question after the acquisition of Denis and Swedish goalie Johan Holmqvist.
[/quote]

I stand corrected.

And ken? The Quote stuff isn’t BB code. You need to use < blockquote > (without the spaces). It’s HTML.

Glad Ruslan is now signed—was worried when I saw his name on the arbitration list this morning on NHL.com.

That’s a lineup that’s looking progressively thinner, despite the fact the cap went up this summer. No offence to any of those here, but I think the Lightning just may become the poster boys for how not to team build after winning the Cup.

Well James I am so glad you can see into the future. Hey an you give me the name of the team who is going to win the Superbowl this year too, I would love to make some extra money on the side.

Sorry but I just get so tired of the negativity before the season begins. You may be right and if so I’ll applaud you but I would like to see who makes the roster in training camp first and see how they play together before dooming the team to a terrible season.

James is one of the foremost hockey bloggers on the ‘net, Amy… He’s someone to hold in deep respect. That being said, I share your sentiment this time about dooming things before the pre-season even starts. There are so many unknowns still in place and giving a final verdict right now just doesn’t make sense.

I deeply apologize, I did not mean to offend him or anyone else. I am sorry I did not know about his qualifications, I should have made sure I knew who spoke before assuming, in that way I became the very type of fan I get annoyed with and I am very sorry. But thank you for letting me know and keeping me in check John :)And if James reads this, please don’t slam me to hard ;) I hope you can except my apology. You must get so tired of people like me.

In response to James,

Making comments such as “I think the Lightning just may become the poster boys for how not to team build after winning the Cup.” are simply out of line, largely because you are basing this off previous teams histories, which is completely unfair. Here is why.

1. Salary Cap. No GM has yet to have to deal with the salary cap after winning the cup. There were issues that were unavoidable that could not be helped. Did Jay make mistakes? Possibly. However, we have no idea how most of these have panned out. Were there not a cap in place, ownership already stated that we would have kept every possible player from that cup year, which likely included Stillman, Khabibulin, etc…
With the new cap, Jay has been hamstrung by contract limits, as well as a new style of hockey. We simply have to adjust to a new situation which no one has seen yet. That alone is enough to refute comparisons to past champions on how they are doing after they win.

2. Since when do teams’ offseason transactions decide the outcome of the season before a pre-season game is played? If that were the case, the Chicago Blackhawks would have been a playoff team, the Senators the champs, and we’d have had no need for a season. Give the moves a frickin chance before you blast them.

3. Last time I checked, there have been plenty of teams who have missed the playoffs after winning the cup. Now this is counterintuitive to my first point, but I digress. The Lightning, cap strung, with weaker goaltending still made the postseason with a team that lost defenseman, and solid goaltending, had a solid season wins wise, as well as having one of the players nominated for a trophy (Brad for the Lady Byng). They have improved thier goaltending, which they had to give up Modin for, which I don’t feel is that bad of a loss. Not because I don’t think we would miss Modin, but because the faster defensemen that we have signed, combined with players that continue to fit our style of hockey will help the rest of the team’s production increase. They have signed a veteran defenseman for next to nothing, who even if he is the same player as Sydor, costs about 5x less than Sydor did. While we don’t look like a “powerhouse”, we still look quite solid to me.

In response to John,

I mean no disrespect to James, as I agree with a lot of the things that he has to say. However, saying things like that can offend an awful lot of people such as Amy. While I admit her jumping on him might have been a bit harsh, just because he is “one of the foremost bloggers on the net” and is to be held in “deep respect” (which I agree with) does not mean that he should be immune to criticism such as Amy gave.

Amy,

You have a right to be annoyed just as James has a right to his opinion. That said, your apology for your reaction is plenty enoug. If he slams you, he is definatly in the wrong, as that would be a complete lack of respect for your opinion.

Just my two cents.

John,

I left out a sentence, I also meant to say that I did notice you agreed with Amy’s take, I did not want that to be left unsaid. Oh, and I also respect your site/you as well.

Thanks Eric.

James is NOT going to be slamming anyone. That’s not his thing. Maybe argue his point a little more (which is all fine and good) but James doesn’t slam people or attack people (unless you’re Tom Benjamin, another blogger, but that’s another story ;) )

John,

That’s cool, I was checking out his blog, and I like it as well. I appreciate the reply =D

Have a great day!

Given the success bloggers had last year in predicting playoff teams, no one should get too worked-up by any commentator’s opinion. Feaster has much, much greater access to and understanding of the financial, legal, contractual, and scouting aspects of the game than does any blogger out there. I’m very willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in any offseason issue.

I love reading Mirtle’s site, and I’m always interested in hearing his thoughts on the Lightning. Hockey blogs are hugely more insightful than any newspaper or TV analysis out there.

Bloggers should offer their opinions with humility (as Mirtle did), and fans should take those opinions with a grain of salt.

Heh, I didn’t think that’d be a popular sentiment.

Nice reply, Eric. The thing is, when I say that the Lightning are going to be the poster boys for how not to rebuild, I meant under the new cap system. When signing huge contracts like those given to St. Louis, Lecavalier and Richards, that’s where Feaster has really limited his options and I think a lot of teams are going to learn that you simply can’t win in the NHL with so much salary dedicated to three forwards (at least one of whom is on the downswing).

The only teams I’d said would make the playoffs who didn’t in the East were the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, so it’s really not as big a crapshoot as some make it out to be. (I’d also said last August that Detroit, Ottawa and New Jersey would be the league’s top three teams; all three won their divisions.) I make part of my living prognosticating this sort of thing.

Marc Denis is an upgrade in goal, but losing Kubina and Sydor and replacing them with only Kuba (in terms of NHL calibre blueliners) is definitely a step back. Tampa has no top end prospects coming through the system, which all means Lecavalier and Richards are going to have to be two of the top ten players in the league next season in order for the Lightning to really contend.

They’re not a bottom-feeder by any extent, but they’re also not a great example of how a team should be structured under a cap system. (If Feaster can jettison St. Louis for some help on defence, that’s an improvement.)

Is losing Sydor really a step back? Is it that hard to reproduce the production of a -18 defenseman? Perhaps I’m missing something, but I see any replacement of Sydor as an upgrade.

So anyone know what’s up with R2 and why he hasn’t yet signed?

By name alone, Sydor is a big loss. By reputation last season, what loss? He didn’t adjust well to the “new NHL” and at times, lacked heart (or is it mind?) on ice.

I think James has a point… I think you’re seeing how to build with the Salary Cap in Ottawa and not Tampa Bay. In Tampa Bay, we’ve done this with two teams — lock up key members of the squad with huge contracts until those contracts become a burden. With the Senators — they seem more inclined right now to shop what can / will break their cap sitautionn and get maximum return for that player (the Hossa for Heatly trade last year, the Havlat trade last week).

That also being said, we’re the region in the pro-sports world that’s been fleeced time and again in dealing stars or superstars for financial reasons.

John, you’ve been tagged!
http://www.mikechenwriting.com/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=190

Looks like you can draw a line through Artyukhin’s name. He signed a 1-yr deal with Locomotive in Russia. Maybe it’s just a ploy to try and get leverage in contract negotiations with Feaster.

I’m sorry but I really can’t think of Sydor as a loss to the Lightning in any shape or form after the Cup had been won. Pre-Cup he was a leader because of his Stanley Cup experience. Post-Cup I can’t tell you how many times they replayed a goal against the Lightning (we all know there were plenty) and who was it in front of the goal just shuffling around but Mr Sydor. Don’t hate the guy but its a needed upgrade to get rid of some of the “sentimental” players.

I’m with you all the way, Laura. Some believe he jsut didn’t come off the year long break very well and others didn’t believe he adjusted to the new NHL very well.

Suffice it to say, Daryl Sydor was a hired gun who helped the Lightning reach for the stars. Now the Bolts have to retool and they reached to the Stars to relieve Sydor of his duties ;)