The quest for left winger Alex Tanguay is mired in... something.  What that is, I don't know.  Couldn't say for certain. Sorry.

Something's up, though.  The Tanguay courtship is turning out much like Jacques Lemaire joining the Bolts as a consultant, or Adam Oates joining the team as a power play coach.  It was announced in rumor, it was there in talks... But in the end it ended up being like Macbeth's famous soliloquy: full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

That's where the negotiations feel like they are going, or so I fear.

Damian at the Times posted an update today as if to remind the fanbase the possibility is still out there. There's an offer out there, there is more going on that we know...

The scuttlebutt is the competition is between the Lightning and Wild, and Tanguay's agent did not respond to a text message.

What I found funny way that the Minnesota Star-Tribune also did an article on Alex Tanguay and got plenty out of Rich Winter.

"Alex has been on the phone with Chuck and I've been on the phone with Chuck," Tanguay's agent Ritch Winter said. "We're working on some other teams, too. We're just doing as much homework as we can to help Alex make an informed decision.''

"This will be a decision that is based largely on opportunity,'' Winter continued. "Minnesota or somewhere else will be a place he's going to go to have a career year. We're continuing those discussions, and the Wild is very, very much on his radar."

Was it the contact method alone that kept Cristodero from getting a response from Rich Winter? Or was it something more?  Lets also note that while Tanguay played in the QMJHL in juniors and would presumably click with forwards Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier (the hubaloo that's been out there for the entire pursuit of Tanguay), he has played the majority of his NHL career in the Western Conference.

Colorado, Calgary... Montreal was his sole sojourn into the Eastern conference. Could the preference for the West actually play into why Tanguay hasn't inked a deal? Maybe it's the fact he'd be at the center of the spotlight elsewhere, instead of a contributor sharing the limelight in Tampa? Or, perhaps, the ownership situation makes Alex hesistant to join the fray in TB?

Three weeks are left until Camp starts... That's not a lot of time to explore backup plans, but I'd think the best negotiating tool the Lightning could do would be just that: Explore who else could be obtained (free agency or via trade) to play wing on a line centered by Lecavalier.