The flip side of the Connolly conundrum
by John Fontana on Oct 26, 2011 4:05 PM EDT
in Lightning Team News
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Tampa Bay Lightning rookie Brett Connolly will stay with the Tampa Bay Lightning past the nine-game mark this season. To quickly explain the entire nine-game rule, let me cite the NHL Collective Bargaining agreement, Article 9 states:
2005 NHL-NHLPA CBA
ARTICLE 9
ENTRY LEVEL COMPENSATION
9.1 Applicability and Duration. Effective with SPCs entered into after the
execution of this Agreement:
(d) (i) In the event that an 18-year-old or 19-year-old Player signs an SPC
with a Club but does not play at least ten (10) NHL Games in the first season under that
SPC, the term of his SPC and his number of years in the Entry Level System shall be extended for a period of one (1) year
In plain English, what is happening with Connolly remaining with the team, is that his contract has kicked in. He is now amassing service time in the league. If Connolly had been sent back to Prince George of the Western Hockey League, that service time would be delayed until next season.
Whatever. Congratulations, Brett! You're not just now in the big leagues, you're lined up with some of the biggest names in the sport.
So, with that out of the way, there's an alternate problem that the Bolts face by holding on to Brett Connolly.
The Lightning carry a 23-man roster; they have 24 players if you include defenseman Mattias Ohlund, who is currently on injured reserve after having both knees scoped earlier this month. He is expected to return sometime in November (if not December). At that point in time, things are going to be odd, to say the least.
You see, the Bolts are already struggling to rotate in all 14 forwards they are carrying. Blair Jones and Tom Pyatt have played the past three games in place of Ryan Shannon and Mattias Ritola. Ritola had played well despite the team losing games he happened to play in, and Ryan Shannon has more upside (though he is still mastering the system) than either Jones or Pyatt.
Even on defense, the glut of forwards can be felt. Matt Gilroy and Bruno Gervais had split playing time on defense during the early going. Gilroy had struggled in the 1-3-1 scheme. He's come around as of late. Gervais has flashed his potential in limited playing time. What is lacking is opportunity to employ Guy Boucher's quirky 11-forward, 7-defenseman game-day roster, which was a common occurence last season. Why? Carrying 14 healthy forwards and 7 healthy defensemen, sitting three forwards who are contributing just doesn't seem like it would be the most productive of decisions.
General manager Steve Yzerman could make a trade to clear up the backlog on offense and defense. But he's been cited as saying nothing is brewing every time he's been asked by reporters. The counter point tot his, of course, is why would Yzerman (or any GM) tip his hand if something was forthcoming?
The mind boggles in trying to figure out just who will end up the odd man out in Tampa Bay. A transaction of some sort - a waiver move, a trade, or even the demotion of Connolly if he regresses (it happened with James Wright in 2009-10, after all) is forthcoming at some point in th future.
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I’ve got a poll up on Facebook asking who the odd-man out will e on the Lightning roster
Typing is an adventure, and reading should be, too!
Raw Charge.
I think it will be Jones, but I don’t really have anything to back that up with besides gut (and it’s certainly not anything against him, either). Tough decision for JM, though I wouldn’t be surprised by a trade before then.
"I'm a guy who works very hard and if I want something bad enough, I'm going to do anything possible to get it." Steven Stamkos
Shannon
The comment on Shannon having trouble mastering the system is a complete falsehood, PR propaganda and basically a boat load of crap put out by SY and GB. He was playing well with 3 assist in 5 games (still more production that Connolly has in 9 games). They needed to say something about him sitting since the 19 yr old had to play. And GB likes the DNA of the Pyatt name. Why the heck Jones is even here is beyond me.
I was also impressed with Shannon early
but I’m not sure that I’m buying that SY and Guy are just BSing us. And this isn’t about a 19 year old playing. There’s not enough fanfare for it to be media-driven, and if it were just about getting him NHL experience, he wouldn’t be staying up.
Heel for school, Vol for life!
Bolts, Preds, Canes (childhood team, home state team, hometown team). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity!
by Incipient_Senescence on Oct 26, 2011 11:47 PM EDT up reply actions
Stats don’t give the whole picture for third- and fourth-line players. Have you not seen Jonesy on the forecheck? Sure he’s not scored any goals this year, but he’s a force on the forecheck, and well worth the 10-14 minutes of TOI Boucher is giving him.
"The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect"
- Smith in Orwell's 1984
Connolly
He is where he is right now because he is SY’s first, first round pick. Period!
Two secondary assists gets you into THE SHOW over 9 games with all the first line time BC received? BC’s colleagues – Nugent for example is leading his team in scoring.
The SY spin is just BS and his first experience in this regard. Connolly is making the team better just by his presence? Will two secondary assists suffice in the next 9 games too? If Connolly steps up and does something beyond “making the team better” – great. If not – what say yea Mr. Y?
The kid
Is a +5. Right now the best on the team. What that means is that good things are happening when he is on the ice. We would not have gotten that first goal against Buffalo the other night if Connolly hadn’t ridden the defenseman off the puck and opened up the lane for Marty. Did he get a point out of it, No. But we wouldn’t have started our comeback without him doing what he did on that play. GMs and coaches keep their jobs by putting the best product on the ice and Connolly thus far has showed he deserves to stay.
Brett Connolly opens up the ice. He drives to the net. He gets the puck into the offensive zone in the Lightning’s possession. He does the things that you have to do to get goal scorers into position to score. Goals and assists aren’t the only things a hockey team does to win. And the goals will come. If you think Connolly’s worthless, you must think Thompson, Downie, Moore, Pyatt are all pretty crappy. Heck even St. Louis is pretty far down on the scorecard right now. And please don’t compare Connolly’s situation on the Lightning to Nugent-Hopkins’s (not “Nugent,” btw) situation on the Oilers. He’s a different kind of player on a team with 2 scorers. It’s not at all surprising that he’d lead there.
R.I.P. Belak, Rypien, Boogaard, Lokomotiv.
Lightning Goalies--0 for 4 on the poke check in October 2011
Part Predator, part Lightning.
MSL's scoring rate is up from last year
our scoring rate with him in the game is up from last year. Stammer’s goal-scoring rate is up (although his secondary assists are down), and our scoring rate with him in the game is up fairly significantly (what’s more—our goals against when he’s in the game are down). But it’s of course absurd to say the new guy we’ve been pairing with them a lot is helping at all.
Also probably worth noting: we have not given up an even-strength goal this season with Connolly on the ice.
Heel for school, Vol for life!
Bolts, Preds, Canes (childhood team, home state team, hometown team). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity!
by Incipient_Senescence on Oct 27, 2011 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions
Would Stamkos have scored 51
in ’09 if he spent the year in the minors in "08, I doubt it. Putting the coaching aside, there is probably no better mentor on the ice than Marty St. Louis. He is constantly instructing players on what they need to do after virtually every play. The other night during the Buffalo game in Tampa he jumped on Kubina for a breakout pass that ended up as icing when Pavel should have sent the puck behind Marty to bank off the boards in front, which may have sent him in alone.
Marty is not going to be around forever. But spending a year playing alongside the likes of Vinnie or Marty will teach a receptive Connolly a hell of a lot more than he could ever hope to learn back in junior hockey. He may take his lumps at times this year, but next year he will be light years ahead from the experience and the experience that surrounds him.
Ultimately, I agree with your supposition, John…I smell a trade.
If I had to guess now, it would be a two- or three-for-one, with a top 4 d-man coming to Tampa. On the point of timeline, my guess is it will be between Ohlund’s return and 1 Feb.
Then again, I’ve been completely wrong before…
"The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect"
- Smith in Orwell's 1984
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