Just a general mix of posts from around the Interweb.  Interesting news and great reads alike.

Lighning related:

• It's the cusp of the prospect-signing season, and Bolt Prospects has you covered with the who, the why, and the how of who may be getting signed shortly. [Bolt Prospects]
• Vincent Lecavalier chimes in with the Matt Cooke/Marc Savard incident from this weeknd. The team captain is very much aware of Cooke's reputation -- having had his season ended by way of a Cooke hit.  [Lightning Strikes]
• Puck Daddy compliments the line of St. Louis / Stamkos / Downie as the hottest line in the NHL... And tries to get his head around the fact that he just said "Downie" and "hottest line in the NHL. [Puck Daddy]
• Joe Bolts Fan quotes Phil Esposito's praise for new Lightning owner Jeff Vinik.  [JoeBoltsFan]
• Great post by Nolan of Frozen Sheets Hockey, which generalizes the Eastern Conference in grades for each team... And how the Bolts have to play at and above their grade level.  [Frozen Sheets Hockey]
• Colorado Avalanche right-winger Chris Stewart is the NHL's first star of the week after recording five goals and four assists in four games. Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos is the second star while Florida Panthers defenceman Bryan McCabe bagged third star honors.  [TSN]
• Martin St. Louis is set to be re-evaluated today after his big bump during Saturday's victory against the Thrashers.  [Lightning Strikes]

Around the rink:

• Former Bolt (who had his career ended by way of post concussion syndrome) has an interesting take on how to combat the damage from illegal hits: make the equipment softer.  [Pro Hockey Talk ]
• Options for avenging a cheap shot are fairly limited  [Bourne's Blog]
• Another interesting article form JT Bourne is talking about the effect of "Show Dough" on guys who bounce between the AHL and NHL.  [Bourne's Blog]
• While perhaps never official, at one time it was assumed that the 2011 NHL All Star game was going to be held in Phoenix. But in January, apparently those plans changed as the NHL quietly opened up bidding to other NHL franchises who wanted to host the extravaganza. [From The Rink]
• Another edition of SB Nation's flagship radio show and podcast, Rink Side Radio, will be tonight.  Check it ut form 9-10 PM [From The Rink]

General Sports:

• Sport blogging granddaddy Eric McErlain talks about Versus directly challenging the standard of sports news: ESPN's Sportscenter.  [Off Wing Opinion]

A preview of NHL Center Ice -- the package of NHL out-of-town broadcasts daily from around the league -- will be available starting March 2nd and running to March 8th for all non-subscribers.  This provides the perfect opportunity check out the rest of the league as NHL play resumes.

From the official press release:

Cable systems will be offering digital customers a free preview of the NHL* Center Ice* package from March 2-8 to get fans back into the NHL hockey spirit after a break for the 2010 Winter Olympics, announced package distributor iN DEMAND L.L.C. and the National Hockey League (NHL). Among the cable MSOs offering the package distributed by iN DEMAND this year are: Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Bright House Networks, Cablevision Systems, Bresnan Communications, Charter Communications, Midcontinent, plus a number of independent MSOs.

The release makes no mention of Verizon FiOS which is a growing cable system in the Tampa Bay area.  It also does not explicitly list Knology Cable which is another system in the TB area.

Bright House Networks customers are covered.

Here's a collection of quotes from sources around the net and in the press regarding the Lightning sale to Jeff Vinik.  Most fo the common reactiosn that were found were mostly about the departure of OK Hockey, and less so about the private man that is Jeffrey Vinik.

If you have otehr thoughts, or have other sources of note, feel free to post them in the comments

Vinik was rather adamant in what he wants to accomplish here, and it's easy to sit behind a computer and tell you to take him at his word when he ultimately will be judged by his actions. But his words are all we have to go by now, and as far as first impressions go, you have to like what he is saying.

-- Erik Erlendsson, Tampa Tribune

So now the pre-judgment of Vinik begins, with noted Lightning booster (/snark) Ken Campbell of The Hockey News saying that "by all accounts, Vinik is not a hockey guy" before Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune shot back with "he is a big hockey fan, contrary to earlier reports. Thinking this is good news for fans."

Time will tell ... but give him time. The Lightning are right on the playoff bubble, but there's a long road ahead to mending what the previous owners broke. Meanwhile, here's Vinik:

-- Greg Wyshynski, Puck Daddy

As for the Lightning under Vinik, we don't know, not for sure anyway. Look, I just found out it was Vinik, not Vinick. The jury is still out. Heck, the jurors haven't even sat down.

What we know is that the Unknown is better than the Known, and one Known is that Koules and Barrie were going to have trouble meeting payroll.

-- Martin Fennelly, Tampa Tribune

Will Jeff Vinik be any better? Only time will tell, but it's difficult to think how it could be worse than Koules/Barrie. The biggest issue in the Koules/Barrie regime (outside of that whole money issue) is that the two owners wanted to also be coaches and GMs, like they were involved in some sort fantasy league.

-- Mike Chen, From The Rink

Vinik may not know anything about hockey, and that may be a good thing. Unlike OK Hockey who professed to be hockey fans and ended up pissing away the team, if Vinik has no interest in hockey I could care less. As long as Vinik hires the right people who knows how to run a hockey club, what we will see as an end product on the ice will be a good product. Unlike OK Hockey who took the reigns over the team, I doubt Vinik will make any hockey related decision and that really is the way to go.

-- Sha-Sha Toth, The Hockey Bay Blog

In total seriousness, just do what you just told us you were going to do.  Create a winning environment that players want to be apart of, and fans can enjoy. 

-- Don't Trade Vinny

I hate when the Bolts seem to fall off the earth for a few days every season.  It might be during west coast spins like now, or maybe a Canada trip...  Regardless, it ends up feeling like the Lightning have shut down, or the NHL in general, even though that could not be further from the truth:

• Paul Ranger has touched base via text.  Nothing else is known...  Mysterious!  [Lightning Shout]
• Some people are never going to be happy with Alex Tanguay and will keep seeing him in an ill light because he replaced Vaclav Prospal.  See the example of which at Bolts by the Bay
• Jon Jordan celebrates what a difference a year makes with the make up and outlook on the Tampa Bay Lightning [Hockey Buzz]
  
• Central Scouting has released Top-25 lists of draft prospects, sorted by league. [Hockey Prospects]
  
• An NHL owner actually vouched for Jim Balsillie?  May wonders never cease...  [From The Rink]
• SB Nation's NHL Power Rankings for the week are posted -- the Bolts hold at 10th place in the east.  [SB Nation / NHL ] 
• It's an epidemic that's still ongoing -- #unpublishedNHLbooks.  Funny, outrageous, silly.  WIN [Twitter]
• It reminds me of Jay Feaster having to re-up Lecavalier / St. Louis and then Richards:  The Chicago Blackhawks are navigating tough waters with Toews, Kane and Keith [ TSN ]

Anything else itneresting going on?  Leave it in the comments...

2009 Tampa Bay Lightning preseason road trip.

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If you were wondering, here's what the Lightning's trip looks like (you can see more on Google Maps).

The Lightning Insider is an anonymous individual who writes blogs detailing team travel and behind the scenes activity for the Tampa Bay Lightning on their official website. They have been with the team during this epic road trip and have been reporting as usual. During the last couple of days, however, they've gotten their geography of the Western United States all mixed up.

Normally, I could overlook that kind of thing - if it weren't on the team's official site. It's not so much that it's wrong that bothers me, but the fact that an easy two-minute search would've spared them the humiliation of being so dreadfully wrong. Being wrong is an occasional fact of life. Not fact-checking before posting public information is unacceptable.

Part of this comes from the fact that they butchered Everett, Washington's, location by saying it's "a quaint mountain town". And it's not. It sits at sea level - on salt water, no less, with a US navy base right along the waterfront downtown. But it does have some nice views of the Cascade Mountains to the east and the Olympic Mountains to the west on a clear day.

I was willing to overlook that single instance of confusion. But then, would you believe that they screwed up again and said that Loveland, Colorado, was "on the other side of the great Rocky Mountains that we were looking at in Everett, Washington"? Ummm...sorry to break it to you, but there's a whole lot more going on between Everett and Loveland than just the Rockies. And the Rockies barely fall within Washington State borders, anyway.

It's people like this who think they know what they're talking about, so they don't bother to fact-check, that create hockey rumors. This completely reminds me of the Canadian hockey media and how they'll print something up about the Lightning, thinking that it's true, when the team website flatly contradicts their report. And all it takes is a simple search on Google. There's just no excuse for it.

In the interest of full disclosure, I grew up west of Seattle and I have a BA in geography. Oh, and I made this map. It's not up to my personal standard, but I just slapped this together this afternoon, and it gives you a general sort of idea. I already know that it's far from perfect, so please don't bother pointing things out that are wrong. Thank you.

Labor Day weekend!  The traditional end of the summer has arrived.  And also arriving right now are players at their training facilities around the continent...  Yes, hockey is returning to us after another long hot summer...

That being said, here's a couple of posts from around the wires and blogosphere about every sorta thing and nothing all at once.. .

The Bolts -

• The Bolts have committed to playign the big names when the team arrives in Winnipeg on September 24th.  Winnipeg Sun
• Pete at Bolt Prospects talks about the off-season doings of Lightning GM Brian Lawton.  Bolt Prospects
• The 30 Teams in 30 Days tour continues on TSN.ca with the Tampa Bay Lightning -- who rank Mattias Ohlund as over-the-hill, and don't even have enough respect to spell Martin St. Louis' name right.  TSN

The Site -

• Our Maple Leaf friends at Pension Plan Puppets have a relevant post that applies here too: here's how to Sign Up -- well, if you replace all Pension Plan Puppet items with Raw Charge items...  Pension Plan Puppets

General Hockey -

• Been quite a while since Cassie gave you an update on the Cycle Like the Sedin's re-draft. We're in the middle of round 14 now...-- CLS: Re-Drafting the NHL
• Speaking of Cassie, she ponders a question about hockey in the Pacific Northwest: Seattle or Portland? --One Timers and Deflections
• The NHL is not going cheaply to Jim Basillie... Or anyone else who wants to relocate the team. --From the Rink

Tampa Bay -

• For those who participated in the Best of the Bay vote, results are slated to be published around September 16th -- Creative Loafing Tampa

Almost a month ago, ESPN had weighed judgment against the Lightning's off-season without actually looking at the off-season past the draft.   A complete off-season judgment by mid-July also brushes off the majority of the off-season yet to come.

The Hockey News, on the other hand, didn't make the same mistake. 

No one should expect the Lightning to be ranked highly anywhere, and for good reason.  Questions still remain and uncertainty is prevalent with the franchise overall.  But it was a nice surprise to see the Lightning picked to finish 10th in the East in the ongoing THN rankings:

10 TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

Why: The gale-force winds that blew this ship off course last year have calmed down somewhat, so the team has been able to start building towards a playoff berth. Ownership squabbling aside, the drafting of Victor Hedman and the signing of Mattias Ohlund improve a questionable defense core to compliment a respectable group of forwards.

10th in the East?  Pretty nifty for a team that has been dwelling in the cellar for the past two seasons.  What's even more nifty?  Ahead of the Panthers and the Thrashers.  That'd put the Bolts in 3rd in the Southeast Division behind the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes. 

10th in the East...  That's within spitting distance of the playoffs.

Of course, pre-season rankings and off-season rankings really aren't a barometer to gauge any team's future...    But it does infuse some positive vibes and some hope for the on-ice product this upcoming season.

Here on SB Nation, some of the hockey bloggers have decided to temper the off season by posing questions to each other about our teams - a roster aspect, a quirk, an ongoing controversy, whatever.  The pairings were determined by reverse-order-of-conference-finish to the regular season standings.  That paired Raw Charge with SB Nation's Detroit Red Wings blog, Winging It In Motown. 

This is a cross-blogging deal, and of course Christy and company will be posting questions they posed us about the Lightning and our answers later, and we'll be linking over there for that in due time. UPDATED:  You can now read Lightning related questions and answers posed to us here.

We only had a few questions for the Stanley Cup finalists and they were not so much about the on-ice product.  While the saga of Jiri Hudler plays out in the media as the story of the Red Wings, we came up with something else that plays out all too regularly with other hockey teams through the league.

Just not usually for members of the fabled Original Six teams.

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