Gentlemen… How can I put this simply without offending the majority of my readers? How can I put this lightly? How can I phrase this in such a way that it gets through that I am concerned (as are many other long time Lightning fans)?

Ah, I’ll censor myself in asking the following:

What the @!$% are you Doing?!?

For the second time this season I’ve seen a promising young defensiveman sent wayward for marginal players in return. That’s not even beginning to address the anarchy of the off season where every player on the market was a target and every player on the Lightning roster was expendable.

This time it was Steve Downie brought in??! What qualities does he bring to the team? What exactly are you looking for on players? Scumbaggery?

Hell, while you’re at it, I bet the Calgary Flames would let Todd Bertuzzi go for the low-low price of Martin St. Louis. You can’t beat a deal like that, right…?!

That’s how you seem to be operating right now. And I hate to tell you this but most of the teams put together in a fantasy hockey have crashed and burned. And in this case, you’re crashing the long term financial payroll of an NHL franchise while you are at it. Oh, you may have the money to spend but there are rules in place that limit the amount you can spend.