You know it’s the off season when fans start filling up idle time between seasons by summarizing rosters or piecing together all-time teams. Hell, I summarized how the Lightning’s championship roster from 2003-04 got pieced together.
And on Bolt Prospects, Pete and the BP staff went ahead and gave lengthy discussion of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s all time team. The only question form a quick once over of the all time roster is why isn’t Rob Zamuner listed on one of the top four lines (though he is listed in special teams)? You know, Rob Zamuner who was a Canadian Olympic team member and long time contributor to the Lightning roster?
I bring this up while Cory Stillman and his one season with the Lightning (2003-04) make this All Time team. I complain about Zamuner while Dino Cicarelli and his season-and-a-half on the roster is included. 77 total points on the Lightning roster for Dino. 200 for Zamuner.
I’m not trying to compare what type of players Cicarelli and Zamuner were. Lord knows Rob was not a prolific scorer. It’s just that there are so many players who only had a brief instance on the Lightning roster and many of them did not leave impressions even if they contributed to the roster greatly in their brief instance with the team.
Shouldn’t tenure be a factor when talking about all-time rosters in general? The Lightning have seen their share of fading NHL stars along with brief appearances by current NHL stars before they had weight on NHL rosters. I doubt, very much, that fleeting tenures with teams woudl be considered when making up all-time rosters for any teams besides the four most recent expansion franchises.
But I digress. I’m sullying and complaining about a thorough examination by the Bolt Prospects staff and know that, in almost all instances, there are always arguments aobut decisions regarding all time teams with every franchise that has ever existed in professional sports. The all-time roster post is very much worth reading over.
