Did a NHL scouting convention just break out?

Posted Nov 13, 2008 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Nov 13, 2008 at 08:41 PM

Either a scouting convention just broke out at the Don Cesar, a free round of golf was offered with the purchase of an airline ticket or Lightning general manager put the word out that the Tampa Bay roster is on the market.

Just took a look over at the roster sheet for seat assignments in the press box and you would think a party just broke out in the south press box. I don’t think I’ve seen this many scouts show up at the Forum since word got out in February that Brad Richards was on the trading block.

Other than the normal seats set aside for Scotty Bowman and Pat Burns, who both live down in the Sarasota area, there are nine different scouts on the roster sheet. The teams represented are: New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Now, I’ve said this many times before, but a bunch of scouts showing up to a Lightning game is not all that unusual. The weather during the hockey season is warm and with two Florida based teams in the league, scouts often make the trip down to take in a few games, hit a few golf balls and file a few reports. Maybe in this case they just want to get a good look at the Detroit Red Wings, who just might be the class of the NHL in terms of how they produce talent on such a consistent basis. The Wings, of course, are in Tampa tonight and then travel to Sunrise tomorrow for a game against the Panthers.

But the timing does seem to be a bit odd, given that after Friday’s trade of Matt Carle to the Flyers that Lightning GM Brian Lawton basically announced to the rest of the NHL that the trade freed up salary cap space and payroll space. Just something to ponder.