Lightning Friday night mailbag (and how the training camp groups will be divided)

Posted Sep 11, 2009 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Sep 11, 2009 at 10:36 PM

Another late night edition, after all, have a lot of stuff to sort through to get ready for the start of training camp in the morning (not to mention the 7 a.m. wake-up call I will get to ensure we get the soccer season started on the right foot for the 8:30 game, followed by the 9 a.m. game, 10:45 a.m. game and the 11:15 a.m. game, which I will miss)

So to ensure I get to bed at a decent hour tonight, I’ll try to make this one quick. First, the questions tonight from Matt:

My questions are about the ownership situation. Is Lawton Koules boy or is he Barrie’s? If Koules buys out Barrie, what effect will it have on the front office? And if Barrie buys out Koules? Any chance the ownership changes will result in an end to the Lawton era and the nepotism running through the corporate office?

If we chalk last year up to growing pains by OK Hockey, how would you rate the efforts of the management team? Do you see a light at the end of this tunnel or are the Lightning simply spinning their wheels? Is there a plan in place? And when grading this team, please don’t include drafting Stamkos as a sign that this is working, no one in or out of the hockey community would have passed on him!

I’m not exactly sure how to handle the first question other than to say the Oren Koules is on the same page as Brian Lawton in terms of the player moves that have been made this summer, and how Lawton has gone about doing it while keeping payroll at an acceptable level, in the $49 million range. So, suffice it to say that assuming Oren Koules assumes sole control of the team, and at this point you have to believe it’s heading into that direction, that Brian Lawton would be retained as general manager. Judging by the moves he has made since Gary Bettman spelled out exactly how the organization should be run, he has shown he’s capable of the job. As far as the nepotism, while might be shady on some levels, everybody likes to bring in those they are familiar with and the feel comfortable with to do the job. I know I would consider hiring my brother if I felt he fit the job qualities I was looking for.

In terms of where they stand on the salary cap, we’ll have to wait and see how things shake out during training camp because there are still some moves to be made before the final roster spot. The likes of Lukas Krajicek is without a doubt on the trade block, which would shed $1.475 million off the payroll and the salary cap. But in terms of adding another free agent, it’s not going to happen. They have the roster they want to open camp with after the signing of Alex Tanguay and won’t be signing any more contracts with the possible exception of perhaps Brett McLean, who is in camp on a tryout basis.

And finally, I think we’ve seen this summer that there clearly is a plan in place and Brian Lawton executed it wonderfully over the summer by revamping the blue line, adding high end free agents such as Mattias Ohlund and Alex Tanguay, bringing in some low-salaried free agents such as Antero Niittymaki, Kurtis Foster and Stephane Veilleux. And judging from the early returns from this year’s draft crop, there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel. Every since the commissioner laid out the hierarchy of how the front office should work - owners own, managers manage - things have run a lot smoother. You have to chalk last year up to a lot of different people pulling in many different directions. Now, they all seem to be on the same page.

Finally, here are how the groups (and lines) are set up for training camp:

Group A:
Tanguay-Lecavalier-Downie
Veilleux-Szczechura-Karsums
Ashton-Konopka-Hall
Tukonen
Ohlund-Hedman
Krajicek-Walker
Hale
Niitymaki-Helenius

Group B
Malone-Stamkos-St. Louis
Miller-Halpern-Jones
Tyrell-Craig-Fedoruk
Wright
Ranger-Foster
Smaby-Meszaros
Lashoff-Lundin
Smith and Tokarski

Group C
Smolenak-McLean-Bochenski
Sointu-Fadden-Panik
Simek-Hutchings-Lawrence
DeCoste
Mihalik-Wishart
Barberio-Jackson
Quick
Janus and Zador