Forum: Talk Lightning

The good news from the image below is that Lightning center Jeff Halpern was able to skate off the ice guided by teammate Paul Martin and Lightning trainer Tom Mulligan. The bad news, Halpern was only able to skate off on one leg after sustaining a serious knee injury Tuesday while representing the United States in a game vs. Canada at the World Hockey Championships.

After flying to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Halpern was diagnosed with a ruptured ACL of his right knee in addition to a Grade III sprain to his MCL and a slight tear to the lateral meniscus. He will wait 4-6 weeks to allow the MCL injury to heal before undergoing reconstructive surgery on the ACL tendon. He is expected to miss 5-6 months of action from the time of the surgery on the ACL, which means the earliest Halpern would be ready to return to action would be later December to early January.

Halpern was serving as team captain for the U.S. under head coach John Tortorella.

Halpern joins teammates Vinny Lecavalier and Paul Ranger, who both had shoulder surgery performed by Dr. James Andrews last month on torn labrums, who face extensive rehabilitation this summer in order to be ready for the start of training camp.

Now, about that crazy rumor I mentioned in the headline . . . . . . . . . . . .

Are you ready for this? With Paul Maurice being fired today by the Toronto Maple Leafs a wildly, yet often unreliable, rumor web site is stating that Lightning coach John Tortorella is believed to be in the running to take over the job. And to top that off, general manager Jay Feaster is set to join him and the duo that led Tampa Bay to a 2004 Stanley Cup championship can return glory to the big TO. Pay no mind to the fact that Brian Burke remains Toronto’s No. 1 choice to take over the franchise, even if it means the Leafs have to wait a year. Let us also not forget that both Tortorella and Feaster remain under contract, Feaster for two more years and Tortorella for one.

Now, the only thing that even makes me flinch an inch here is a statement from Leafs’ interim GM Cliff Fletcher today when he said the team would be making major news in the next six to 10 weeks. That just happens to fall into the time frame for when the sale process is supposed to be completed and approved by the league.

But, honestly, think about this for a minute. While Tortorella is obvioulsy on some shaky ground at this point in regards to his apparent attempted resignation and the changing of his mind on the matter, can’t see him fitting in as the coach of the Leafs. He wasn’t too keen on talking to a pair of local reporters who followed the team, let alone dealing with a traveling media that number 20 or more. (And yes, that is absolutely a factor for somebody who will be coveted by many teams should he become available). I just don’t see Tortorella as a good fit in that situation.

And at this point, I just don’t see Feaster being let go when/if the ownership change takes place.

It’s a crazy rumor, for sure, and I don’t believe it for more than a fraction of a second.

Photo courtesty of the Canadian Press via TSN.ca.

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The good news from the image below is that Lightning center Jeff Halpern was able to skate off the ice guided by teammate Paul Martin and Lightning trainer Tom Mulligan. The bad news, Halpern was only able to skate off on one leg after sustaining a serious knee injury Tuesday while representing the United States in a game vs. Canada at the World Hockey Championships.

After flying to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Halpern was diagnosed with a ruptured ACL of his right knee in addition to a Grade III sprain to his MCL and a slight tear to the lateral meniscus. He will wait 4-6 weeks to allow the MCL injury to heal before undergoing reconstructive surgery on the ACL tendon. He is expected to miss 5-6 months of action from the time of the surgery on the ACL, which means the earliest Halpern would be ready to return to action would be later December to early January.

Halpern was serving as team captain for the U.S. under head coach John Tortorella.

Halpern joins teammates Vinny Lecavalier and Paul Ranger, who both had shoulder surgery performed by Dr. James Andrews last month on torn labrums, who face extensive rehabilitation this summer in order to be ready for the start of training camp.

Photo courtesty of the Canadian Press via TSN.ca.

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I’ve had some ask me about where things stand on the sale, since it’s been a week since we were told things would be in the final stages within a couple of days. Well, after a Wednesday conference call between Oren Koules and league officials, the process is now in the final stages before Koules takes over the franchise. The final pieces of paperwork are all but turned in to the league, with only minor bits of information still to turn over.

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed tonight that the league has begun its due diligence process, which is the final piece of the puzzle before they report and put up it up for vote to the Board of Governors, a process that should take about four to six weeks.

“We are in the process of doing our due diligence on the transaction and will make a report to the Executive Committee, and then to the Board of Governors,’’ Daly said by email Friday. “There is nothing more I can say while the transaction is being reviewed.’’

Unless something pops up in a background check of some sort with one of Koules’ partners (only one of which has publicly confirmred, that being Koules’ partner with Evolution Entertainment Mark Burg, although former player Len Barrie and California finacier Russell Belinsky have been rumored to be part of the ownership group), then the approval becomes as much of a formality as this type of process can be.

Sounds like it’s all but done at this point, and though a Board of Governors meeting is scheduled around the time of the NHL Entry Draft in late June, a vote could be done via fax before then so it seems that Koules will be in charge of the team before the draft and before they draft Steven Stamkos

By the way, check out the link above. The Lightning certainly are not hiding their intentions of drafting Stamkos when they walk to the podium in Ottawa on June 20.

On another note, Team USA and head coach John Tortorella won its opening game tonight against Latvia 4-0 in the World Championships. Marty St. Louis notched a goal for Team Canada in a 5-1 defeat of Slovenia. Defenseman Filip Kuba had an assist for the Czech Republic in a 5-2 victory against Denmark. Team Finland, with Jussi Jokinen and Karri Ramo, start off Saturday against Germany.

Track the results here.

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I guess this is what the media world is coming to. Rather than bringing Vinny to the media for an update on his rehab from shoulder surgery, they just send in a camera and then provide a direct video report on where he stands at this point, a little over a week out from his surgery. The interview is done in the team’s training room with Lecavalier and assistant team trainer Jason Serbus.

On one other note regarding Lightning players, Jeff Halpern will serve as captain for Team USA for the World Championships, which begin Friday in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Marty St. Louis, meanwhile, will serve as an alternate captain, along with Steve Staios, for Team Canada. Shane Doan is captain for Canada.

Other players scheduled to participate in the World Championships are: Finland - Jussi Jokinen and Karri Ramo; Russia - Evgeny Artyukhin; Czech Republic - Filip Kuba. The preliminary rosters are listed on the IIHF website. Final rosters are to be submitted on Thursday, from what I can tell.

And finally, the finalists for the Hart Trophy were announced today by the league, and they are

Jarome Iginla - Calgary
Evgeni Malkin - Pittsburgh
Alex Ovechkin - Washington

Ovechkin will almost certainly be a runaway winner of the award, and it might be close to being unanimous. But I know for a fact it won’t be unanimous, because........

My votes were:
1. Martin Brodeur - New Jersey
2. Ovechkin
3. Iginla
4. Nicklas Lidstrom - Detroit
5. Malkin

I wrestled with this decision many times in the final weeks leading up to the end of the season. My sway was toward Brodeur for a lengthy period of time. Then as Washington kept staying in the mix and Ovechkin kept piling up the goals, I started to have some secondary thoughts as to who my vote should go to. In some conversations down the stretch, I was starting to lean toward Ovechkin. But I just couldn’t get this one thought out of my head in regards to Brodeur - the Devils would be a middle-of-the-road team if not for him. And I know it’s easy to say that about any team in regards to their goaltender. But what gets me about Brodeur is that you can change the coach in New Jersey, you can alter the system in New Jersey, you can take away a pair of Hall of Fame defenseman away from New Jersey and yet at the end of the year, there’s Brodeur with 40 wins and in the top 10 in goaltending once again while New Jersey is competing for a division/conference title, which they were up to the final few weeks of the season before Pittsburgh and Montreal pulled away. The Devils were one of the lowest scoring teams in the league while Patrik Elias had a subpar season, and yet New Jersey earned a No. 4 seed. And I believe that if you took Brodeur out of net for the Devils, they would have been a lot closer to Tampa Bay in the standings than Pittsburgh. And to me, that’s the true measure of the player “judged to be most valuable to his team’’

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I would like to thank DirecTV tonight for screwing me out of the first five minutes of the third period of the Dallas-San Jose game. I flipped over during the second intermission to catch the end of Mystery, Alaska in just enough time to see Connor Banks ring one off the crossbar as the final seconds ticked off to see the Mystery boys drop one to the New York Rangers. And after getting my 3-year-old a sip of milk after he woke up, I flipped back over only to see Tracy Ullman fold up her laptop computer while in bed, then complain about cramps before putting the still warm computer in her abdominal region. I then got to see previews of some show called The Secret Life of a Call Girl, The Weeds, Penn and Teller’s Bullsh!! and the opening minutes of The Tudors. Normally I might now complain about seeing some of the previews for a cable smut show or two . . .

However, I certainly didn’t want to miss the opening minutes of the third period of a tightly contested game that was 2-1 after 40 minutes. After realizing the switch back to Versus was going to come about as quickly as my five-year-old when I call him to clean up his bedroom, I pulled up the computer to NHL.com and saw that Brad Richards scored in the opening minute to tie the game Then just as I’m trying to pull up the DirecTV website and find a number for customer service to call in my complaint, the channel switches back to Versus just in enough time to show the replay of Mike Modano scoring to make it 3-2.... 

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Anybody else encounter this problem tonight? Was it just DirecTV? Was it a glitch with Versus? Let me know if this was just an isolated case or not!!!!!

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Not sure how many caught this little nugget coming out of the Satellite Hot Stove segment on CBC Saturday night during the second intermission of the Montreal-Philadelphia game, but Al Strachan, who works for the Sun Media outlets in Canada, stated that John Tortorella will be fired as head coach once Oren Koules gains control of the team. Not a real shock to hear that considering some of the events that have transpired in the past couple of weeks.

But the stunner was to hear that Barry Melrose, yes that Barry Melrose of the Mullet Hall of Fame,

who has all of three years of NHL coaching experience and none since the 1994-95 season with Los Angeles, is Koules’ first choice for the team’s now coach. I can’t say I put too much stock into this. I mean, Melrose has been in a very comfortable position perched up in Bristol, Conn., as ESPN’s lead analyst. Can’t imagine he would want to leave that spot to get back into the NHL. Now, maybe 10 years ago, it might have some legs (and lest we forget that Melrose once pushed for the job before Jacques Demers was hired). But certainly, assuming that Tortorella does not return for next year, there have to be better candidates out there other than Melrose.

Pat Burns? Pat Quinn? Craig Hartsburg? Craig Ramsay?

Strachan, who also stated earlier this year that Vinny Lecavalier was going to ask to play in a larger market this summer such as Los Angeles, Montreal or New York, also said that Jay Feaster is going to remain on for the final two years of his contract, but as more of a token role because they don’t want to buy him out of the contract. Also claimed that Koules is going to be Gary Bettman’s worse nightmare because he plans on running the team like Mark Cuban runs the Dallas Mavericks.

Anybody have some thoughts on Melrose even being mentioned as a possible candidate to coach this team? Anybody you guys want to see as the next coach, assuming of course that Tortorella isn’t back (which isn’t a guarantee at this point)?

I’ll have some thoughts on the Tortorella situation here in the coming days, so check back as I continue to gather and think about some stuff.

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Apparently Lightning defenseman Paul Ranger didn’t want Vinny Lecavalier to feel alone this summer because Ranger underwent surgery on his right shoulder this week to repair a labrum. Ranger had the procedure done in the same place as Lecavalier, as well, at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, where Dr. James Andrews did the surgery. Andrews also operated on Lecavalier last week.

The injury to Ranger is essentially the same as the injury Lecavalier suffered and the timetable for recovery is identical, 12-15 weeks, which means Ranger should also be available and fully recovered by the time training camp opens in September. And while the injuries are similar, they happened via different routes. Lecavalier took a hit from Matt Cooke that created the trauma to the shoulder causing it to seperate and damaging the labrum.

With Ranger, he had been suffering shoulder problems most of the season and was likely facing some sort of off-season procedure. But when he seperated his shoulder when hit into the glass at Buffalo late in the season.

Check back later today for the three finalists for the Selke Award as the league’s top defensive forward.

UPDATE NO. 1.

Didn’t really see this one coming, but Norfolk head coach Steve Stirling has been re-assigned by the Lightning into the role of a full-time college scout while the option on assistant coach Darren Rumble was not picked up, which basically means he was fired. I guess it’s a little difficult to make chicken salad with some of the players Stirling and Rumble have had the past couple of seasons in the minor league system, but at the same time, there hasn’t been much progression in some of the team’s better prospects. Andy Rogers has seriously regressed (injury problems has lent itself to this), Mike Egener is on the verge of falling off the map and played most of last season at forward and other than Nick Tarnasky and Ryan Craig, no forward has been able to come up and make an impact at the NHL level.

Here’s a quote from Lightning general manager Jay Feaster on the subject, including stating a coach search will not begin until the transfer of ownership takes place, which should be in about six weeks or so, assuming everything moves along smoothly:

“For the past 15-years, we have very badly needed a full-time scout devoted to college hockey,” Feaster said. “Over the years we have utilized part-time people as well as full-time pro and amateur scouts to fill the void, but we have never had a full-time scout to properly mine the talent at the college level. Given Steve’s extensive background and connections at the collegiate level, combined with his coaching history in the AHL and NHL, we are confident that he is the right person for the job and we appreciate his willingness to switch gears and assist the organization in this critical endeavor.

“In light of the pending sale of the Lightning to OK Hockey, we will defer the search for a new head coach in Norfolk until after the closing on the sale transaction. However, finding the right person to lead our team in Norfolk will be a key priority for us this summer. Once a new head coach is named we will work with that person to ensure that the new coach has significant input into the hiring of an assistant coach for Norfolk as well.’’

UPDATE NO. 2

Finalists for the Frank Selke Award were announced today. Here is the history of the trophy, for those history buffs out there, courtesy of the NHL : “The trophy was presented in 1977 by the National Hockey League’s Board of Governors in honor of Frank J. Selke, one of the great architects of Montreal and Toronto championship teams.’’

The three finalists, as voted by the members of the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association, are:
1. Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit
2. John Madden, New Jersey
3. Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit

Here are my five votes, and admittedly I struggled to get five deep on this one:
1. Datsyuk
2. Sammy Pahlsson, Anaheim
3. Madden
4. Chris Kelly, Ottawa
5.  Mike Fisher, Ottawa

Finalists for the Hart Trophy (MVP) will be announced on Tuesday while Jack Adams (coach of the year) finalists will be named on Wednesday.

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This is late due to a couple of issues today, mainly field trip and soccer practice, but other things as well, so for that lateness, I apoligize especially since one of the finalists today is a Lightning player....

The three finalists for the Lady Byng Award (awarded for gentelmanly play while maintaining a high level of play) are:
Pavel Datsyuk - Detroit
Jason Pominville - Buffalo
Marty St. Louis - Tampa Bay

Here is the history of the trophy, for those who are interested in this, courtesy of the NHL: “ Lady Byng, wife of Canada’s Governor-General at the time, presented the Lady Byng Trophy to the NHL in the 1924-25 season. After Frank Boucher of the New York Rangers won the award seven times in an eight-year span, he was given the trophy to keep and Lady Byng donated another trophy in 1936. After Lady Byng’s death in 1949, the League presented a new trophy in her memory.’’

These were my votes for the trophy:
1. Datsyuk
2. Anze Kopitar - Los Angeles Kings
3. Andrew Burnette - Colorado
4. Brad Boyes - St. Louis
5. Pominville

The finalists for the Selke Award as the top defensive forward will be announced on Friday (this was a tough one to figure out this year, by the way, so it will be interesting to see who the finalists are for this award)

Also today, the Lightning signed forward Paul Szczechura to a two-year contract. He scored 14 goals in 24 games with the Admirals last season after netting two in 29 games with the Iowa Stars before being traded to Norfolk on January 15 in exchange for future considerations.  He was tied for third on the Admirals in goals with 16 and was seventh in points with 31.  He led all Norfolk rookies in scoring and was tied for the team lead with three game-winning goals.

One last thing, I wanted to give my quick picks for the conference semifinal matchups, which start tonight (and have actually begun as I type this)…

Philadelphia vs. Montreal - A couple of teams coming off seven-game series victories, both of which after blowing 3-1 leads in the series. Geez, you think the league would push this series back a day and let the Pittsburgh-Ranger series start today since they each finished their first-round series in five or less games. Any way, I think the Canadiens take this series. I think they overlooked the Bruins in the first round because of the 8-0 record they had against Boston in the regular season. I don’t think they will make that mistake again despite going 4-0 against the Flyers in the regular season. Besides, Carey Price really showed something in shutting out the Bruins in Game 7 after giving up 10 goals in the previous two games. That’s some moxy for somebody who is supposed to be a rooke. Montreal in six

Pittsburgh vs. NY Rangers - I really like the Rangers, and they are my pick to come out of the East. I think they are a team that is really built for the postseason, starting with Henrik Lundqvist in net. I think they can roll three quality lines, they have a good enough defense and play good defense to go with some of their game-breakers they possess. Pittsburgh had such an easy time with a Ottawa team that was in shambles in the first round, they faced very little adversity to start the postseason and I think it will catch up with them. Rangers in six

Out West
Colorado vs. Detroit - What a great rivalry renewed. Postseason drama at its best. Some of the names have changed, but the rivalry remains the same. Before today I would have thought Colorado had a good chance to win this series. I just don’t think Detroit is a team built for the postseason. It’s kind of hard to put a finger on why I have that feeling, but I just do. I like the mix of veterans and youth the Avalanche possess and I think they are an underrated team. But seeing the Wings dominate the Avalanche in the first period, combined with the dominance they had over Colorado in the regular season, Detroit will win this series. Detroit in seven

Dallas vs. San Jose - What a difficult series to call. Part of me says that Dallas just won their Stanley Cup because they finally advanced past the first round and knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champs to do it. Maybe that gives a sense of relief in some of the players who have been there the past handful of seasons that ended in the first round. But it could work the other way, too, and serve as a launching pad to bigger and better things. San Jose, meanwhile, is coming off a hard-fought, seven-game series against a Calgary team that can wear opponents down. I was on the radio the other day thinking that San Jose is my pick to come out of the West (this was before they beat Calgary in Game 7), but I’m having some second thoughts on that notion. Either way, I think whichever team wins this series, ultimately wins the West. Dallas in seven

Any thoughts that contradict my thinking? Any predictions you guys are willing to put on writing?

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The league released the three finalists for the Calder Trophy today for rookie of the year. The trophy, by the way, is named for former NHL President Frank Calder who used to purchase a trophy for the league’s outstanding rookie from 1937 until his death in 1943 when the league began presenting the trophy in Calder’s honor.

The three finalists are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Nicklas Backstrom - Washington Capitals

Patrick Kane - Chicago Blackhawks

Jonathan Toews - Chicago Blackhawks

The winner will be announced on June 12 during the NHL Awards Show.

Here’s a brief description of each finalist:

---- Backstrom finished second among NHL rookie scorers with 69 points
(14 goals, 55 assists) in 82 games, three points behind Kane. Backstrom
was the League’s Rookie of the Month for December and tallied 17 points
(five goals, 12 assists) and a +16 rating in his last 17 outings. His
point total was the second-highest by a Capitals rookie in franchise
history behind Alex Ovechkin’s 106 in 2005-06. His 55 assists set the
club record for a rookie, surpassing Ovechkin’s total by one.

---- The first player selected in the 2007 Entry Draft, Kane tallied 16
points in October as an 18-year-old, the most by an NHL rookie in the
season’s opening month since 1992-93. His shootout goal against Buffalo
childhood hero Dominik Hasek in his second NHL game gave the Blackhawks
their first victory of the season—a 4-3 decision over Detroit Oct. 6.
Kane finished the season as the League’s rookie scoring leader and tops
on the Blackhawks with 72 points (21 goals, 51 assists) in 82 games.

---- Toews scored his first career NHL goal on his first shot in the
first period of his League debut Oct. 10 against San Jose. He went on to
record a point in each of his first 10 NHL games (5-5--10), the longest
point streak by a rookie starting his career since Dmitri Kvartalnov of
the Boston Bruins notched a point in each of his first 14 games in 1992.
Despite missing more than a month due to a mid-season knee injury, Toews
led all rookies in goals (24), tied for the lead in power-play goals
(seven) and ranked third in points (54).

The Professional Hockey Writers Association votes for the Calder Trophy, so here are my votes, ranked 1-5

1. Toews
2. Kane
3. Backstrom
4. Carey Price - Montreal
5. Brandon Dubinsky - NY Rangers

The difference for me in voting Toews first and Kane second, despite Kane leading all rookies in points, was the difference Toews made when he was in the lineup as opposed to when he was out with injury. And despite missing a month of action with a knee injury, Toews still led all rookies with 24 goals and finished third in scoring. It’s kind if splitting hairs a little bit between Toews and Kane, but to me, Toews got the slight edge. I also think that if Price had played more during the season, he probably would have been shoo-in for the trophy, but he had some struggles early and spent a little time down in the minors (I know, it was only two games). And the fact that Price didn’t take over as the No.1 until the trade deadline when Cristobal Huet was shipped to Washington.
And in regards to Dubinsky, I just like the kid. He’s hard-nosed and everytime I saw the Rangers play I liked what I saw from him, he just seemed to bring his game. Throw in the fact that he ended up centering Jaromir Jagr and helped him bring his level up I think speaks volumes to Dubinsky. Plus, he’s from Alaska!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (That had nothing to do with my vote)

The finalists for the Lady Byng Trophy will be announced on Thursday. I’ll be on a field trip through the early afternoon, so I’ll give you my votes on that trophy later in the day.

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As promised, here are the three finalists for the Norris Trophy this year as the league’s top defenseman, as announced by the league today. The winner will be announced at the annual awards show in June....

Zdeno Chara - Boston
Nicklas Lidstrom - Detroit
Dion Phaneuf - Calgary

The Professional Hockey Writers Association voted for the Norris Trophy, and as promised yesterday, here are my top five votes for the Norris Trophy:

1. Lidstrom
2. Phaneuf
3. Chara
4. Wade Redden - Ottawa
5. Tomas Kaberle - Toronto

Some might consider it a tough decision between Lidstrom and Phaneuf this season, and in some ways, that is correct. I feel that Phaneuf might be the best package of offense, defense and physicality among any other defenseman in the league. But I think Lidstrom is still the best defenseman in the league, the way he just controls a game at both ends of the ice, carries the puck. He is simply a marvel to watch. Phaneuf will one day win a Norris Trophy, probably a handful of them in fact, but I don’t think that will come this year and likely won’t until Lidstrom slows down - whenever that comes.

The list of Calder Trophy finalists will be announced on Wednesday.

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Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but a potential lender in the proposed sale of the Lightning has fallen through. A report in Sports Business Journal today cited unnamed sources that CIT had pulled out of a financing deal to bankroll Oren Koules and his partnership group in a $200 million deal to buy the team from Palace Sports and Entertainment.

The story also quoted Palace Sports CEO Tom Wilson is stating that PS&E is willing to help with some of the financing of deal, but didn’t specify as to the amount of purchase they are willing to front. The magazine gave this example as to what might take place, and remember, this is only an example:

“What PS&E may do is accept say, by way of example, $50 million less than the purchase price and require interest-only payments over the course of a few years on that amount, with the rest of the price paid at the end of that period. The expectation would be the finance markets will settle down in that time frame and the buyer, in this case Koules, could then obtain traditional financing’’

After doing some digging today on the subject, I can tell you that Sports Business report is a bit misleading as it paints yet another doom and gloom scenario in the on-again, off-again sale of the team that has been on and off so many times since August, it’s hard to keep track of the truth. But as Wilson also said in the SBJ report, the sale “is still on.’’

I’ll pass along more information as I get it.

UPDATE

Gang, the sale if nearly complete. Palace Sports and Entertainment will ultimately end up being the primary lender for the time being to get the sale finalized. Because of the landscape in the financial world, getting somebody to loan out $100 million is a rocky road to travel right now. And in some ways, having Palace Sports act as the primary lender is a plus from the league perspective because that way in case Koules defaults on anything and can’t handle the financial strain of ownership, Palace Sports holds the mortgage. That avoids the potential headache of a bank foreclosing on a loan and a new owner having to be found. Of course, should the climate clear up in the marketplace in the near future, Koules would be able to seek a traditional loan allowing Palace Sports to make themselves free and clear of a franchise they are despartely looking to shed themselves of as quick as they can.

Here’s a strong quote from Lightning president Ron Campbell from late today: “Once all the financial documents are agreed upon, which should happen this week, the last remaining hurdle is NHL approval.’’

Yes, believe it or not, this thing may finally be coming to a conclusion. And what a long, strange journey it’s been!!!!

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This is how I’m somewhat feeling these days. Although minus the wheel chair, without the odd-ball theories (unless your talking about Avery-gate) or delusions and minus Grace Kelly by my side (too bad ) But I have been laid up the past week with a severely sprained ankle suffered while participating in an adult recreational soccer league.

To make a long story short, I rolled the ankle and spent over six hours in the ER in Brandon thinking I had broken the ankle after hearing a pop or a crack. X-rays were negative, although in terms of recovery, a break might have been better. Since the sprain is on my right ankle, I am not able to drive so I’ve spent the past week sitting on my couch, crutches by my side, foot propped up on a stool and an ice bad near by.

The swelling didn’t come down until Saturday, a day after I saw an orthopedic specialist who delivered some good news (under the circumstances anyway) that although there is a good chance I probably tore a tendon or ligament, it’s nothing that can’t be taken care of with an at-home physical therapy program. While it certainly has created more of a burden on my already over-burdened wife - and right at the end of hockey season, too - she hasn’t been overly sarcastic about the whole thing and been a great help, not to mention my parents, my in-laws and my sister-in-law, who came over to give the younger kids a bath and help put the boys to bed.

Needless to say, I will be fine even if it’s supposed to be another week until I drive. I’m all but off my crutches, instead walking around with a nice big walking boot complete with an air cushioned insert that I can pump up on my own (or with the aid of my three-year old who likes to push the button).

So with all this free time on my hands, I’ve been propped up on the couch watching a lot of playoff hockey. And it was a treat to be able to watch the third period of the Montreal-Boston game on Saturday. Talk about emotions rising and dropping. I’ve been impressed with the Bruins, I didn’t think they would last this long in this series. But even going back to the first two games of the series in which Montreal won, I thought the Bruins were playing well and you could see that they could hang with the Habs.

Now it’s on to a Game 7 and anything can happen in that type of game. But I can’t see the Canadiens losing a Game 7 on home ice, not in that atmosphere, not with that crowd going crazy. I’m sure it will be a close game, but I think the Habs move on. Having to go seven games, however, I think will have an adverse effect on Montreal. Teams that often make long playoff runs tend to have easy early-round series (remember when Tampa Bay won its first two series in a total of nine games in 2004?). This could catch up to them in the next round, especially since they will end up facing either Philadelphia or the New York Rangers.

I worry about Dallas a little bit going into tonight’s Game 6. The Ducks are the Ducks and they’ve shut down the Stars’ power play the past couple of games. Champions don’t go down easy (unless they are the Hurricanes, however) and if Dallas doesn’t close this series tonight, I find it hard to believe they can put an end to Anaheim’s momentum in a Game 7. Marty Turco has been good and he’s going to have to be even better tonight. J-S Giguere was terrific in Game 5 and the Stars certainly had some Grade A chances. We’ll see if they have it in them tonight.

The San Jose-Calgary series has been classic. Great games, great hits, great goals and a whole lot of drama. The whole west, in fact, has been just as good as advertised with none of the series ending in anything under six games. Have to give it up to Nashville goaltender Dan Ellis who has been spectacular for the Predators who continue to put up a strong fight, but I don’t think they have it in them to knock off the Wings now, not after getting a 52-save effort out of Ellis and losing in overtime on Friday.

One more note on the first-round, as dominating as Pittsburgh was in a sweep of Ottawa, I’m not sure that had more to do with the complete disarray Ottawa was in or how good Pittsburgh is. I’m leaning toward the former on that one, but it doesn’t mean the Penguins can’t come out of the East since they had an easy time with the Sens and are at home resting up and giving Sidney Crosby plenty of time to make sure his ankle is up to the task (and believe me, after this week, I can sympathize and completely understand how bad a high-ankle sprain can be!!!!)

Anything catch you guys by surprise yet in the opening round? Anybody have thoughts on Sean Avery’s antics? His comments calling the well-respected Martin Brodeur “fatso”? (I thought it was very kindergaten-esque myself on both fronts.)

UPDATE MONDAY

The league will be announcing the finalists for the NHL awards this week and today they released the candidates for the Vezina Trophy as the top goaltender in the league. The Vezina trophy is voted on by the league’s general managers. The three finalists are: Martin Brodeur (New Jersey), Henrik Lundqvist (NY Rangers) and Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose).

The finalists for Norris Trophy (top defenseman) will be released on Tuesday. I’ll give you the finalists when they are released. I’ll also give you the five players who I voted for in order.

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The Lightning just released this statement regarding Lecavalier’s surgery:

Tampa Bay Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier underwent successful surgery today to repair the Glenoid Labrum in his right shoulder. The surgery was performed by noted orthopedist Dr. James Andrews at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.

Lecavalier dislocated the shoulder in the Lightning’s game on April 3 at Washington. A detailed rehabilitation protocol will be established by Dr. Andrews’ personal physical therapist and will be conducted under the supervision of the Lightning medical staff.

It is expected that Lecavalier will complete a full recovery in time to be ready for the team’s 2008 Training Camp.

This is obviously good news for Vinny and the team. Dr. Andrews is one of the best, if not the best, in the world at these types of surgeries. Lecavalier will likely do most of his rehab in Montreal this summer. Of course, this does put a kink in his off-season vacation plans. He mentioned during exit interviews that he had already called and cancelled his trip.

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How’s the playoffs going for everybody to this point? I’m most intrigued by the Dallas-Anaheim series, which Dallas of course is leading 2-0. Now I predicted Dallas would win the series, and I think I’m one of the few from what I have been able to gather in the past week. Anaheim was considered a favorite among a lot of prognosticators as a Stanley Cup favorite, and why not. They have been on a roll since the return of Scott Niedermayer and especially since Teemu Selanne came back. But as well as the Ducks play defense, they are among the lowest scoring teams in the league. And in the playoffs, you have to be able to find a way to score some goals. Anaheim had two in the first two games. We’ll see what happens when the series shifts back to Dallas for Games 3 and 4.....

Here’s the promised news.... Vinny Lecavalier is scheduled to undergo surgery on his right shoulder on Tuesday. The procedure will be performed by renowned orthopeadic specialist Dr. James Andrews at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. The team will provide an update on the surgery, which will be done between late morning and early afternoon on Tuesday.

UPDATE 7:15 P.M. ON TUESDAY

Still waiting on official update from the team in regards to Vinny’s surgery. He went into the operating room a bit later than expected and as of 6:30 or so he had just gone into recovery. And since Alabama is an hour behind, things are behind for that reason as well. When I get word on what the situation is from the team, I’ll pass it along!!!!

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Tampa Bay has won the NHL draft lottery and hold the No. 1 pick in the draft, meaning you guys better get to know Steven Stamkos very well. Note the video on the bottom of a sick move Stamkos made during an all-star showcase this year!!!

Here’s a good story on Stamkos from ESPN.com yes, I said ESPN.com.

Here are some comments from Jay Feaster on a transcript from and league conference call tonight. First two questions are from yours truly

Q.  Can you take us through your emotions as they started to unveil the envelopes? Does Dave Andreychuk now have a contract for life?
JAY FEASTER: In reverse order, yeah, Dave Andreychuk, he is the man (laughter). Andy continues to come through for the Tampa Bay Lightning. I told him, I talked to him shortly after the results were announced. I told him that I promise that I’m going to give him all the credit. That was a great job by Mr. Andy, Mr. Clutch, just as he was for us when we won the Cup in ‘04.
In terms of the emotions, you know, because you cover us on a daily basis, you’re very well aware that this has been a season of I just think incredible bad luck for us on so many fronts throughout the year. You go back to—we had gone up to Detroit in May, met with Mr. Davidson, Ron Campbell and I, and certainly Mr. Davidson talked about how excited he was about the upcoming season. He was fully engaged and committed. On August the 7th, it’s announced the team has been sold, that it was going to close in 60 or 90 days. It never did.
From that point on, the next thing that happened is a skate falling off a locker hanger and onto Danny Boyle’s wrist and severing three tendons. We just feel like—I’m not sure what that cartoon is, but it’s the guy that walks around with the thunder cloud over his head and it’s raining only on him. That’s how we felt throughout this season as an organization.
That’s really the same kind of attitude and mentality that we approach tonight with. It was nice to see that for the first time in an entire season that the storm cloud parted and there’s actually a little bit of sunshine here in the Sunshine State.
Q.  Is Stamkos the guy you have targeted now at this point?
JAY FEASTER: The thing is, we view him as a player who, you know, he is an impact player, a player who is ready to play in the National Hockey League. As we discussed, the moves that we made at the trade deadline, trading away Brad Richards, Vinny Prospal, we feel we are a better hockey club, and we’ve improved our hockey club as a result of the deals. But we recognize that we have weakened ourselves offensively. As we approach the off-season, we felt that we had to bring in a minimum of two top-six forwards, maybe even three. So to have the opportunity to have the No. 1 pick in this draft, have that player that we think is NHL-ready be a forward, again, that’s a real nice position for our franchise to be in, to be able to look at that player at this stage.
Q.  What does it say about your powers of prognostication, about five hours ago we heard there was no way in hell you were going to win this?
JAY FEASTER: Yeah, you know what, the great part about that is, as long as that’s the way you think, you’ll never be disappointed (laughter).
Again, all the credit to Dave Andreychuk. Dave Andreychuk found the way to come through. What I think is truly amazing, and I really do think this is unbelievable, I heard it on the NHL Network, this is only the third time in 13 years where the team that was 30th or 29th has actually outright won the drawing. You know, that’s what’s significant to me. I appreciated that we had the 48.2% chance. But it wasn’t on the basis of the field that we won it; it appears that, you know, we actually, with our 25% chance, were able to win the lottery. I’ve talked probably to already eight people in our organization, from our team president, Ron Campbell, our chief scout, Jake Goertzen, our director of player personnel, Bill Barber, assistant GM Claude Loiselle. Almost to a man, the comment is, Maybe the luck is finally turning, maybe this is what we need. It is an exciting time for the franchise.
Q.  You mentioned the other day, not that you never say never, but wouldn’t it take an awful lot not to use this pick on Stamkos at this point?
JAY FEASTER: Sure. I mean, again, from the standpoint, my conversations that I’ve had with Oren Koules, the prospective new owner of the franchise, he has indicated that it’s about the long-term and it’s not just being good next year, you know, it’s being a team that can contend for a long time. Any time you have the opportunity to have a franchise player, you want to take advantage of that. So, you know, again, you never say never. If someone comes up with the truckload of players, picks and prospects and all that, you’d have to consider it.
But we’re certainly not going into it thinking let’s trade the pick.
Q.  Does it give you some confidence that Steven is calling John, Mr. Tortorella at this point?
JAY FEASTER: That’s probably a good start (laughter).
Q.  The consensus seems to be this is a deep draft. Do you think teams might come calling for Stamkos, since he’s such a special player, and maybe you could get one of those top six forwards you are looking for, maybe move down two or three spots?
JAY FEASTER: It’s interesting. I’ve already had a general manager who has indicated they don’t have a first. You know, they’re going to be looking to wheel and deal. He said, When the time’s right, we’ll be calling you to talk about it.
So that’s why you don’t ever say that you would never move the pick. I mean, it’s something that certainly I think you have to listen to the offers that are made to you. But it would have to be something that we felt just was, you know—it would almost have to be a no-brainer. Because if we can get a player that we think is a franchise player, is going to play for us for a long time, it would take an awful lot to convince us to move that pick.
Q.  Are you in agreement this is a deep draft? If so, how far does it go?
JAY FEASTER: Yeah, we do think it’s a deep draft. But, I mean, I like the possibilities that you have through the first 10 picks in this draft. And, yes, as far as—you know, the thing that I lament the most is we don’t have our own second-round pick. I wish we did. I think there are going to be some real good value picks in this draft. Our guys feel very, very good about it.
You know, because of the way we were going during the season, we’ve not just had our normal contingency of amateur scouts out there, but Bill Barber, again our director of player personnel, he’s been out scouting the amateur games. Claude Loiselle has been out there. I’ve gone out, which I haven’t done necessarily in the past few years.
So we feel that we’ve covered it pretty well this year. We’re excited about the draft on an overall basis, not just the No. 1 pick.
Q.  Are you surprised that Dallas had such struggles after making the big trade with you at the deadline?
JAY FEASTER: Yeah, you know what, I think from the standpoint of surprise, I don’t know so much that. I think that there were a number of factors at work. You know, whenever they had struggled in the past, they knew Smitty, and they were more than happy to put Smitty in there and maybe change their fortunes by having Mike in net. I don’t think that they knew Holmqvist as well, and it took them a little bit of time getting comfortable putting him in there. Unfortunately for him, the first game they put him in, he had a tough go the first period, got pulled the end of one. I think that changed their dynamic a little bit in net. The thing about Brad is, they’ve had to look at how they want to use him. Do they want to play him with Modano? Do they put him in the wing? Is he a center? It’s one of those things, I’ve always said it, I felt in 2004, when we picked up Darryl Sydor, the best part of that deal was we didn’t do it at the deadline, we were able to do it at the end of January, so we had time. By the time the deadline rolled around, he was really integrated into our hockey club.
I think it does take time. You know, I think they’ve had that time now. The one thing I know about Brad is that Brad will elevate his game in the post-season. And even with Homer, the fact that he has gone through a post-season with us, if he’s called upon at any point in time to come and replace Turco, he’ll be ready to go, too. So while he struggled a little bit right away, I think they’re going to be a force here in the post-season. 
Q.  I think they were asking Dave about the possibility that Stamkos could be part of the new top three. I knew Andreychuk was saying, you know what, the potential is there. Should it play out that way, do you think having somebody like Vinny on board, a guy that came into the league with a lot of fanfare and had to go through the things that he did being a topic will kind of be very good for Stamkos development, should you go that way?
JAY FEASTER: Yes, I do. I don’t think there’s any question about it. Having gone through what Vinny did, you know, you look back at the history of this franchise, when he first came on board, I mean, he was touted as the Michael Jordan of hockey, he’s a sure fire Hall of Famer. That’s tremendous pressure put on a young man. I always said that I felt Jacques Demers did such a great job with Vinny. While that may have been the expectation from ownership, it wasn’t the pressure that Jacques put on him. You know, he then experienced Jacques is gone after one year, Steve Ludzik is in, it’s a new owner. I believe that if that’s the direction we go, Vinny will be very good. Plus the fact that Vinny has reached a point in his career when he understands what he’s gone through. He understands the pressure that’s on guys.  I think now he’s at a stage where he takes very, very seriously sort of that obligation as a leader in the hockey club, as a member of the core of the hockey team to help the younger players coming in.
So I think it will be an advantage.
Q.  Is there any part of you, or how much of you is sort of nagging, Okay, we’ve got the first pick, but how we went about obtaining it is still bothering you a little bit? Is that more or less a situation of, Hey, hell, we deserve it?
JAY FEASTER: No, you know what, it does hurt to be where we are. We conducted our exit meetings today with the players, 27 guys, including our captain, Tim Taylor. You know, it’s not where we want to be.
I felt, and I have felt all along, that while we are 30th, we’re not that bad, we’re not that far away. I was encouraged today because I didn’t articulate that today during the meetings, but this is a time for me to listen to the players. Almost to a man, particularly the core, the veteran guys who have been with us, that’s one of the teams that they had. You know, we’re not that far away. So as I was talking to Oren Koules, our prospective new owner, a little bit earlier, I said, This is a great night for some of our veteran guys. I know Vinny talked about it in the meeting, Marty talked about it, talked about the idea of having the first pick overall, what that would mean.
It does sting that we are where we are, yet we don’t feel that we’re that bad and that we’re that far away. To be able to pick up a franchise player with the first pick overall, we think we get going in the right direction that much faster.
Q.  When can other GMs start calling you? You alluded to it. Does it have to wait till after the season?
JAY FEASTER: No, I mean, some guys will do it now. The guys that are not in the playoffs, if they feel they want to have those conversations, they will. The guys that are in the playoffs, I mean, once you’re one of those 16 playoff teams, you aren’t thinking draft. You’re focused on the task ahead of you. The team I was talking about earlier, they’re actually a team that will be in the playoffs. I talked to them last week. They referenced this.
But I won’t hear from them until they’re finished in the post-season.
Q.  I talked to you about an off-season game plan, piecing things together. How much does this alter or change some ideas you had in mind because you can’t necessarily put together a plan without knowing where you’re picking?
JAY FEASTER: Yeah, I mean, that’s clearly a factor of it. I mean, this gives us the opportunity, as I was talking this afternoon with you, really coming off of or out of the trade deadline, we sat down with an organization with our prospective new owners, Oren Koules, his partner Len Barrie. We talked about the positions we were going to have to fill. We knew going in what we needed to do. But certainly if you don’t know where you’re going to be drafting, you don’t know what the possibilities are there, then you always have that question mark. You know, this gives us an opportunity that we can start to throw some names up there, maybe put some things in pen as opposed to pencil, again, subject to whatever offers we might get on the trade front. So it’s a good thing from that standpoint, as well.

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