The Bolts enjoyed an offseason featuring a change in ownership, a signing binge, and a ton of press coverage. However, despite the aforementioned, we're now seven weeks into the season and the fans have yet to enjoy the new look Bolts.
The Barry Melrose era (all six weeks of it) recently came to an end in Tampa and Rick Tocchet, the former assistant coach to Wayne Gretzky in Phoenix, has taken over for the foreseeable future. Melrose made several mistakes from the get go. He began picking a bone with Vinny Lecavalier and refusing to give Steven Stamkos decent ice time after the owners put up 100 billboards around the city for him.
Melrose thus managed to endear himself to...no one. The worst parts, however, were not the changes made by Melrose but their ill effects, as the Lightning posted only five wins in their first 15 games.
Tocchet immediately set out to remedy the mistakes of Melrose. Stamkos was promoted to the first line, alongside Vinny and Marty St. Louis, and Tocchet said he would make the team's play much more up tempo. Yet with all the star talent, Tampa Bay currently owes most of its wins to budding superstar goalie Mike Smith. Smith has had to stand on his head many times just to keep the team in the game, as he has had surprisingly little goal support. So, what went wrong in the offseason?
The teams two biggest acquisitions, Radim Vrbata and Steven Stamkos, have failed to impress. The best addition for the Lightning thus far has been Mark Recchi, who is still the league's best passing winger. But, what about the established talent? Slow starts from Martin St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier have been extremely disappointing, but they are showing signs of turning it around.
Despite the slew of big named and high priced forwards brought in, there was almost no change in the defense corps. At least not a positive change. Dealing away Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich took away the teams best offensive and defensive defensemen, respectively. Paul Ranger was injured to start the season and addition Matt Carle just never fit in. So, the team decided to pick up Steve Eminger to solidify things. Yeah, you read that right, Steve Eminger is the solution to Tampa Bay's defensive problems.
No disrespect to Eminger, but the Lightning really need to add at least two serious defenseman to basically fill the holes left by Boyle and Lukowich. And paramount to the team must be the addition of a powerplay quarterback.
Tampa Bay had two last year in Brad Richards and Danny Boyle and possessed one of the leagues most feared powerplays. Now they have a powerplay run by committee with predictably little success. While Lundin, Ranger, and Meszaros are all potential filled blue liners, it's clear that they're not ready to run the show just yet.
The best way for Tampa Bay to drag itself out of a tailspin is to bite the bullet and trade a forward or two, such as Prospal, Recchi, and/or Vrbata to fill the holes on defense. However, if they fail to do so, it will be another long season in Tampa Bay.
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