08-09 Sharks Matchup well with 03-04 Lightning as Boyle Returns to Face Tampa

Less than 7 months ago both Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich resided in the basement of NHL regular season standings as members of the last-place Tampa Bay lightning.  

Flash forward to Sunday night in Tampa Bay: they return to face their former team with no worse than a 6-2 record, playing for a San Jose team that is a perennial Stanley Cup contender.

Both Boyle and Lukowich were members of the 2003- 04 Lightning team that beat the Calgary Flames to achieve the franchise's first Stanley Cup victory. It seems like there is a good chance they will help bring a second city its first Stanley Cup. 

The Sharks enter their 18th season with arguably the most talented team they have ever had. It starts with the acquisition of Dan Boyle, one of the major upgrades the Sharks made this past off-season, and he has already paid off.

Boyle has dazzled Sharks fans with his offensive capabilities, often being the first player in on the fore-check as well as making better spin moves than Brian Campbell. He scored the OT winner at home Saturday night against the Flyers and scored again against Philadelphia on Wednesday, giving him 2 goals to go along with 4 assists in the first 7 games of the season.

The off-season trade sent Defenseman Matt Carle, prospect Ty Wishart, a 1st round pick in '09 and a 4th round pick in '10 to Tampa Bay for Defensemen Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich. Now it is hard to decipher who ended up with the better end of the deal, especially with prospects and draft picks.

But I'll deal with the two big names in the trade, Dan Boyle and Matt Carle.

Carle came into San Jose with huge expectations as a Hobey Baker award winner and a 2nd-round draft pick. He scored in his first NHL game and put up 42 points (11 G, 31 A) in his first full-season. 

But last year Carle was often a healthy scratch, putting up only 15 points (2 G, 13 A) in 62 games. Carle may turn out to be one of the league's top defensemen in years to come, but it may be apparent that the "new NHL" may be too-fast of a game for Carle who was regularly burned in the playoffs season.

Boyle, on the other hand, has shown great speed both on the offensive and defensive end so far this season. His 63 points in his last full season would have put him 2nd on the 2007-08 Sharks team in total scoring behind Joe Thornton (96) and first in defensman goal-scoring (20) ahead of second-place Brian Campbell (8).

Clearly Boyle is a major upgrade over Matt Carle, and Sharks fans should expect big numbers from Boyle this season.

Boyle's return to Tampa Bay to face his former team, with whom he won a Stanley Cup, got me thinking: how does his 03-04 Lightning matchup with the 08-09 Sharks?

There are quite a few similarities, and not just the fact that both teams have Boyle and Lukowich on their rosters.

Tampa Bay's top two centers: Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards

San Jose's top two centers: Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau

Tampa Bay's top right wingers: Martin St. Louis, Ruslan Fedotenko

San Jose's top right wingers: Devin Setoguchi, Jonathan Cheechoo

Tampa Bay's top left wingers: Cory Stillman, Fredrick Modin, Dave Andreychuk

San Jose's left wingers: Ryane Clowe, Milan Michalek, Jody Shelley

Tampa Bay's defensemen: Boyle, Lukowich, Kubina, Sarich, Sydor, Cullimore

San Jose's defenseman: Boyle, Lukowich, Blake, Murray, Vlasic, Ehrhoff

Tampa Bay Goalie: Nikolai Khabibulin

San Jose Goalie: Evgeni Nabokov

If championships are built from the goal-posts outward, I like how this Sharks team matches up with that of the 2004 Stanley Cup Champion Lightning. Khabibulin and Nabokov were/are in their prime respectively, and both defenses show striking similarities. Blake and Kubina have similar styles as do Vlasic and Sydor. Not to mention that the Sharks' top duo of Thornton-Setoguchi has shown a lot of the same capability as Lecavalier-St.Louis put together in 2004.