Archive for July, 2009

GM Brian Lawton, who has made a bevy of questionable moves since taking over the GM duties last summer made one of his most perplexing moves yesterday.  The team informed Vinny Prospal that he would be placed on waivers or be bought out of his contract. With Lawton telling the world that the Lightning were willing to buy out the deal, I think the leverage is gone and the chance for a waiver claim are about -25%.   He has 3 years and about 10 million dollars left on his contract, so he is signed for a very reasonable rate [...]

The Bolts released their schedule for the upcoming season earlier this week.  We will host 6 home stands with 4 games or more this season.  This is what the rest of the season  looks like. 2009-2010 Regular Season Schedule October 2009 Date Visitor Home Score Dec T ime (ET) TV Nat’l Local (A) Local (H) Sat Oct 3, 2009 Lightning Thrashers 7:00 PM Tue Oct 6, 2009 Lightning Hurricanes 7:00 PM Thu Oct 8, 2009 Devils Lightning 7:30 PM Tickets Sat Oct 10, 2009 Hurricanes Lightning 7:30 PM Tickets Mon Oct 12, 2009 Panthers Lightning 7:30 PM Tickets Thu Oct 15, [...]

Not that this should come as any surprise, because the NHL is not the NFL, but yesterday Victor Hedman signed his standard NHL Rookie Contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. I guess it holds more of a symbolic meaning for me personally, as I’m pinning a lot of my future hope in the organization on this guy in particular.  One thing that our organization has consistently failed to realize, even in the year that we won the Cup is that the dominant teams have dominant defenseman.   The Pens and the Red Wings are testaments to that, and they have [...]

This is why I love hockey.

Today is the first day of free agency for the NHL 2009-2010 season. Already there have been a bevy of moves. The Bolts have made some improvements to the largest problem area on the ice. Today they signed free agents Matias Ohlund, from the Vancouver Canucks, as well as Matt Walker, from the Chicago Blackhawks.  Matias Ohlund is the veteran defender that we need for our mostly young defensive corps. He will also be a good mentor to fellow country man, and top draft choice,Victor Hedman. Walker is a physical guy that will make his presence known. So for those [...]