Tampa Bay Lightning

Yzerman's Biggest Deal

January 24, 2011

After watching the Tampa Bay Lightning's demolition of the Atlanta Thrashers 7-1 last night, I began think about the task set ahead for the rebuilding/rebuilt franchise. Steven Stamkos scored his league leading 38th goal of the year last night (albeit off his chest), and with Stammer heading into the offseason as a restricted free agent, Lightning GM Steve Yzerman has a very huge task ahead of him: retaining Stamkos for years to come. Stamkos is making $875K this season in the last year of his entry level deal, but his cap hit is $3.725 million because of bonuses. Last year's Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy winner has a choice to make and is seemingly a pretty easy one: A.) sign with Tampa...

Breaking News: Tampa Bay Lightning acquire Simon Gagné

July 19, 2010

George Prax

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The Ilya Kovalchuk floodgates have officially been opened. Reports are surfacing around the net and twitter that Philadelphia Flyers forward Simon Gagné has been traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. No word on a return yet, but we will update this point as the news is made available. UPDATE 2:30PM TSN has confirmed that Gagné has been traded in exchange for Matt Walker and a 4th round pick in 2011. So there you have it. Mark Trible will have more on the deal soon. Prax www.thecheckingline.com www.twitter.com/GeorgePrax var lfWidgetConf={'Posts':{'id':'Prax150', 'width':333, 'skin1':'2a4053', 'skin2':'0'}};document.write(unescape('%3Cscript src="'+(document.loca...

Lightning Re-Sign Martin St-Louis to 4 Year Extension

July 1, 2010

George Prax

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Stevie Y is getting things done in Tampa Bay. Not an hour after he was allowed to begin negotiations with Martin St-Louis on the subject of an extension, who would have become an unrestricted free agent in 2011, the Tampa Bay Lightning have resigned one of their top forwards to a 4-year contract extension, according to an official tweet from the lightning. The contract is worth $22.5 million, putting Marty's salary at just over $5.5 million per season. A very digestible deal for the Lightning. More to come. Check out our all day, live free agent frenzy chat!

Breaking News: Yzerman to be Named Bolts GM

May 25, 2010

George Prax

10 Comments

According to Sportsnet and various other Twitter sources, the Tampa Bay Lightning will hold a press conference at 3PM to announce hall of famer Steve Yzerman as their new General Manager. The move will make Yzerman one of the richest GMs in NHL history (a bold move considering the Lightning's money woes), and will end a 26 year relationship between Stevie Y and the Detroit Red Wings, where he won 3 Stanley Cups and played in 10 all-star games as a player. More recently, Yzerman built Canada's gold medal winning Olympic team. Details to come. Prax www.thecheckingline.com/ www.twitter.com/thecheckingline new TWTR.Widget({ version: 2, type: 'profile', rpp: 4, ...

Breaking News: Tocchet and Lawton fired

April 12, 2010

George Prax

4 Comments

According to TSN and Derren Dreger on twitter, the higher ups in Tampa Bay have fired coach Rick Tocchet as well as General Manager Brian Lawton, after missing the playoffs for a third straight year. While winning their final three games of the season and going 6-4-0 in their last 10, it was too little too late, as the Bolts finishes the season with 80 points, or a 34-36-12 record. Overall under two years of Tocchet, the Lightning are 53-69-12 in 134 games, who took over for Barry Melrose mid season in the 2008-09 season. Despite an incredible 51 goal season from sophomore Steven Stamkos, which ties Sidney Crosby for the Maurice Richard Trophy, the Lightning as a whole could only m...

No Suspension For Downie?

March 15, 2010

Phil T

2 Comments

In the past 24 hours, everyone has been talking about the Ovechkin hit on Brian Campbell, and whether or not he should be suspended for what many have called a reckless play. If AO's play was reckless, what do you call this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHeh3tyUL10 Clear attempt to cause major injury to the league's best player by a repeat offender... And no word of a possible suspension?

Coaching Changes in Tampa

February 25, 2010

George Prax

4 Comments

According to TSN, the Tampa Bay Lightning have replaced assistant coach Wes Waltz with the Jim Johnson, who up until yesterday, was the head coach of the Bolts' minor league affiliate in Norfolk. This may not seem like big news, but according to Hockey Independent contributor WB Philp, this could be a sign of bigger changes to come in the Tampa Bay organization. The bigger story in all of this is that according to sources, head coach Rick Tocchet was not consultant when GM Brian Lawton decided to make the move, and was informed of the decision on Tuesday afternoon. As compensation, Walz was offered the head coach position with the Norfolk Admirals, the job that Johnson was being promo...