2010-11 NHL Season Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning

For years the Tampa Bay Lightning have had one of the most intense offensive squads in the NHL. Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Steve Stamkos all have 50-goal, 100-point potential and supporting characters Steve Downie and Ryan Malone are each capable of 20-30 goals each.

Aside from that, the Tampa Bay Lightning has not been good for much. The defense typically lacks and they have not had a bona fide number one goaltender since Nikolai Khabibulin vacated Florida following Tampa Bay's 2004 Stanley Cup victory. With new General Manager Steve Yzerman at the helm, however, there is finally reason to believe in the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Support the Big Guns
One of Tampa's biggest problems has been finding depth in scoring. Last season the Lightning should have had two impossibly good scoring lines in Ryan Malone - Steve Stamkos - Martin St. Louis and Alex Tanguay - Vincent Lecavalier - Steve Downie. The Stamkos, St. Louis, Malone line was fantastic last season, but the second line was terrible aside from Steve Downie.

For the past few seasons the incredibly talented Vincent Lecavalier has lost his step. There is no reason a player of his caliber should be hitting only 70 points over the course of a full season, and a bounce back to form will give a lot of people reason to watch Tampa play again.

Alex Tanguay was also a complete non-factor with only 37 points. In a good year Tanguay is capable of 80-plus points, and should at least reach 50 points most seasons. Somehow Tanguay just did not work with the Lightning, which is strange considering the high talent level.

Taking Alex Tanguay's place for the 2010-11 NHL season will be two-time 40-goal scorer Simon Gagne. Gagne, when he is not nursing injuries, is one of the premier snipers in the NHL and exactly the kind of player that can provide support for Vincent Lecavalier. Gagne is also used to rough and tumble players like Steve Downie playing on his line, as Simon Gagne has spent his entire career up to this point with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Defensive Rebuild
The offense is not the part that needs work, though. Tampa Bay had a gaping hole through their blue line that allowed opposing teams to score goals almost at will last year. Only four defensemen from last year, those being Victor Hedman, Mattias Ohlund, Paul Ranger and Mike Lundin, will be back.

Steve Yzerman has taking a bold stance on the issue, and only two free agent defensemen are being brought in. The first is Pavel Kubina, who was fantastic during the 2004 Stanley Cup run that the Tampa Bay Lightning had. Kubina should provide an excellent power play presence on the point and should provide a scoring punch from the back end that Tampa lacked last year.

The other addition is Brett Clark, formerly of the Colorado Avalanche. Clark is a dependable blue liner, though he is not going to set the world on fire. Brett Clark will likely serve primarily as a checker, but power play time should not be ruled out if injuries hit.

Two Number Twos
The most confusing move Steve Yzerman has made is the addition of career backup goaltender Dan Ellis to complement incumbent backup Mike Smith. Neither goaltender has much experience in the NHL.

What most do not realize is that only two seasons ago Dan Ellis won the Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award with the highest save percentage in the NHL. Many expected Ellis to become a full time starter with the Nashville Predators, but the emergence of Pekka Rinne (who is both younger and cheaper than Ellis) led to Dan Ellis staying as the number two. Dan Ellis has the talent to be a number one, now he has the opportunity.

Still Rebuilding
Steve Yzerman is only in his first year as a General Manager in the NHL. Instant success should not be expected. The good news is that Yzerman, even in his playing days, is a very calculating person and proved he has what it takes to find success by assembling an Olympic Gold Medal winning Team Canada in 2010.

With that said, Yzerman has a few too many experiments going right now to expect much of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Their top two lines, as usual, are fantastic on paper, but they lack depth. Center Dominic Moore and wingers Sean Bergenheim and Teddy Purcell could all provide a surprise addition, but it should not be expected. The rest of the line-up will rely mainly on rookies and prospects who may or may not break out.

The goaltending experiment is the one that could leave Tampa Bay Lightning playing golf this spring instead of hockey. Both Mike Smith and Dan Ellis have shown talent, but neither has shown they can sustain themselves over a complete season. Likely, Ellis and Smith will split the season almost evenly. If either one pays off Yzerman will look like a genius, if not he can still fall back on the fact that the Tampa Bay Lightning are not finished rebuilding.

Predicted Standings
Southeast Division: 4^th
Eastern Conference: 11^th
NHL: 24^th

Depth Chart

Forwards
Ryan Malone - Steve Stamkos - Martin St. Louis
Simon Gagne - Vincent Lecavalier - Steve Downie
Sean Bergenheim - Dominic Moore - Teddy Purcell
Nate Thompson - Paul Szczechura - Adam Hall
Chris Durno - James Wright - Marc Pouliot

Defense
Pavel Kubina - Brett Clark
Victor Hedman - Mattias Ohlund
Mike Lundin - Paul Ranger
Matt Smaby - Vladimir Mihalik

Goaltenders
Dan Ellis
Mike Smith

Sources

http://www.nhl.com
http://www.tsn.ca
http://www.espn.com
http://www.hockeydb.com
http://www.nhlnumbers.com