Lightning at it again

The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired Ottawa Senators defenseman Andrej Meszaros yesterday, for Filip Kuba, Alexandre Picard, and San Jose's 1st round pick that was acquired in the Dan Boyle trade. A valuable pick in a very deep draft.

Meszaros then signed a 6 year, (rumoured to be) $24 million deal with the Lightning. They have now acquired Brandon Bochenski, Ryan Malone (for 7 years, haha), Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts (good luck getting close to 82 games out of them), Radim Vrbata (for 3 years, he's a labelled underachiever as Malone is), Andrew Hutchinson, Matt Carle, Olaf Kolzig (his career's all but over), and re-acquired Vinny Prospal. They also drafted phenom Steven Stamkos, who's the one acquisition who truly will shine.

"The acquisition and signing of Andrej is a strong statement to our players and our fans that the Lightning ownership group is committed to putting the best product on the ice now and for years to come," said executive vice-president of hockey operations Brian Lawton in a statement.

"I'm excited to be joining the Lightning," Meszaros said. "I'm extremely happy to be heading to Tampa Bay and I can't wait to take advantage of this opportunity. We should have a great team and I can not wait to get started.

It could be that the Lightning have made some spectacular moves and have a great team on their hands, but it's also very evident that they have A LOT of question marks on their hands. Guess we'll just wait and see...

Stu Barnes retires, joins Dallas coaching staff

Stu Barnes finished his career as a journeyman, but he should have finished it as a Panther. On November 19, 1996 then Panthers GM Bryan Murray foolishly traded Stu and and Jason Woolley to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Chris Wells. The thinking at the time, even though Barnes helped lead the Panthers to the previous season's Cup Finals, was that they needed a bigger top-line forward to go up against the monstrous Eric Lindros. Wells turned out to be quite a bust as he couldn't skate and nor did he have the skill set to actually play in the NHL.

That trade still haunts the Panthers to this day as it pushed them to make other bad trades to try and make up for the Wells trade. Wells played only 4 years for the Panthers, logging only 25 points during that tenure. Harldy the results expected from a player who garnered that kind of a return.

Barnes, on the other hand, went on to play another 10 seasons for the Buffalo Sabres and the Dallas Stars. He logged another 389 points during that tenure. He unfortunately never won the Cup.

Thanks Stu for so many years of hard work!

Sharks lock up a pickle

Marc-Edouard Vlasic has signed a 4 year, $12.4 million contract with the San Jose Sharks. Vlasic is a talented young defenseman who is an important piece to the Sharks future.

"Marc-Edouard is one of the top young defenceman in the game and we are excited to have him in to fold for the next several years," said Sharks GM Doug Wilson. "He has a tremendous future with this franchise and we look forward to watching his continued development."

Sakic set to return for his 20th season

Future Hall-of-Famer Joe Sakic has signed a one year, 6 million dollar deal with the Colorado Avalanche today. After the '06-'07 season, he quickly signed a one year, this past season, though, it took Sakic until today to be sure he wanted to continue to his career.

"Ultimately it came down to the fact that I still enjoy playing and competing," the 39-year-old captain said in a statement released by the team. "I'm comfortable with my conditioning and my overall health.
"I'm ready for the start of camp and am looking forward to the upcoming season."

Have to love this quote by Ian Laperrire:

"Everybody was starting to worry what Joe was going to do," forward Ian Laperriere said. "It's great news for more than one reason.
'What he brings to the ice, everyone knows, Joe is Joe. But what he brings to the locker room, the respect, everybody's so calm when he's around. That's what he brings that people don't see."

Plenty of other teams phoned Colorado GM Francois Giguere to see if they could have permission to speak to Sakic. Joe told Giguere to inform that they'd be wasting their time. Joe wants to go out as an Av.

Now, they're waiting on Forsberg's decision as to whether he'll play next year or not. Could be a another long, drawn out decision.

The Islanders have new coach

In a story I'm behind on, the Islanders have hired Scott Gordon as their new head coach. Gordon, 45, previously coached the Providence Bruins of the AHL and led the team to a 55-18-3 record last season. According to GM Garth Snow, Gordon stood out to them over John Tortorella Former Lightning coach) and Paul Maurice (formerly of Hurricanes and Leafs coach). Others interviewed for the position as well.

After being somewhat successful with a mediocre team, the Islanders fired Ted Nolan.

Ah, the good ole' Islanders!

Looks like Legein really has walked away...

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=246953&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_nhl

The Columbus Blue Jackets got some shocking news on Tuesday when they
learned that prospect Stefan Legein has
decided to quit playing hockey.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, the Blue
Jackets were informed of Legein's decision by his agent Doug Woods, telling them
he won't be at training camp and has decided to hang up his skates at the age of
19.
Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson confirmed the report to the
Dispatch but when contacted by the newspaper, Legein's mother said she hadn't
heard the news while his father denied the report.
"Until September 20th
(when training camp opens), he hasn't quit anything," Legein's father
said.
In response to the speculation about his future, Legein offered the
following statement:
"I'd like for everyone to stop bashing my father, my
family, and me personally," said Legein. "My family has been amazing. They
have supported me and never forced me to do anything and to say its their fault
is ridiculous."
"Take the time to talk to me before you accuse me of being
addicted to anything, even if it's coffee," Legein continued. "I realize
you're going to speculate but please don't bash my character and especially my
family."
Legein is a second round pick, 37th overall, of the Blue Jackets in
the 2007 Entry Draft.
He registered 24 goals and 13 assists for 37 points
with 80 penalty minutes and was a plus- 12 in 30 games with the Niagara IceDogs
of the Ontario Hockey League this season. He ranked fourth on the club in goals
and tied for sixth in points, while his eight power play goals ranked third and
four shorthanded goals were tied for second.
Legein made his international
debut with Canada at the 2007 Canada-Russia Super Series, scoring three goals in
helping Canada wrap of the series with the championship. He also helped Canada
win its fourth-straight gold medal at the Under-20 tournament in January.

Legein Retired???

A report, picked up by TSN.ca, says that Columbus Blue jacket 2007 2nd round pick Stefan Legeit has decided to walk away from hockey...at only 19! Legein's parents, however, have said that Stefan hasn't quite anything and is still planning on attending the BJ's training camp in September.

He registered 24 goals and 13 assists for 37 points with 80 penalty minutes
and was a plus- 12 in 30 games with the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey
League this season. He ranked fourth on the club in goals and tied for sixth in
points, while his eight power play goals ranked third and four shorthanded goals
were tied for second.