A Different View on Vinny and the Draft

It was not a shock. When the Lightning announced that a compliance buyout would be used on captain Vincent Lecavalier Thursday, it just saddened me.

Yes, the contract was a bad one signed by a pair of horrible former owners. It would be great if the NHL allowed players to renegotiate once during a long-term contract and find a way to stay in a place they want to finish their career. It makes too much sense for the NHL, I guess.

This is not meant to bash anyone. I don’t claim to be an expert. It’s just an opinion and, honestly, it is not an emotional one. The things I disagree the most with that I've heard the last few days are the over-used phrases “It had to be done” and “It’s business.”

I don’t think it had to be done and, to me, when you talk about "business" that would lead me to believe that the Lightning are in trouble financially. That’s not the case. If the owner can commit to paying someone $32.7 million over 14 years for a player to go away, the business is fine.

There were other ways to create space for the next few seasons and keep an impact forward that other teams are salivating over to fill their hole at No. 1 or 2 center. He may get up to $5 million per after the bidding war.

One big reason they could keep Lecavalier’s $7.7 million hit (no, it’s not $10 million) is simply that the salary cap is not going to stay at $64 million forever. In fact, many estimate that it will be over $70 million as early as 2015-16, maybe even next season.

The Lightning could also clear $8.35 million of cap space the next two seasons if they bought out forward Ryan Malone and defenseman Eric Brewer. That would cost ownership about $24 million less than the Lecavalier buyout. Marty St. Louis’ deal ends after the 2014-15 season. Perhaps he retires or signs a cap-friendly, one-year deal for one more shot at a Cup at age 40. Vinny Prospal’s buyout money ($1.116 mil) is also off the books after two more years.

Mattias Ohlund’s contract ends after the 2015-16 season and Steven Stamkos will be ready for his 8-year, $80 million deal.

No doubt, the Lightning are hoping they can strike gold with some of the young players they have developed and will need money to sign them as time goes on. But, again, the cap is going to go up and any good GM has to make choices. Like other teams, some will move on and some won’t. The goal is to find guys like Dominic Moore, Sean Bergenheim, Tom Pyatt and Nate Thompson who outperform their contracts. That creates space.

There are ways to keep Lecavalier around for the final five, six or seven years. You hope he can be productive for seven more seasons, but if he retires after five you can bite the bullet for a few years. Don’t forget, you’re not paying him those seasons he is retired. You just have to deal with the penalty cap number and I don't think you should worry about something a half decade away. The cap is likely to be around $80 million by then and there can’t be a lockout.

Ultimately, the compliance buyout doesn’t earn them $7.7 million of space. They have to replace his skill and playmaking ability. He was the team’s best player in the first 15 games or so last season until a Sami Salo slap shot hit him in the foot and I’m not the only person to say that. Young players like Alex Killorn and Richard Panik seemed to work well with him. They may also ultimately have to pay another top-four defenseman good money.

It’s just my opinion. But I think it was a better option to just leave a Tampa icon in the lineup among the group of players you build around led by Stamkos, Victor Hedman and the third pick in the 2013 draft.

We’ll see what happens going forward. But I will miss Vinny, who is one of the classiest athletes I have ever been around in my 28 years of covering sports.

Mark’s Mock

I don’t remember a big buzz leading up to the 2003 NHL Draft. Ten years later, it’s recognized as the best group of players to ever enter the league.

This year’s crop of teenagers has been compared to that class, which produced such dynamite second-round picks as Shea Weber, Patrice Bergeron and Jimmy Howard. A decade from now we will see how deep this draft really is, but there’s no doubt the evaluation will start with five so called “can’t-miss” players at the top.

Nathan MacKinnon, Seth Jones, Jonathan Drouin, Aleksander Barkov and Valeri Nichushkin are recognized by most experts as elite prospects. Put them in any order. It’s not out of the question one slips to sixth, seventh or eighth because of needs, but all of them could be in the NHL next season.

Once you get past the first seven or eight players, anything can happen. Projections are all over the place. Goalie Zachary Fucale is the big wildcard. But after soaking up all the knowledge I can without interviewing players or watching tons of tape, here’s another mock draft. Why not? It’s fun. I expect there to be several trades, but here’s a guess if it stays the same:

Colorado – Seth Jones D Portland. My take is the Avalanche want to see if Florida will give them something to be able to take MacKinnon at No.1. I could totally be wrong. But you notice Joe Sakic is saying “if the draft were today” we will take a forward. A defenseman like Jones doesn’t come along very often though and the Avs could use one badly.

Florida – Nathan MacKinnon C Halifax. The Panthers let out a sigh of relief and grab MacKinnon to form a solid 1-2 punch at centre with Jonathan Huberdeau. If MacKinnon is gone, they just take Jones and smile.

Tampa Bay – Jonathan Drouin LW, Halifax. Nichushkin would be a good pick. So would Barkov for that matter. It’s just hard to pass on a player with Drouin’s skill and he just seems to be scratching the surface. The Lightning can add more size through trades.

Nashville – Aleksander Barkov C, Finland. The Predators need offense and they have to be better down the middle. Enter Barkov, who was one of the best players in the Finnish Elite League at 17.

Carolina – Valeri Nichushkin LW, Russia. The Hurricanes will find a spot in the top six for the powerful forward in 2013-14 and hope he can produce right away playing with a Staal brother.

Calgary – Sean Monahan C, Ottawa. The Flames start a busy first round by choosing a solid pivot who could be productive as a No. 1 or 2 down the road.

Edmonton – Darnell Nurse D, Sault St. Marie. The Oilers need to keep building up their defense and this physical force fits the bill perfectly.

Buffalo -- Elias Lindholm C, Sweden. The Sabres play it safe with a solid, two-way center who looks to be the type of player you win with.

New Jersey – Hunter Shinkaruk C/LW, Medicine Hat. My guess is the Devils will attempt to move down five spots or less and add an extra pick then choose Fucale as their goalie of the future. Maybe they just take him here. If not, they take a good offensive player.

Dallas – Bo Horvat C, London. The Stars could go any number of ways, which may cause them to move down a bit. But they go with the better all-around player after considering offensive forwards Max Domi and Anthony Mantha.

Philadelphia – Nikita Zadorov D, London. Could go with several different types of defensemen here, or maybe even Fucale, but perhaps the Russian monster fits.

Phoenix – Anthony Mantha LW, Val d’Or. The Coyotes need offense bad and here’s a 50-goal scorer from the Quebec League that may have more upside than Domi.

Winnipeg -- Max Domi C London. Tie’s son is a pretty darn good offensive player who can fit into the top nine for the Jets at some point.

Columbus -- Rasmus Ristolainen D, Finland. You can never have enough steady defenseman and the Blue Jackets have two more picks in the first round to grab some forwards.

NY Islanders – Valentin Zykov RW, Baie-Comeau. Hard-working Russian with good size who can score adds to the depth of the forward corps.

Buffalo – Ryan Pulock D, Brandon. The Sabres go with a forward their first selection, so they add an offensive defenseman with good size.

Ottawa – Alexander Wennberg C, Sweden. The Senators are looking for offense and this guy has good speed and creativity. Ottawa has had good luck with Swedes as well.

Detroit -- Curtis Lazar C, Edmonton. He fits the Red Wings mold with his character and an all-around game. He could go as early as nine or 10.

Columbus – Kerby Rychel  LW, Windsor. The Blue Jackets think about Fucale and another defenseman, but turn to a power forward who can score and has NHL pedigree.

San Jose – Samuel Morin D, Rimouski. Sharks grab a player who could go much higher if a particular team loves his upside. He is 6-7 and has good mobility.

Toronto – Ryan Hartman RW, Plymouth. An agitating-type player with a consistent game. He played well in helping the United States win the World Junior Championship.

Calgary – Zachary Fucale G, Halifax. If the Devils, Flyers, Sabres and the Islanders don’t grab the Memorial Cup winning netminder, GM Jay Feaster looks to the heavens and gets to the podium quick to take this winner.

Washington – Frederick Gauthier C Rimouski. The Capitals could use a player like Gauthier, who has good size and the ability to fill a third-line center role.

Vancouver – Josh Morrissey D, Prince Albert. The Canucks need a lot of things, but a puck-moving defenseman who can play on the power play in the future is one of them.

Montreal – Adam Erne LW, Quebec. The Canadiens can use more speed and size and this Connecticut-born player may provide it in a few years.

Anaheim – Madison Bowey D, Kelowna. There are several different types of defensemen on the board and the Ducks go for perhaps the best athlete of the bunch.

Columbus – Andre Burakowsky LW, Sweden. The Blue Jackets are in the position to take a chance here with their third pick and grab a potential top-six forward who did not play much this season for various reasons.

Calgary – Shea Theodore D, Seattle. The Flames take an offensive defenseman who needs to get better in his own end to complete a productive first round.

Dallas – Ian McCoshen D Waterloo. A shutdown, workhorse defenseman who can provide more room for the Stars’ skilled players.

Chicago – Jacob De La Rose C Sweden. The Stanley Cup champs could take more of a project here, but a safe, solid pick like this works as well.

Building the Bridge to a Better - 2012 Movies

It’s been a struggle to put a blog together for the last few months.

I would not call it writer’s block. Not sure what to blame. There have just been several thoughts bouncing around in my head about issues and when I sat down to form an opinion piece it was difficult to make it fresh, clear and simple.

So I’m going to make it easier on myself and build a bridge to better blogs next week about the NHL Draft and the rest of the summer. I’m emptying the notebook. Here’s a bunch of thoughts on the Lightning, other sports and the best 2012 movies:

·      I was very disappointed in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s season. In my opinion, the roster was good enough to make them at least an eighth seed in the playoffs. Ultimately, the Bolts have still yet to find a way to control their goals-against average. Goaltending is just one of many issues. It’s more about the way they played. That gambling mentality with the puck, the inability to clear the zone simply, poor decision-making in key areas on the ice, the lack of enough puck possession caused by turnovers and losing too many board battles all contributed to their downfall. Some key players just did not get it done, or were inconsistent, and perhaps that forced coach Guy Boucher to over react at times and make it worse.

·       I believe Boucher will be a really good NHL hockey coach down the road. Honestly, I think he might have been a good choice for Colorado. He did some tremendous things here and he should learn from the experience. I’m certainly not in the locker room and the coaches’ room, so nobody knows what went on. My only concern was what I saw in the defensive zone coverage at times (no, not talking about the overblown 1-3-1!). Opponents were left wide open way too often. Was it more his plan or players making mistakes and losing battles? Who knows for sure? There were times that perhaps Boucher seemed to make the game a little too complicated. But again, it would not surprise me in the least to see him grab the Stanley Cup and hoist it over his head some day.

*

·       New coach Jon Cooper’s challenge will be to develop an aggressive style of play that uses the team’s abundance of creativity and skill while limiting the – often unforced – turnovers that plagued the team. The teams that I watched in the playoffs did not resemble the Lightning very much. Some of them weren’t very good offensively, but they went North-South and didn’t give up the puck at their own blue line or in the neutral zone easily.

·       This might be a more important offseason for Bolts GM Steve Yzerman than his first with the team. The organizational depth is so much better now and he has some solid young assets he could trade to fill key needs. Yzerman must retool or tweak the defense and the forward corps and stay under the cap. A top-four defenseman (is Keith Yandle available?) and a strong-skating power forward for the top nine would help. He will have to make some decisions on Ryan Malone, Eric Brewer and Benoit Pouliot. To me, I don’t understand the talk about buying out Vincent Lecavalier. It doesn’t make sense financially or on the ice. He was one of the team’s best players last season when he didn’t have the foot injury.

·       This will be one of the most interesting drafts in recent memory on June 30 in Newark, N.J. Only the NSA knows what the boards of the teams with the top five picks say outside their rooms. Colorado threw a curveball the other day by saying it would not pick defenseman Seth Jones. I think the Avs might be playing games, but Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin are incredible players. For the last month, you figured the Lightning would be choosing between Drouin, Valeri Nichushkin and Sasha Barkov at No. 3. Who knows now? Here’s the thing for the Bolts. Nichushkin’s size, speed and power might be exactly what the Lightning needs, but Drouin is an amazing talent who is hard to pass on. Not an easy choice. If Jones is there, it would only make it harder.

·       The first NHL draft was 50 years ago on June 5. This will be the 51st. Every draft on a year ending in a three has been memorable. Garry Monahan was the first pick in 1963 by Montreal in the four-round draft. Denis Potvin went first in 1973 and several future players and executives/coaches were chosen including John Davidson, Bob Gainey, Dave Lewis, Cap Raeder and Colin Campbell along with Tom Pyatt’s father Nelson. Brian Lawton went No. 1 to Minnesota and Sylvain Turgeon to Hartford at No. 2 in 1983. Oops. The Islanders scooped up Pat LaFontaine, the Red Wings chose Yzerman and Tom Barrasso went to Buffalo. John MacLean and Russ Courtnall, two 1,000-game players, went next. Brian Burke traded up to No. 2 to grab Chris Pronger for the Whalers after Ottawa took underwhelming Alexandre Daigle first. The Lightning picked Chris Gratton third and Paul Kariya went fourth to Anaheim. Many think the 2003 draft might have been the best of all time with such standouts as Patrice Bergeron, Shea Weber, David Backes, Corey Crawford and Jimmy Howard going after pick No. 44 in the second round after a first round filled with talent. Unfortunately, the Lightning picked Mike Egener at 34 and Matt Smaby at 41 that year. The 2013 draft has five elite prospects and good depth.

·      It still irks me when I see how hard Gary Bettman is working to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale, Ariz. He will say it’s different because there was an owner in place and the state government went along with it in Connecticut, but the Commish spent little time trying to figure out ways to keep the only major sports franchise the state will ever have around. Hartford was like any other small market. When the team won, the place was hopping. When they weren’t, the 10,000 diehards were there. State officials thought they could get the New England Patriots, so they discarded the Whalers. If Bettman had dragged it out longer and made them realize Bob Kraft would never move the team to Hartford, perhaps the Whalers would still be in Hartford. But he bailed.

·      I wasn’t going to watch much of this NHL final because of my dislike for the Boston Bruins organization, but it’s been difficult to look away. The first four games have been so much more exciting than last year’s snoozer of a series between the Kings and Devils. But please, not another Cup for the Bruins. I’m counting on you “Steady” Joel Quenneville.

·       Hey David Stern. The WWE wants its referees back now that the NBA finals are over.

·       After further review, I am on board with the Darrelle Revis move for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Perhaps Tampa can change the name of Davis Island to Revis Island? The concern I have with the Buccaneers is still depth.

·       Can’t see the Tampa Bay Rays going anywhere again this season. Getting the right return for David Price in a trade is the key to their future, along with a new stadium. You wonder if they wasted a chance to deal B.J. Upton for something last season, but maybe they weren’t offered anything significant.

·       My analysis of 2012 movies is done. Finally. It took me a while to see almost every highly-rated movie I could and watch the top films a second and third time. Overall, it was not a great year for movies. The worst – Prometheus, Rock of Ages, Cosmopolis, Killer Joe, Taken 2, Killing Them Softly, Cloud Atlas, Les Miserables and This is 40; Top Honorable mention – The Master, Ted, Bernie, Trouble with the Curve, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Act of Valor; Top 25 -- 25. Goon; 24. Not Fade Away; 23. The Avengers; 22. End of Watch; 21. Arbitrage; 20. Seven Psychopaths; 19. The Sessions; 18. Bourne Legacy; 17. Parental Guidance; 16. Perks of Being a Wallflower; 15. Ruby Sparks; 14. Promised Land; 13. Looper; 12. Searching for Sugarman; 11. Premium Rush; Note -- Not everyone would like Perks and Ruby, but something in the uniqueness of both made them work for me and Sugarman should probably be higher. Great documentary…….. 10. Dark Knight Rises – Anne Hathaway should have won an Oscar for this supporting role instead of the other; 9. The Hunger Games – Jennifer Lawrence was superior in this as well; 8. Moonrise Kingdom – goofy, quirky little comedy; 7. Skyfall – Best Bond in a while. Bardem is a great villain; 6. Django Unchained -- Incredibly rich scenes and characters, but editing was needed to make it better; 5. Flight – liked it more the third and fourth times I watched it. Great performance by Denzel Washington; 4. Lincoln – The changes in some of the history for no reason annoyed me, but still a powerful film; 3. Zero Dark Thirty – Jessica Chastain was brilliant. Kept switching it between third and second; 2. Argo – Alan Arkin and John Goodman’s performances helped a lot along with the pulsating ending; 1 – Silver Linings Playbook – Liked it the first time, and then realized how truly good it was the second and third viewings. It passed the Jim Valvano test with As in all categories. It made you laugh, it made you think and it made you cry. That’s why it was the best of the year.

-    Mark Pukalo