What's Wrong with the Tampa Bay Lightning?
Head Coach Barry Melrose Can't Find Way for His Team to Win
Oct 24, 2008
In 2004, the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup. In 2007, they ended the National Hockey League regular season as the worst team in the league. Oh, how the mighty have fallen... and apparently continue to fall.
Lightning Finally Win First Game of Season
To be fair, the Lightning's first win of the season (Oct. 21) came against the mediocre Atlanta Thrashers and, in the game, Tampa Bay owned a 2-0 lead in the game entering the third period only to give up the game-tying goal in the final minute of play. Tampa Bay captain Vincent Lecavalier scored on a power play in overtime to earn the victory for his team.
The win brought an end to a horrendous streak of five winless games to start the season. Retracing the steps even further back may help to shed some light on just how things got this bad for a team that just three-and-a-half years ago was on top of the hockey world.
Melrose Hired
With the departure (or firing, for those pessimists out there) of former head coach John Tortorella for the eventual greener pastures of a TSN studio, Tampa Bay management reached out to former Los Angeles Kings coach Barry Melrose this past off-season. The move was heavily criticized as Melrose wasn't exactly a winning head coach (with Wayne Gretzky on his roster, no less) and the last time he had coached in the NHL was the 1994-1995 season.
A new ownership group led by Oren Koules and Len Barrie clearly hoped to make an impression early on, and they succeeded. But, like a flatulent blind date, it was a horrible first one.
Malone, Roberts Climb Aboard Sinking Ship
Former Pittsburgh Penguins Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts' rights were shipped to the Lightning allowing the Lightning the exclusive opportunity to talk and negotiate new contracts with the two players. Soon, former Phoenix Coyote Radim Vrbata and former Thrasher Mark Recchi were signed as well. Former Washington Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig also joined Tampa Bay's ranks and pretty soon the team had not only gotten a face lift, but a heart transplant.
If anything, the team was largely expected (including by yours truly) to put up a lot of goals with their recent offensive injection into the lineup, but give up a lot in the process with an aging Kolzig and an unproven Mike Smith in between the pipes and an inexperienced defensive corps in front of them. In practice, however, just the opposite has happened. While the defense has left a lot to be desired, the team's goaltending has been sharp, allowing just 14 goals in 6 games, but the offense is currently last in the league, laying claim to only 11 up to this point in the season. So, the original question remains. What's wrong with the Lightning?
Lecavalier, St. Louis off to Slow Start
Lecavalier currently has only four points. Former Hart Trophy winner Martin St. Louis is leading the team with five. Unfortunately, the two are just two years removed from 100-point seasons each. With leadership like this, it's little wonder that people are already questioning whether or not last June's first-round draft pick Steven Stamkos is a bust, with no points just six games into his young career.
Of course, despite giving Stamkos an average of 10 minutes of ice time each game, Melrose has also given a vote of confidence to his young player, saying he won't return him to his junior team at any point this year, which prompts the following question: In such an instance, if a coach is on shaky ground himself, is he just pulling the player down along with him?
In all fairness and realism, it's far too early to be saying that Melrose is on thin ice (pardon the obvious hockey pun). And perhaps it is too early to conclude that the Lightning won't make the playoffs this year. Before their first win, the team had appeared in three-straight overtime games, making them "undefeated" in a total of four. If the Lightning were the Detroit Red Wings instead, no one of sane frame of mind would be thinking they were struggling. In fact, most would probably think that they were on a roll. Again, it all depends on perspective.
Officially, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the 26th-best team in the league (or fifth-worst, again depending on your philosophical views). In any case, with only the one win to their credit, they certainly have a long way to go before they even begin to find themselves on the road back to respectability, let alone another championship.
