Well, by now we've all had our fair share of "Steve Yzerman is the Lightning GM" stories. There have been some incredible posts out there regarding how much Yzerman meant to the Red Wings and the fans. Any one of the blogs in my blogroll will contain something that will move you. I myself find that I am still wrestling with the fact that he is no longer employed by he Red Wings. However, there's no question that he will always be known as a Wing, no matter what great deeds he accomplishes in Tampa.
Which brings me to the reason for this post. What exactly is Stevie getting himself into? I'm going to take a break from recapping the Wings' season by bringing a different perspective on what Yzerman has in store for him now that all the introductions are done. He's got work to do, and we all want to see him do well. So, here is my little preview of where the Lightning stand now (with a very large thanks to TSN for the info). I'm going to preface this by saying that I know very little about the Lightning, so a lot of this will just be me talking out of my ass.
Goaltending - According to TSN, the only signed NHL-ready goalie the Lightning have is Mike Smith. At first glance, I'm not overly familiar with him except that I know he was the backup in Dallas for a while. I checked out his numbers from last year and saw that they were fairly pedestrian: a record of 13-18-7 with a GAA of 3.09 and a SV% of .900. Not great numbers, but not Vesa Toskala-bad either. Their other goalie (Antero Nittymaki) is a FA, and his numbers were better. Who knows whether he will re-signed. I checked out the FA goalies that are available, and this year could be the year to sign someone. There are some good ones out there, including both goalies from this year's SCF (Antti Niemi and Michael Leighton). Both of them are RFA, but we all know that Chicago is in cap trouble (tee hee) so they may not match any offers to Niemi if they are high enough, and just get some draft picks instead. It looks to me like Stevie is going to have shore up the net for the Lightning going forward.
Defense - Again, according to TSN, the Lightning have 5 NHL defensemen signed for next year. The most notable names to me are Victor Hedman and Mattias Ohlund. Hedman is a guy that the Lightning are going to try and build their blueline around - he's a freaking monster (6'6", 220 lbs) and he's only 19. He's only going to get bigger and stronger, and this is good news for the Lightning. Plus, from what I read about him during the year, he played pretty well, especially for a rookie. Ohlund we all remember from his days as a Canuck, but it looks like he had an off year last year, at least offensively. I've always thought of him as a defenseman that could hold his own in the defensive zone, but was most effective on the PP and creating offense. Last year could have just been an off year for him, and he's under contract again for next year. It looks like he and Hedman make up the first pairing. I remember Andrej Meszaros from the Senators, but nothing about his game stands out to me. TSN certainly didn't think too highly of his game last year, but it sounds like he might be decent on the 2nd pairing. I don't know anything about the other 2 guys they have signed, so I won't try and talk about them. Out of their FA, the only one I really know anything about is Kurtis Foster, because he played here for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL (Atlanta's farm team). I know he's got a howitzer of a shot, but we all remember him breaking his leg, and now he's dealing with the terrible tragedy of losing his infant daughter a few weeks ago. Who knows where his head is at after something like that. Again, there might be some attractive FA out there for Stevie to pursue, including Anton Volchenkov, who seems to be fairly high-sought after for his shot-blocking abilities.
Forwards - This is where I actually know something about this team. Steven Stamkos was amazing this year, tying for the Rocket Richard Trophy with 51 goals in only his second season. He had a rough start to his rookie year, but for the last season-and-a-half, I'd argue he's been one of the top-10 forwards in the NHL. He's clearly who this team is built around (something Yzerman may know a thing or two about). Martin St Louis had a good season as well, and has proven that he is not just some flash-in-the-pan that I thought he was after his MVP season a few years ago. The big question is around Vincent Lecavalier. We all know about the monster deal he still has, and there have been trade rumours about his for a few years. In fact, I still expect him to be traded to the Canadiens any day now. He hasn't had great numbers the past few seasons, but he's still fairly young and if Yzerman confirms that he will not be traded, maybe that will free his mind a little to focus on hockey. The Lightning only have 2 other guys signed from their roster last year, and one of them is an enforcer (Todd Fedoruk) who plays less than 10 minutes a game. It seems like they have some prospects coming up, but my guess is that they are going to be very active with FA. I remember Steve Downie for his hit on Crosby, but I didn't realize he actually put up some decent numbers with Stamkos. Alex Tanguay is a guy that I actually wanted the Wings to look at instead of Bertuzzi, and he really didn't fit in with the Lightning. Maybe he will go elsewhere for a fresh start. There's a lot of depth that needs to be filled in up front, and let's hope Stevie doesn't look at some Wings (Eaves, Miller) as potential pieces.
According to Capgeek, the Lightning have about $21M in cap space but they don't have a lot of players signed. They have the 7th pick in the draft this year, so there's going to be a lot of highly-touted prospects still available when it's their turn to draft. Stevie is going to have his work cut out for him, and it remains to be seen what type of team he wants to build. I believe he's going to instill a system similar to what is in Detroit - there will be an emphasis on puck possession, skill, and hard work. It's weird to think about him in this position; having to hire a coach, make trades, release players. He's always been known as one of the nicest, classiest people in the game, and GMs have to make tough decisions that are not always popular. I believe Yzerman has landed in a good position in Tampa, and he will build that team back up into a perennial contender. He has already brought class to the team, as well as experience from being part of the best organization in all of sports. I have no doubts that the Lightning will be Cup contenders in the next 5 years, and Yzerman will win an Executive of the Year award at some point. Once again, for the thousandth time, to Stevie: we're sorry to see you go, but we wish you nothing but success and happiness. Make us all proud.
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