Tampa Bay Lightning 2009 Season Preview, Picks & Odds

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Tampa Bay Lightning 2008-’09 record:
24-40-18, 66 points (5th in Southeast, 14th in East)

Tampa Bay Lightning 2008-’09 playoffs:
Did not qualify

It was Murphy’s Law incarnate last season in Tampa. New ownership made a huge splash by signing a bunch of talent and hiring ESPN analyst Barry Melrose to run the team. Even better, the Lightning had the #1 overall draft pick, talented center Steven Stamkos, at their disposal. Pundits were picking the improved Lighning as a playoff team and hopes were high.

Then the season began. Melrose was fired in the early going, injuries mounted, the new owners had to go into mediation that resulted in one buying the other out and the Lightning finished with a 24-40-18 record and an unbelievable amount of egg on their face. The biggest highlight of the season was when they didn’t have to play any more games. In short, 2008-2009 was an unmitigated disaster for the Lightning.

Tampa Bay Lightning 2009 Preview

Tampa Bay Lightning General manager: Brian Lawton (24-40-18, 2nd NHL year, 1st team)

Tampa Bay Lightning Coach: Rick Tocchet (19-33-14, 2nd NHL year, 1st team)

Tampa Bay Lightning Captain: Vincent Lecavalier

Tampa Bay Lightning Top Returning Scorer: RW Martin St. Louis (30 goals, 50 assists, 80 points)

Tampa Bay Lightning Top Returning Goalie: Mike Smith (14-18-9, 2.62, .916)

Tampa Bay Lightning Key Additions: D Mattias Ohlund; D Matt Walker; LW Stephane Veilleux; D Kurtis Foster; G Antero Niittymaki; LW Todd Fedoruk; LW Drew Miller; LW Alex Tanguay.

Tampa Bay Lightning Key Subtractions: LW David Koci; D Richard Petiot; D Brandon Segal; D Noah Welch; D Cory Murphy; RW Jason Ward; LW Vaclav Prospal; D David Hale; LW Radim Vrbata; RW Evgeny Artyukhin; LW Matt Pettinger; D Marek Malik; D Josef Melichar.

Tampa Bay Lightning Top Line: LW Ryan Malone, C Steven Stamkos; RW Martin St. Louis

Tampa Bay Lightning Top Defensive Pairing: Victor Hedman, Mattias Ohlund

The strength of this team will be their offense. Diminutive winger Marty St. Louis had an exceptional season last year, potting 30 goals and putting up 80 points on a terrible team. St. Louis is simply a fantastic player with a motor that never quits. Stamkos also had a strong finish to the season and ended up with 23 goals. Expect him to build upon his strong finish this season. Also expect a rebound year from captain Vinny Lecavalier, whose numbers were some of the worst in his career last year. With rugged winger Ryan Malone and Tanguay also available, there should be enough talent here for two really good lines.

However, the defense is going to be a question mark again. Ohlund is an excellent player but he’s going to be paired with a rookie and I don’t care how good Hedman is going to be, he’s still going to struggle at times as an 18 year old. Behind them, there isn’t really a lot of top-end talent and don’t expect much help scoring outside of Ohlund and perhaps Hedman. I just don’t think that the Lightning improved enough after finished 27 th in goals allowed last year.

The problem is exacerbated by their weakness in net. Niittymaki is a solid goalie but he’s never really held down a #1 goalie position at the NHL level. Mike Smith played well at times last year but he’s in the same situation as Niittymaki in terms of starting experience. In short, both have a lot of talent, both will probably play a lot and both will face a ton of shots this season.

2009 Tampa Bay Lightning Goaltending:

One of the many things that went wrong for the Lightning last season was when Smith was lost for the season after suffering a January concussion. The former Dallas backup was one of the few bright spots up until that point, using huge 6-foot-3, 210 pound frame to fill net in butterfly stance. Drops down a little too much, though and teams began to take advantage of this flaw.

2009 Tampa Bay Lightning Player To Watch:

D Victor Hedman. Played like a man among boys last season, even though he was a boy playing in a men’s league, the Swedish Elitserin. Named top rookie after posting plus-21 rating, third-best in league. Huge (6-6, 220) blue-liner is skilled and mobile on his skates. The complete package.

2009 Tampa Bay Lightning Offense:

Stability with Tocchet behind the bench can only be a plus for the Lightning, who fired coach Barry Melrose last season just 16 games into the season. Lecavalier is all over the Lightning record book, topping the team in career goals (302), assists (367), points (669), power-play goals (85), game-winning goals (47) and games (787). He will be able to mentor Stamkos, last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick, who finished with 32 points (19 goals, 13 assists) in his final 39 games. He had only 14 points in the first 40 games.

Tampa Bay Lightning 2009 Season Predictions

What didn’t go wrong for this team last season? And there’s still unresolved ownership issues to be dealt with. Count on the Lightning being struck down again this season.

We predict that the Tampa Bay Lightning will finish 5th in the NHL Southeast, 14th seed in East: 79 points.

Tampa Bay Lightning Betting

Tampa Bay Lightning Stanley Cup Odds: +6000
Tampa Bay Lightning Eastern Conference Odds: +3000
Tampa Bay Lightning Southeast Odds: +1000

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