February 2 , 2008

 

 

 

TAMPA - Now it's the "Big 3" on the same line.

 

For a team that was supposed to be a threat to the Southeast Division title in the National Hockey League, the Lightning have sure made everyone else look good. That's what happens when you are looking up instead of down.

 

It's a good thing to look down on people in this case because the higher up you are the better chance you have to run the table. Sadly, Tampa Bay is losing interest in a team that is not far removed from hoisting the Holy Grail of sports, the Stanley Cup.

 

Before training camp I believed like many others there was enough talent here to make a big run. Not just in the regular season but beyond.

 

So much for evaluating talent on my part.

 

There are those who will point to the salary cap as the Bolts downfall, being a few million under. Maybe so, but that was just one brick of the foundation. Many more have disappeared and the franchise is on the verge of sinking - literally and figuratively.

 

Saturday night the Panthers came a-calling and while the luster has dulled on the once bitter rivalry, not many could have thought on February 2nd that Florida would have a better record (23-25-5) than the hometown heroes (21-26-5).

 

There is a trade deadline approaching and no one in the clubhouse knows whether is will be a fire sale or a chance to add talent, and salary, to make a playoff push.

 

The players also sense that the potential sale of the team, while not directly affecting what happens on the ice, is a big distraction. No one will admit it only the lack of concentration from game to game, period to period, minute to minute and even second to second is evident to anyone who knows the game and sees it.

 

I have also been critical of coach John Tortorella who has displayed more sides this year than a woman addicted to Mydol. Only a fly on the proverbial wall could shed light on the clubhouse atmosphere but if he is trying to get to his players by using the media, it sure isn't working.

 

I have always wondered if he is being tuned out.

 

Since I began covering the team, I could never understand why a man in Tortorella's position would throw players under the bus. And sometimes that has come after victories.

 

Torts is genuinely a nice guy. But how can you explain the yo-yo of emotions that are ever present at press conferences after games? If he does the same in the clubhouse, I cannot blame the players for being schizophrenic.

 

Morning skates, of which I could never understand anyway, sometimes turn into a battleground between head coach and players depending on whether the win was good enough or the degree of the previous loss.

 

The Lightning have show a propensity to come out flat and then find their stride later in the game, sometime too late to overcome a big deficit.

 

Other nights it is a house afire opening only to fall flatter than a soufflé at a day care center.

 

I won't even get into the goaltending because no one has been happy since the departure of another brick, Nikolai Khabibulin, including the Chicago Blackhawks who now own his rights. If it wasn't for someone standing there some could reason the Lightning have been playing open net hockey since the salary cap went into effect.

 

To be honest, I still miss hearing Pink Floyd over the over amplified speakers when Nik made the big save.

 

I could never figure out why players have to drag themselves out of bed at six or so to get to the arena for a skate, go home and have to come back later in the day to play a game. It may be part of hockey tradition but if you want to make a point, I would not think you do it on game-day.

 

John Tortorella has tried every line combination possible and usually has a quip or two ready for the firing if something didn't go right at the 13:42 mark of the second.

 

Forget that the line he put on the ice combined for some gaudy number, it's the one goal that was scored while they were out there that has the hairs on his neck standing on end.

 

The word "consistency" has disappeared from the Lightning lexicon.

 

Is it any one thing or a combination of things. You can judge for yourself but the leak in the boat cannot be fixed until it is pulled into dry dock.

 

Does that mean Tortorella has to go? Not necessarily.

 

The organization has a lot invested in the way things are done but how can you overlook the verbal shots he took at team president Tom Wilson when the original sale of the team came to light?

 

There are whispers of bad blood over the incident and before Oren Koules and OK Hockey ever gets to finalize the $200 million or so deal, Wilson could undermine Tortorella's power base. Wilson could very easily throw GM Jay Feaster under the trolley that runs outside the Forum as well. Guilty by association maybe.

 

Things could get very ugly before they get better.

 

Tortorella is about out of options and has now thrown his three marquee players, Martin St. Louis, Vinny Lecavalier and Brad Richards on the same line together leaving Vinny Prospal and his twenty-goals to fend for himself along with the rest of the team.

 

It is a huge gamble. It paid off the first time they saw ice together although you have to look at the long term ramifications. A playoff berth could hang in the balance and thereby the jobs of Feaster and Tortorella.

 

The NHL trade deadline is the 26th at three in the afternoon leaving a little over three weeks to decide to go the buyer or seller route. We do know the team is for sale even though the exclusivity deadline has passed on that one.

 

Whatever the outcome, hockey fans in the Tampa Bay area and beyond are sitting back waiting for something, anything to happen. Until then, the status quo is leading to a lot of empty seats in the loudest building on the NHL circuit.

 

And if they're not careful, the few that come out on March 31st for the final regular season home game will be stealing the line from the old Brooklyn Dodgers: "Wait until next year."