HockeyStamkos, Lightning lock-in, plus 30 thoughts

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Tampa Bay Lightning centre Steven Stamkos, front, looks up toward the scoreboard after scoring a goal during NHL action this season. The 21-year-old signed a five-year, $37.5 million US deal with the Lightning Tuesday. (David Goldman/Associated Press)

This is the final 30 Thoughts for the season, with the blog set to return in September. Sorry it's so late, but sometimes life gets in the way (moving is the worst).

Wanted to end things by saying "thank-you" to you, the reader. When it's 4 a.m. Monday, I'm stuck on No. 27, my wife wakes up to laugh at me and I'm wondering why I torture myself like this, it's because you guys like it. If there were no readers, there'd be no point. Have a great summer.

30 THOUGHTS

1. One of the major reasons Lou Lamoriello picked Peter DeBoer? Look at New Jersey's four games with Florida last season. All came after the Devils got hot in mid-January. NJ won twice in regulation, Florida twice in overtime. The Panthers played them very hard, including a 2-1 loss right after the trade deadline with four AHL callups. Apparently, Lamoriello was impressed with how DeBoer had his team working despite no playoff berth in sight.

2. Steven Stamkos: no state income tax in Florida. No doubt that was a big part of the Lightning's push. In the NHL world, same goes for Texas and Tennessee. Very fair deal for both sides. In the end, he does Tampa a real favour by taking $5.5 million US at age 26 to lower the average annual value. That's a guy who wants to win, although he'll probably remind Steve Yzerman about that move when it's time to negotiate UFA years.  

3. Another reason the Lightning weren't letting him go anywhere: Steve Yzerman was very happy with his playoff performance. "He was competitive against the best players in every series," the Lightning GM said. "Whether it was (Zdeno) Chara in Boston or Jordan Staal and Kris Letang against Pittsburgh, Steven competed hard and did the things you expect him to do." Not surprising to hear Yzerman define performance in such terms. Those who are successful in Detroit value competitive nature above all else.

4. Can't help but wonder if that's one reason the Wings were willing to pass on Tomas Vokoun. He offered Detroit the same deal Washington accepted, but chose the Capitals because they offered less resistance to the No. 1 job.

5. How will Vokoun handle the pressure in Washington? He's been the starter for two organizations that certainly wanted to succeed, but neither Florida nor Nashville were as legit a contender as the Capitals. You can feel the burning to get it done throughout that organization. Vokoun is very good, and his willingness to take less from a good team is a smart play. But it's hard to grade him in defining games, because, on NHL-sized rinks, there haven't been any.

6. NHL teams don't like the idea of losing their minor-league coaches in mid-season (unless they're doing the hiring, of course). If the Canucks hire Craig MacTavish for their AHL affiliate in Chicago, will he able to leave for a mid-season NHL job? A lot of clubs would say no.

7. Team most affected by this year's free-agency bonanza: The Nashville Predators. I have a soft spot for them, because they draft well, develop well and generally do what teams are supposed to do. (All they need is the Tennessee Terry Pegula.) But, several execs and agents looked at this year's contracts and basically said, "That's big trouble for a non-cap team that has to deal with Shea Weber, Ryan Suter and Pekka Rinne." I asked a few execs where these guys stand now. The consensus: Weber at $6.5-$7.5 million; Suter at $6-$7 million, Rinne at $6 million.

8. Ultimately, all of them are going to have to decide if they want to win in Nashville, because they're going to get offers to win somewhere else. (Rinne and Suter are UFAs next summer, while Weber doesn't get there until July 2013.) David Poile could probably pay Weber whatever he wants, but that means less to build around him. The good news for Predators fans: don't think it's tremendously important to Weber to be the highest paid defenceman in the league (Brian Campbell, $7.14 million US average annual value).

9. One other thing about Weber: He played junior with Duncan Keith, who won a Stanley Cup at age 26. At the Vancouver Olympics, he sat in the same room with Corey Perry/Ryan Getzlaf (won Cup at age 22) and Eric Staal/Sidney Crosby (age 21). Since winning that gold medal, you can add Patrice Bergeron/Brent Seabrook (25) and Jonathan Toews (22). Weber will be 26 in August. That means something to him. But he has to believe it can happen where he is now.

10. Finally on Nashville: I get the sense it hurt to make the Cody Franson deal with Toronto. But, the feeling seems to be: as painful as it was, if it allows us to sign The Big Three, it's worth it.  

11. Another player who saw July 1 change his situation: Keith Yandle. Things stalled with his negotiations, then jump-started when the Coyotes saw the contracts being thrown around. Yandle's decision to sign with Phoenix for five years despite franchise uncertainty shows how much he likes playing for Dave Tippett.

12. Matthew Hulsizer's decision to drop pursuit of the Coyotes (and chase the Blues, according to David Shoalts of The Globe and Mail) came as great disappointment to the players, especially since he walked into the room moments before Game 4 of their series against Detroit and said he would get it done.

13. Chris Osgood would make a fantastic TV analyst. He's brutally honest, unafraid to speak his mind and very perceptive. But when I brought it up to him last year, he said he wanted to go into coaching instead. He's right with the Martins (Brodeur and Biron) and Tim Thomas on the goaltending all-interview team of his generation.

14. Reports indicate Alexei Yashin is considering an NHL return. Saw him last year during travels to Russia. At the time, he said he was only interested in the New York City area (since he was still with Carol Alt) and wouldn't accept what he considered a below-market salary.

15. Under-the-radar hiring to watch: the Wild brought back strength coach Kirk Olson, who originally worked for the team from 2003-09. Minnesota was unhappy with its training over the past couple of seasons, and Olson was highly respected the purge. (You know how it goes: new GM, new staff.) Olson could have a huge influence on Dany Heatley.

16. The Blackhawks considered bringing back Martin Havlat, but a deal could not be worked out.

17. Sounds like Erik Cole was set to go back to Carolina for three years, even at slightly less money than Montreal was offering. Then, Pierre Gauthier added a fourth season and the Hurricanes backed off. That was the difference.

18. Two signings of interest last Friday: first, Karl Alzner who re-upped with Washington for two years at $2.57 million. If any player should have been the target of an offer sheet this summer, it was Alzner, especially at that price. Anything below $1,545,981 is a third-rounder. Anything below $3,091,963 is a second. Name an NHL club that wouldn't trade a second-round pick for Alzner. And, even if the Capitals match, you're causing a cap-strapped team headaches.

19. The second was Brian Boyle, who snared a three-year, $5.1 million contract with the Rangers that eliminates two years of unrestricted free agency. Timing is the story here. He was scheduled for an arbitration hearing next Monday. Signing now affects negotiations with players who were to go through the process before him. Two of them are similar to Boyle (who went from four goals to 21): Lauri Korpikoski (five to 19) and Ted Purcell (three to 17, with six more in the playoffs). Korpikoski will now go to arbitration. Boyle and Purcell are close, but I'd bet the latter wished the former waited a week.

20. Scouting report on James Wisniewski, who found gold in Columbus: Like many of us, his greatest strength is his greatest weakness. He is supremely confident. Wisniewski will not feel the pressure of being paid like a No. 1 defenceman, because he thinks of himself as one. That's important, but gets him into trouble sometimes. One example: shift length. He's averaged 55 seconds the last two seasons, putting him in the NHL's Top 10. The sense is he'd be a little more effective if he cut that down a bit. 

21. The Panthers ran Tomas Fleischmann through a battery of tests, pronouncing themselves satisfied with the results. (There is a highly respected Cleveland Clinic in Florida.) Curious to see how this plays out, because there was some astonishment Fleischmann got a four-year deal. He must take daily injections for blood clot prevention. That's not new for him and he's played well despite it, but at least two teams were warned by their doctors to stay away from that situation.

22. Biggest league-wide surprise about Florida's moves? The number of long-term contracts. "We knew they had to get to the floor," said another exec. "But we thought they'd give some one or two-year deals with more salary."

23. Other comment I heard: "Why would they take such a hard line with Erik Gudbranson [last season], then throw all of this money at the free agents? You're hoping Gudbranson is going to be a cornerstone of your team for a long time." Another GM compared that, though, to the Rangers, who are unafraid to throw cash at UFAs, but toss the full weight of the CBA at their younger players with little leverage. That happened with Brandon Dubinsky's last contract.

24. The other teams who pitched Brad Richards walked away feeling he was going to New York all along. Sounds like the only team that really made him think was Los Angeles, due to the size of its entourage and creativity of presentation. The Kings knew it was a long shot, but decided to try anyway. It's like the old Michael Jordan saying: "You always miss 100 per cent of the shots you don't take."

25. One story I'll always remember about John Tortorella and Richards: back in 2007, we had a mid-week December game in Tampa. Richards (and the Lightning) were having a nightmarish season, and he was close to minus-20 at the time. Tortorella refused to criticize the centre, saying he was competing hard and playing with linemates who couldn't keep up. You could see how Richards really appreciated that.

26. As for chemistry with Marian Gaborik, Richards, a left-hand shot, explained last season that he liked the idea of another lefty playing the right side. Richards says that setup gives him more options for putting the puck in a scoring area, especially drop passes.

27. During the 2009-10 season, Lindy Ruff talked about all of the injuries that blew apart the Buffalo blue-line during their 2006 Eastern Conference Final loss to Carolina. The coach added, though, that Tim Connolly's concussion, suffered in the second round against Ottawa, was the one thing the Sabres couldn't overcome. Their relationship fell apart over the last year or two, but this is a situation where a change of scenery would benefit both.

28. Looks like Joffrey Lupul will play with Connolly and Phil Kessel next season, at least to start. Lupul's going to have to play big on that line.

29. Brian Burke's decision to go to Afghanistan on July 1 received some harsh criticism, but it was confirmation of what's been suspected for awhile - that Dave Nonis is handling a lot of the Maple Leafs' day-to-day activities. "That's the best AGM job in the NHL," another assistant said this season, and this is probably why. Burke still oversees the grand plan, but also spent a lot of time dealing with business issues. There were eight unsold suites this season at the ACC, and, as the organization's biggest salesman, Burke was pressed into action to correct this negative trend.

30. Remember the Seinfeld episode where George wants to get fired by the Yankees? The one where he wipes strawberries on Babe Ruth's jersey and drags the World Series trophy around the parking lot on the back of his car? That's what I thought of when I heard Jaromir Jagr signed with Philadelphia. Talk about nuking your legacy.

BONUS THOUGHT:

31. Did anyone at the NHL/NHLPA notice the NFL is about to settle its CBA without missing any games? Just asking.

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