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Tampa Bay Lightning
Overall: 25
Southeast Division: 4
The
Lightning
opened training camp this year in Innsbruck, Austria, site
of the NHL's International Challenge. Hoping to promote
unity, the team passed on a chance to stay at a plush
downtown hotel-casino and instead sequestered itself in a
mountain chalet. Except for
one fishing trip and a dinner at a castle, about the only
fun thing the Lightning did in Austria was take a
65-mph trip down an Olympic bobsled run that knocked a few
players
silly.
Lightning fans know all too well what that bobsled run must
have been like. Last year their team plummeted down the NHL
standings so precipitously that fans and players alike were
left weak-kneed and woozy. In 1997-98 Tampa Bay's offense
finished last in every major statistical category and
ranked as one of the worst in modern
history.
This spring Art Williams, a retired insurance tycoon and
former high school football coach, bought the team and
tried to put the brakes on its slide. Williams allocated
money for free agents and okayed a $100,000 face-lift of
the players' facilities at the Ice Palace. Then, in his
wacky, Southern-fried style, Williams declared that the
team's
No. 1 draft pick, center Vincent Lecavalier, was going to
become the "Michael Jordan of the
NHL."
So far the rookie is doing fine. Flanked by veterans right
wing Mikael Renberg and left wing Stephane Richer,
Lecavalier should pump some life into a Lightning offense
that was about as powerful as static electricity last
year.
Coach Jacques Demers is already comparing Lecavalier's
on-ice determination with that of future Hall of Famers
Steve Yzerman and Doug Gilmour, but what the Lightning
could really use are some future Hall of Famers on defense.
Even with goalie Bill Ranford, who won the Conn Smythe
Trophy in 1990 after guiding Edmonton to the Cup, and 1997
No. 1 draft pick Paul Mara, the defense may be as bad as the
offense was last year. "We still need to know who is
going to step forward on defense, but we are a much
improved team," says Demers. "We're on the right
track."
Perhaps, but as every bobsledder knows, going up a mountain
is much harder than coming
down.
—By David Fleming
Fast Fact
The Lightning scored only 33 goals in 353 power-play
chances
last season, a meager success rate of
9.3% and the worst percentage by any team since that stat
became official in
1967-68.
Keys To Success
- Tampa Bay must overcome a defensive corps that lacks skill and
mobility, which makes the Lightning vulnerable to forechecking.
- Two veteran pickups, forward Wendel Clark and goaltender Bill
Ranford, need to impart leadership, something Tampa Bay sorely
lacked last season.
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