These are exciting times in Tampa Bay. The new regime has put together a nice mix of veteran leadership and young, exciting talent, but will it translate to the ice? We examine, with help from some of the best Lightning bloggers around.
Tampa Bay Lightning Preview: Five Burning Questions About The 2010-11 NHL Season
These are exciting times in the Tampa Bay hockey world. A new owner in Jeff Vinik, a new general manager in Steve Yzerman and a new coach in Guy Boucher have fan excitement up at the highest levels since the team brought the Stanley Cup home in 2004.
But paper only tells us so much. There’s also the sideshow stories that follow players around: Their baggage. Niitty’s issue that haunted him coming into camp in the 2009 preseason, was his streaky play over the course of his career and the questions about the health of his hips (which he had surgery on in the past). Ellis’ issues dogging him before the regular season are questions of health (weight maintenance and endurance caused by in-game weightloss) and questions of character after his Twitter fiasco. While there have been first-amendment defenses of Ellis saying what he had (and applause for a non-clichéd dialog from him through the network), the truth remains that Ellis assassinated his own character with careless comments to a listening public.
Read Article >
