TAMPA, FL – Last season the Tampa Bay Lightning had the first pick overall in the NHL Entry Draft and immediately let everyone know they were going to select Steven Stamkos. Now the Lightning sit at number two and have to wait for the New York Islanders to tip their hand before the Lightning can go on the clock. This scenario will ring true unless this selection is brought into the Vincent Lecavalier situation or another team likes the next best player in the draft enough to trade with Tampa for the slot. For the sake of argument, we will state that the first overall pick will be John Tavares going to the New York Islanders, and the Lightning will keep the second selection for their own purposes. At this point it would seem the choice would boil down to either Swedish defender Victor Hedman or Canadian center Matt Duchene from the Brampton Battalion (OHL). Looking at the Tampa roster, Stamkos is already in place as a strong building block for the future. The club also has Lecavalier, but his very expensive, no-trade contract kicks in this summer. If the Lightning decide that they cannot move forward with the dynamic Lecavalier and his salary, trading Lecavalier could likely pull in enough assets to alter their draft plans. The Lightning has a nice mix of forwards, defenseman and goaltenders coming up in the system, although none of them are projected to become sure-fire, top NHL players in the future. Steve Downie is the highest profile forward in the system, Ty Wishart leads the blueliners and Dustin Tokarski is judged by many to have the biggest upside in goal. Other players to watch include two players that were acquired from the Boston Bruins at the trade deadline for Mark Recchi and a draft choice. The two players are: Forward Martins Karsums and defenseman Matt Lashoff. Lashoff has a lot of ability and if he can gain some confidence at the NHL level, he could be a top four defender. If the club can inject a player or two from the minors into the NHL for the 2009-10 season, it will help them maintain their payroll level from last season when they played at nearly $8.5 million below the NHL’s hard cap. Tampa can comfortably fit under the NHL cap, but it remains to be seen if their internal budget process allows the team to bring in more quality players. Up front, the club has Stamkos, Vaclav Prospal, Martin St. Louis, Ryan Malone, and for now, Lecavalier. It is a group where you could argue the top two lines are already nearly fully staffed with top talent. This is in contrast to the defense where their top scorer, Lukas Krajicek, is a restricted free agent, and their top two defenders, Andrej Meszaros and Paul Ranger, suffered through injury-plagued seasons. The team’s goaltending position was also ravaged by injury when starter Mike Smith suffered a concussion and reportedly has not fully recovered. Smith’s health and management’s pocketbook will determine if the club needs to spend more on the position. If the club were to draft solely on need, another goaltender would be the wisest choice, but there is no goaltender worthy of the second overall pick in the draft. Defense would appear to be the next uncertain position and with Hedman sitting there, he will be extremely hard to bypass, that is unless the club’s scouting staff has fallen in love with Duchene or one of the other top forwards remaining in this draft.
Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman (photo courtesy of the NHL)
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