It seems with the scoring they have {ie} Lacavalier, St Louis, B. Richards A goalie would make them contenders for the cup again. also Vesa Toskala from the Sharks is a back up who should be a starter I think
2007-08-04 05:40:46 · 12 answers · asked by amdm92 3 in Sports ➔ Hockey
here's my two cents:
The Lightning have not added a top notch goalie because that would mean one of the big three (Vinny, Marty, and Richy) would have to be released/traded. The only problem is Marty and Richy both are under "no trade" clauses, and if Vinny Lecavalier was traded, there WOULD BE mass chaos in Tampa. So honestly, we're between a rock and a hard place. It's hard building a team that has three guys eat up so much of your salary cap.
Dont get me wrong. I think Johan Holmqvist is a goalie with sky-high potential. But many people, including myself, believe that the Lightning are just one star goaltender away from getting back deep into the playoffs. And some people, not including myself, dont want to wait 2 or 3 years for Holmer to really develop.
2007-08-04 06:47:03 · answer #1 · answered by tblightng 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
It would definitely make a difference. I agree with TB that Holmqvist will develop into a top goalie but needs more experience to get there. Habby left as an unrestricted free agent, he had the choice of where to go. Feater had to decide whether paying him over $6.75M a year (what he got from Chicago) was the best use of limited dollars. That contract made him the seventh highest NHL player in salary, $2.5M more than Brodeur who was second highest paid goalie. With Vinny and Marty (NHL MVP) needing new contracts , and Brad coming up for a contract in a year Feaster made the only decision he could. Habby went for the money.
2016-05-17 23:50:40 · answer #2 · answered by arie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is another aspect to this as well...Jay Feaster wants a goalie that is homegrown. They keep getting young stars hoping they will turn into a Brodeur for them. He has a lot of faith in Holmqvist to have another decent season. This will be Holmqvist's 4th or 5th year and last year was his first ever playoffs...and he didn't do that badly, just not that good either lol. Basically they are banking that he will follow up last year with a great performance. That being said if he doesn't, they will surely pick up a goalie within the next year as 08-09 will be Lecavalier's last season with the Lightning if they don't impress him with improvement and get him under a new contract.
2007-08-04 11:04:43 · answer #3 · answered by J R 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
There weren't that many good goalies on the market this year...
1. Giguere resigned with the Ducks
2. Curtis Joseph is available but is not the goalie he once was (though capable of playing 30 games a year and mentoring a young goalie)
3. Raycroft is available from Toronto but he hasn't been that great for them or Boston past his rookie year
4. Sharks traded Toskola to the Leafs
5. Esche was signed to a 2-way deal in Philly
Basically they either have to trade for one (and the cap hurts teams with a couple great players like Tampa since they can't afford a lot) or they have to develop their own talent.
2007-08-04 05:54:35 · answer #4 · answered by James 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
well you have Richards making around the $8 million a year, Lecavalier making just over $7 million a year and St-Louis making over $6 million they don't have much money in the bank to pay for a top notch goaltender. the problem is this team will get more in trouble once this contracts are up, cause they will not be able to keep 2 of the 3 top players on their roster. 2 of the 3 will be playing for another team in the next few years. sorry man but with the salary cap and the money TB has on there top 3 forwards they wont have the money to re-sign them.
GO HABS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
2007-08-04 14:47:27 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
TB has plenty of cap space and I have been asking myself the same question but not just in the off-season. IMO, had they acquired a decent goalie at the trade deadline last year, they might have been worthy of a play-off run.
Not alot of goalies available out there I guess that are that much of an upgrade. I think they should go after Bryzgalov from Anaheim though.
2007-08-04 05:48:29 · answer #6 · answered by Bob Loblaw 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
If you are a fan of Tampa Bay, you will know that on January 29th, the team announced that regardless of what the NHL Governors decided, that the team payroll for 2007-2008 will be less than in 2006-2007 as the ownership group under Ron Campbell wanted to retain their star players but run the business more responsibly. (See link below). Since they are slightly above what their management approved, I don't see the Lightning making too many 'huge' moves at this point.
2007-08-04 09:28:40 · answer #7 · answered by Like I'm Telling You Who I A 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
they have not added a top notch goalie this year because the cap is restricting them at this point having 3 high payed forwards and a high payed defenseman....they have too much salary in 4 players to allow them to afford the premium for a top notch goaltender. They could afford a 2nd rate, but not top notch.
2007-08-04 09:48:51 · answer #8 · answered by JR M 1 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Because those players are taking up most of the cap space to get a good goalie. Tampa shot themselves in the foot when they signed those three guys; should've let one of them go and kept Khabibulan (sp?) all those years ago.
2007-08-04 05:44:42 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Isn't Johan Holmqvist holding out? Or Marc Denis? Or Sean Burke?
2007-08-04 06:19:47 · answer #10 · answered by Adam Chambers 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋