In the last month the Lightning have gone from the least talked about team in the NHL to the most talked about. They have been bought by Oren Koules and gang (finally), hired the Mullet, traded Dan Boyle and oh god let’s stop for a second. I’ll list all the moves by date below but I want to hit on the Dan Boyle trade. There was a ton of reaction to this and I need to put my two cents in. I agree with everyone who said it was a shady move by the new group to lie to Boyle and turn around a trade him. That was an asshole move that we have seen all too often from some other guys in the area (rhymes with Gruden and Allen, oops) and is not something I want to see become a trend with these guys. That being said, it was a good move. Boyle was overpaid and overrated as a defender. He was a good player but the picks we got for him are worth more than he would’ve been to this team. He may be missed as a teammate but no where else. As far as the rest of the moves, I like the aggressiveness of the organization in trying to improve the worst team in hockey. They have not been shy in any way about free agents or trades. There isn’t much to rave about or bitch about either as we need to see how all these guys play together under “The Mullet” before anything can be said. Below are all the major transactions made over the last month.

  • June 25th: Hired Barry “The Mullet” Melrose as head coach.
  • June 26th: Bought out Marc Denis’ contract (finally)!
  • June 28th: Acquired the rights to LW’s Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts from the Penguins for an ‘09 conditional draft pick.
  • June 29th: Acquired the rights to RW Brian Rolston from the Wild for a conditional draft pick in ‘09 or ‘10.
  • June 30th: Acquired D Janne Niskala from the Flyers for a sixth round pick in ‘09. Signed Gary Roberts to a one year deal, Vinny Prospal to a multi year contract and Ryan Malone to a seven year deal.
  • July 1st: Signed RW’s Radim Vrbata and Adam Hall to three year deals and veteran G Olaf Kolzig to a one year deal (love this move by the way).
  • July 3rd: Signed C Ryan Craig to a two year deal and D Janne Niskala to a one year deal.
  • July 4th: Traded D’s Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich to the Sharks for D’s Matt Carle and Ty Wishart and a 1st and 4th round draft pick. Also signed LW David Koci and C Wyatt Smith to one year deals and D Scott Jackson to a three year deal.
  • July 8th: Signed RW Evgeny Artuykin to a multi year deal (finally), RW Brandon Bochenski to a two year deal and RW Marc Recchi to a one year deal.
  • July 10th:  Signed D Andrew Hutchinson to a two year deal.
  • July 11th: Signed C Zenon Konopka to a two year deal.
  • July 12: Jay Feaster resigns immediately as GM. Signed C Chris Gratton to a one year deal.
  • July 13th: Sign Vinny Lecavalier to an 11 year, $85 million extension.
  • July 15th: Signed G Mike Smith to a two year extension.

   There are more things that took place as far as coaching changes and what not, but these are the more notable transactions. I’ll have some reaction to these over the next few days, right now we’re just catching up. Good day to you now as my fingers are numb.

Scott Brannelly

Source: ESPN