Brophy on Lightning: Stevie Y2

By all accounts, it was a terrific first season for the Tampa Bay Lightning and their rookie general manager Steve Yzerman.

One year after finishing 25th overall and, obviously, failing to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive season, the Lightning became relevant again. Sparked, in a large part by Yzerman’s aggressive reworking of the organization from top to bottom, Tampa Bay placed eighth (fifth in the Eastern Conference) and then made it all the way to the Eastern Conference final before losing in seven games to the eventual Stanley Cup-champion Boston Bruins.

Having spent most of his adult life in the Detroit Red Wings organization, where the standard for what is considered success is very, very high, you’ll have to excuse Yzerman for not going all ga-ga over his team’s triumphs last year. In fact, when asked about the year, Stevie Y is, well, kind of ho-hum about it all.

“I guess Year 1 was a success, but now we are focused on what we need to be better in Year 2,” Yzerman told sportsnet.ca. “You plan for the future, but you live in the present.

“In general, our goal was to make the playoffs. I know so many people say it’s easy to make the playoffs in the NHL and that everybody gets in, but that isn’t the case at all. It’s not easy; it’s a grind. Moving forward our goal remains the same for this season — make the playoffs.”

After winning the Stanley Cup in the final season prior to the lockout, the Lightning had been in steady decline. It’s not as though people were playing them up as a potential dynasty when the Lightning won the Cup in 2003-04, but when you have the likes of Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards on board, you kind of expect a little smooth sailing for at least a few years.

It didn’t happen. Richards was sacrificed because of salary cap considerations and the ownership duo of Oren Koules and Len Barrie proved to be a disaster.

Long story short, the Lightning went into the dumper. The hiring of Yzerman, who was coming off a gold medal win at the 2010 Winter Olympics as the architect of Team Canada, brought credibility back to the organization. Still, we all know the NHL is a what-have-you-done-for-us-lately league and this season the expectation for the Lightning to, at the very least, match last year’s success will be high.

The good news is the Lightning have one of the most consistent point producers in the league in St. Louis, who placed second in league scoring last year with 31 goals and 99 points in 82 games. Based on what we saw last season, the 36-year-old has plenty left in the tank and should be a productive force for a few more years.

Tampa Bay also has one of the most explosive scorers in the league in 21-year-old Steven Stamkos. The Markham, Ont., native looked like he would win the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top goal producer until he went into a bit of a funk down the stretch, but his 45 goals were good for second overall and gave him 96 in the past two years. The best is yet to come.

And then there is Lecavalier. Yzerman was pleased with what he saw from the 31-year-old last season, but when you consider he managed 25 goals and 59 points in 65 games it’s a far cry from the league-best 52 goals he scored in 2006-07 and his career-best 108 points he had the same year.

The reality is, Lecavalier’s numbers don’t tell the entire story. Even though he was less productive than he was the year before, Lecavalier had more jump to his game and looked closer to being the player he was when he led the Lightning to the Cup than he did the previous few years. For the Lightning to be a Cup contender they’ll need Lecavalier to be even better this season.

“Vinny can definitely be better, but he has had a couple of rough years with injuries,” Yzerman said. “He had minor knee surgery prior to the start of last season and during the year he suffered a broken bone in his foot and another broken bone in his hand. He has worked very hard this summer to prepare for the season and what I see is a proud and motivated individual who wants to be a leader for our team.”

Rookie coach Guy Boucher was given a lot of credit for the team’s better defensive play last season. A no-nonsense type who wants things done his way, you’d have to think he’ll be very much the same this year in terms of demanding his players be responsible at both ends of the ice. Yes he had success in his first year, but even successful coaches need to learn on the job.

The Lightning should have won the Eastern Conference title, but he stubbornly made his team play a passive 1-4 system in Boston’s zone which allowed the Bruins to easily skate the puck up the ice. He took his super-skilled forwards out of the equation. It put a lot of pressure on Tampa Bay’s defence which leads us to the next question mark heading into 2010-11: Can a team with a 41-year-old goalie win it all?

Yzerman boldly acquired Dwayne Roloson from the New York Islanders and the veteran stopper paid huge dividends. That’s why he signed him to another one-year deal for $3 million. Just to be sure, Yzerman also signed veteran backup Mathieu Garon — a guy who actually might push Roloson for the starter’s job.

The boss though believes Roloson can still do the job.

“Age is not a factor,” Yzerman said. “It’s not like we’re looking at how he’s going to be six or seven years down the road. It’s all about this season. He’s in great shape; he’s healthy; he’s very competitive and he’s motivated.

“I know they play different positions, but Nicklas Lidstrom is 41 and people keep thinking he’ll eventually slow down. So far I don’t see it. We have no worries whatsoever about Dwayne this year.”

There was plenty of interest in Yzerman when he let it be known he was ready to run his own team after apprenticing under GM Ken Holland with the Red Wings, but he chose Tampa Bay. With the Lightning’s bona fide top-flight talent and Yzerman’s rich history of solid leadership and winning, you’d have to believe it’s not a matter of if the Lightning can win another Cup, but when.