2008–09 Tampa Bay Lightning season

The 2008–09 Tampa Bay Lightning season was the 17th season for the franchise in Tampa Bay. After a season of turnover in ownership, management and players, the team had a turbulent regular season. The Lightning failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Off-season

On June 3, it was announced that Head Coach John Tortorella would not return to the team despite having one year remaining on his contract.^[1]

The NHL Board of Governors on June 18 approved the sale of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The sale of the Lightning was made to movie and television producer Oren Koules. The deal depended the closing of the financial deal of US$200 million to buy the team and lease the St. Pete Times Forum. Koules, 47, played in Medicine Hat and Calgary in the Western Hockey League (WHL) in the early 1980s. In more recent years, he achieved success with the Saw movie franchise and the television sitcom Two and a Half Men. Among his business partners in the Lightning deal is former NHL player Len Barrie.^[2]

On June 24, the Lightning announced that Barry Melrose was hired as the team's new head coach. Melrose had not coached in the NHL since 1995 with the Los Angeles Kings. Since that time, he had served as an analyst for the ESPN networks.^[3]

Goaltender Marc Denis' contract was bought-out by the Lightning on June 25, almost two years to the date after his acquisition from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Denis had one year remaining on his contract.^[4]

The Lightning acquired the rights to left wingers Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a conditional draft pick in 2009.^[5] Malone then agreed to a seven-year contract with the Lightning two days before he was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent.

The Lightning acquired the rights to right wing Brian Rolston from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a conditional draft pick in 2009 or 2010. Rolston would later sign with the New Jersey Devils.

The whirlwind 32 days of questionable moves by new ownership came to a head on July 4 when, despite coming off a recent contract extension, Dan Boyle was traded along with Brad Lukowich to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Matt Carle (who would be traded in early November), Ty Wishart, a first-round draft pick in 2009 (which was traded in August) and a fourth round draft pick in 2010. Boyle was pressured to waive his no-trade clause by Tampa Bay's ownership, who said they would otherwise place him on waivers where he would likely be claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers. Frustrated at interference in the team's hockey operations by owners Len Barrie and Oren Koules, seven days later, General Manager Jay Feaster resigned, despite having three years remaining on his contract.^[6] Indeed, Brian Lawton had already taken over the position, though not officially until October 2. John Tortorella would later go on to label the new owners as "cowboys" for these and other dubious moves,^[7] a moniker that would stick with them.

On August 29, the Lightning acquired defenceman Andrej Meszaros from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for defenceman Filip Kuba, as well as Alexandre Picard, and a first-round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft (obtained in the Dan Boyle deal with the San Jose Sharks). The Lightning would go on to sign Meszaros to a six-year contract worth $24-million.

On September 18, the Lightning announced that their new team captain would be Vincent Lecavalier.

Pre-season

The Tampa Bay Lightning will be playing five pre-season games before opening the season against the New York Rangers on October 4 in Prague. Of special note, this is the first time that Tampa Bay will be opening the season outside of North America. This will also be the first time that the Lightning will play a pre-season game outside North America, playing Eisbaren Berlin in Germany on September 28. It was announced later that the Lightning would also play against Slovan Bratislava of the Slovak Extraliga on September 30.

• Note: all times EST and bold games are home games.

Regular season

The Lightning struggled on the penalty kill, finishing the regular season with the most power-play opportunities against (405) and the most power-play goals allowed (89).^[8]

Divisional standings

Conference standings

bold – qualified for playoffs, y – division winner, z – placed first in conference (and division)

AT – Atlantic Division, NE – Northeast Division, SE – Southeast Division

Game log

Record vs. Opponents

Notes: * denotes division winner; teams in bold are in the Southeast Division; teams in italics qualified for the playoffs; points refer to the points achieved by the team whom the Thrashers played against

     = Member of the Atlantic Division
     = Member of the Northeast Division
     = Member of the Southeast Division
     = Member of the Central Division
     = Member of the Northeast Division
     = Member of the Pacific Division

Playoffs

The Tampa Bay Lightning failed to qualify for the 2009 NHL playoffs.

Player stats

Skaters

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals 

Goaltenders

Note:  Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Lightning. Stats reflect season totals.
^‡Traded mid-season
Bold/italics denotes franchise record

Awards and records

Milestones

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

Claimed from waivers

Draft picks

Steven Stamkos was the first overall selection in 2008

Tampa Bay entered the NHL Draft Lottery with a 48.8% chance of winning the lottery after stumbling to a 31–42–9 record in the regular season. The Lightning finished last in the league just four years after winning their first Stanley Cup.^[10]

Tampa Bay's picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft^[11] in Ottawa, Ontario.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Club Team
1	1	Steven Stamkos	(C)	Canada	Sarnia Sting (OHL)
4	117 (from San Jose)	James Wright	(C)	Canada	Vancouver Giants (WHL)
5	122	Dustin Tokarski	(G)	Canada	Spokane Chiefs (WHL)
5	147 (from San Jose)	Kyle De Coste	(RW)	Canada	Brampton Battalion (OHL)
6	152	Mark Barberio	(D)	Canada	Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)
6	160 (from Florida via Chicago)	Luke Witkowski	(D)	United States	Ohio Junior Blue Jackets (USHL)
7	182	Matias Sointu	(RW)	Finland	Ilves (Finland Jr.)
7	203 (from Anaheim)	David Carle	(D)	United States	Shattuck-Saint Mary's (USHS–MN)

Roster

Updated April 2, 2009.^[12]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
76	Russia !	Artyukhin, EvgenyEvgeny Artyukhin	7.0 !RW	L	34	2001	Moscow, Soviet Union
27	United States !	Bochenski, BrandonBrandon Bochenski	7.0 !RW	R	35	2008	Blaine, Minnesota
34	Canada !	Craig, RyanRyan Craig	4.0 !C	L	35	2002	Abbotsford, British Columbia
18	United States !	Hall, AdamAdam Hall	7.0 !RW	R	36	2008	Kalamazoo, Michigan
11	United States !	Halpern, JeffJeff Halpern (A)	4.0 !C	R	41	2008	Potomac, Maryland
44	Latvia !	Karsums, MartinsMartins Karsums	7.0 !RW	R	31	2009	Riga, Soviet Union
33	Czech Republic !	Koci, DavidDavid Koci	6.1 !LW/D	L	36	2008	Prague, Czechoslovakia
2	Czech Republic !	Krajicek, LukasLukas Krajicek	2.0 !D	L	34	2008	Prostějov, Czechoslovakia
55	United States !	Lashoff, MattMatt Lashoff	2.0 !D	L	30	2009	East Greenbush, New York
4	Canada !	Lecavalier, VincentVincent Lecavalier (C)	4.0 !C	L	37	1998	L'Île-Bizard, Quebec
22	CZE !	Malik, MarekMarek Malik	2.0 !D	L	42	2008	Ostrava, Czechoslovakia
12	United States !	Malone, RyanRyan Malone	6.0 !LW	L	37	2008	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
30	United States !	McKenna, MikeMike McKenna	1.0 !G	L	34	2008	St. Louis, Missouri
6	Czech Republic !	Melichar, JosefJosef Melichar	2.0 !D	L	38	2009	České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia
14	Slovakia !	Meszaros, AndrejAndrej Meszaros	2.0 !D	L	31	2008	Považská Bystrica, Czechoslovakia
21	Canada !	Murphy, CoryCory Murphy	2.0 !D	L	39	2009	Kanata, Ontario
50	Canada !	Petiot, RichardRichard Petiot	2.0 !D	L	34	2009	Daysland, Alberta
24	Canada !	Pettinger, MattMatt Pettinger	6.0 !LW	L	36	2008	Edmonton, Alberta
20	Czech Republic !	Prospal, VaclavVaclav Prospal	6.0 !LW	L	42	2008	České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia
31	Finland !	Ramo, KarriKarri Ramo	1.0 !G	L	31	2004	Asikkala, Finland
54	Canada !	Ranger, PaulPaul Ranger	2.0 !D	L	32	2002	Whitby, Ontario
32	United States !	Smaby, MattMatt Smaby	2.0 !D	L	32	2003	Minneapolis, Minnesota
41	Canada !	Smith, MikeMike Smith	1.0 !G	L	35	2008	Kingston, Ontario
52	Czech Republic !	Smolenak, RadekRadek Smolenak	6.0 !LW	L	30	2005	Prague, Czechoslovakia
26	Canada !	St. Louis, MartinMartin St. Louis (A)	7.0 !RW	L	42	2000	Laval, Quebec
91	Canada !	Stamkos, StevenSteven Stamkos	4.0 !C	R	27	2008	Markham, Ontario
38	Canada !	Szczechura, PaulPaul Szczechura	4.0 !C	R	31	2008	Brantford, Ontario
7	United States !	Welch, NoahNoah Welch	2.0 !D	L	34	2009	Brighton, Massachusetts

See also

• 2008–09 NHL season

References