by MIKE CHEN, Special to FOXSports.com

Updated: February 25, 2008, 1:29 AM EST 7 comments

add this RSS blog email print

The Tampa Bay Lightning GM watched his team flounder around the Eastern basement, giving up an atrocious amount of goals while not getting any secondary scoring. From Vaclav Prospal to Chris Gratton to the debacle in net, things were getting ugly. With top defenseman Dan Boyle injured, it didn't look to get better anytime soon.

Then things started falling into place, first with Boyle getting back into the lineup, then with some scoring outside of Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis. For Boyle, his first game back wasn't pretty — an 8-4 blowout at the hands of Ottawa.

Since then, however, the situation has been looking up in Tampa — a 5-2-1 record, constant contributions from Boyle and the finalization of the sale of the team, which the NHL still has to approve.

Jay Feaster's hands were tied by the lack of ownership. Now with the new ownership in place, moves can be made before the upcoming trade deadline. But while most realists assumed that impending UFAs like Boyle, Prospal and Gratton were going to be moved, things aren't that simple.

With about a quarter of the season left for most teams, the Lightning are four points out of the division lead and seven points out of eighth (yeah, weird math — go figure). One strong 10-game stretch could vault the Lightning into a playoff spot, something that was unthinkable just a few weeks ago. And the big question for Feaster and Lightning fans is this: What to do with Dan Boyle?

Other than Anaheim, just about every team out there needs another high-caliber defenseman — there's no doubt about that. Boyle's trade value is probably at an all-time high — he's played well since his injury, he's got more experience (and a Cup ring) than Brian Campbell, and he's younger than Rob Blake. For any team struggling on the blueline and power play, Boyle may be worth a king's ransom.

On the other hand, Boyle has shown what he means to the Lightning. With him in the lineup, they're a completely different squad — funny how that happens when you have a No. 1 defenseman in the lineup.

Much has been made about how the team's salaries are tied to Richards, St. Louis and Lecavalier, but that was more of an issue back when the salary cap was at $44 million. Now that reports are projecting the cap to rise next year to about $54 million, suddenly those contracts don't look that all-consuming.

So here is Jay Feaster's dilemma: 1) Call the season a write off, parlay Dan Boyle into assets and either try to re-sign him after the season ends or go after another quality defenseman, or 2) Push hard to extend Boyle's contract, convince the new ownership that something has to be done about goaltending come free agency, and keep the core of the team together while spending to the cap (the team currently has $32 million committed to next season, with key free agents being Boyle and Prospal). And for this season, whatever happens, happens.

It's not an easy situation, and things might have been different if either the ownership situation was resolved back when Ilya Bryzgalov was available or if Boyle had returned earlier. Call it fate, call it karma or call it just bad luck, but Dan Boyle's return came at just the wrong — or right — time for Jay Feaster, and now his trade deadline decisions just got much harder.

Mike Chen offers random musings and occasional brilliant insight on the NHL and is a regular FOXsports.com contributor this season. His contributions are a must read for hockey fans: Mike Chen's Hockey Blog