Tampa's plans taking shape
by The Puck Stops Here, Special to FOXSports.com
NHL free agency
Of all the ways to build a team, free agency is definitely the fastest and probably the least effective method. The unrestricted free agent talent pool is not good enough to rebuild a team and the high profile players signed will usually sign large contracts that make it hard to fit many under the salary cap.
However, it's the fastest method to make a change. Not being people to wait around to do things slowly — even if that means properly — Tampa ownership is agressively pursuing free agents.
In order to make sure they get the free agents they target, they're trading draft picks to get to negotiate with them in advance of the official start of free agency and when they negotiate, they offer contracts that appear to be larger than expected market value for the player in question. It's a great way to attract a couple unrestricted free agents, but whether you believe that Tampa would compete with another couple free agent players under contract is another question.
The first players targeted were Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tampa traded a conditional pick (that turned out to be their 2009 3rd round pick) to Pittsburgh for the right to negotiate early with these players. They then "negotiated" by making ridiculous offers to the two players.
In Ryan Malone's case, they signed him to a seven-year, $31.5 million contract, which will pay between $7 million and $8 million a year for the first two seasons. It is entirely possible that Malone signed the biggest UFA contract among forwards this summer, which is odd considering he is the 11th highest scoring potential UFA forward this summer. Malone spent a lot of time last season playing with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and that probably inflated his numbers, but he played a good playoff.
And that was just the start of deals that also included with goalie Olaf Kolzig, Vaclav Prospal and Roberts.
But does all this make Tampa Bay a better team? Yes, but marginally. I think they likely will not have finished last again merely by standing pat with their last-season roster. They have added some parts to improve the team. They have added some more offensive depth, but they need too much to become contenders via free agency alone.
And happens if Tampa Bay struggles next year? Will ownership continue to make "bold" moves, even if the only moves available are stupid moves? They were unable to obtain a loan by conventional methods (ie. through a bank) to buy the team and previous owner Bill Davidson extended financing himself. That draws into question how much money they really have available to them.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have made some bold moves, but the team has many holes and likely will not be a winning team next year despite these additions.
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