lightning strikes

[enfuego]

great article, as usual comish!

one thing that i take issue with, however, is the use of the flyers that you (and many others have, for that matter) have used when suggesting that it doesn\'t take too long to turn a franchise around.

i\'ve pointed this out in posts over the past year, especially when people have suggested the leafs can rebuild quickly, but for the most part the flyers had many good, young pieces in place before this past off-season and by most accounts, were a supreme disappointment last year.

richards and carter failed to build on very strong rookie campaigns, forsberg was in and out of the line-up, and the team as a whole, played just plain awful.

however, the young guys were there, their pipeline was/is chalk full of talent, and just a couple of key pieces were needed to turn them into a 3-line-running beast of a team.

that\'s not to suggest that i don\'t believe that teams can turn it around quickly in the salary cap era, but to compare teams like the lightning and leafs (i know you didn\'t) whose cupboards are so bare they put mother hubbard to shame, to the flyers, just doesn\'t make sense to me.

i think the lightning have made some great moves at the deadline, but i just don\'t think that the moves that they made will have the same ramifications as the flyers. and for me, the jury is still out whether teams can really reload that quickly in the salary cap era.

sorry for the rant, i honestly really enjoyed the article and your work, it\'s just that little part that gets my knickers in a twist (and it doesn\'t really, but it\'s just something that i think isn\'t really comparable)

cheers!

enfuego

[The Comish]

thanks enfuego,

I agree with your points that the Flyers already had many pieces in place with their young guys. Most definitely.

The Lightning are somewhere in between the Flyers and Leafs (they are probably closer to the Leafs) in terms of young talent in my opinion.

Last off-season, the Flyers were very aggressive and thought outside the box in terms of going after the guys they wanted. I totally loved the work that Holmgren did in getting the players he wanted.

I won\'t disagree with you that TB\'s cupboards are bare of prospects, but neither the Flyers nor the Leafs can boast a top talent like Lecavalier or even a number two guy of St.Louis\' calibre. Sundin/Antropov? Briere/Richards or even Gagne? Not even close. Elite talent is why TB has a better shot at turning it around in a hurry.

Next year, if Tampa can manage to lure a couple of second tier free agents, they will do exactly what the Flyers are doing this year, challenging for the final playoff spot.

Great points enfuego.