Lightning Town Hall Recap and More..

Just a short recap of the events that took place today at the Bolts Town Hall Meeting:

- Lecavalier officially signed his 11yr contract.

- He was not named the captain as of today. Although Melrose said he knows who will get the "A's" and "C", owner Oren Koules told him he couldn't tell who they are just yet.

- When asked about the defense, the owners simply danced around the questions adding that they are happy with the current young group but are always on the phones looking.

- Mike Smith will be the #1 goaltender. The owners and Melrose all expressed their belief in his abilities.

- When asked about the Boyle controversy, Koules said there are 2 sides to every story. And the deal will not only help the team now but next year and the future.

IMO:

Basically no hard news out of the meeting. The day was for the people in attendance to enjoy, and not for spilling the beans on any information on trade rumors or roster changes.

The Lightning are in great shape for the future. Not only do they currently have two 1st and 2nd round picks in 2009, they have Lecavalier, St. Louis, Stamkos, Malone, Prospal, Vrbata, Matt Carle, and Mike Smith locked up for the next 3 years. That secures the entire top 2 lines for the near future. The defense on the other hand is young, and will all be RFA's in the next couple of years. With the expected cap hit projected to be aroung $46-48mil going into next season the ownership have plenty of opportunities to shape and mold the defense however they choose next summer. Not all is fixed, but compared to where they were at the end of the season, things could not look any brighter for the Bolts.

Lightning Town Hall Meeting...

This afternoon the Lightning will hold a celebratory Town Hall Meeting at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. The meeting will be the platform for players, fans, and employees of the Bolts to acknowledge the signing of Vinny Lecavalier to his monster 11 year $85mil lifetime contract. Local and national rumblings have also suggested that Lecavalier will be named captain of the team.

Although Vinny will be the main attraction at the meeting, there will also be a Q&A session with the new owners. The Q&A session has come under much scrutiny by the fans and media since it seems as though the questions wont be asked by the fans in attendance. Instead the questions will come from user submitted questions composed on the teams website. This giving the ownership the opportunity to sift through and discard any controversial questions such as: the Dan Boyle trade or the apparent neglecting of the blueline.

More on the recap of the Town Hall Meeting, Bolts defense, and the Bolts future later...

Lecavalier Extension Official!

According to RDS.CA Vincent Lecavalier has signed a new contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning for 11 years, 85 million dollars. Lecavalier will recieve $10million the first seven seasons, $8 million in season eight, $4.5 in season nine, $1.5 in the tenth and one million dollars in the final year of the contract.