Feaster: Price must be right

The Lightning GM won't bite on pricy unrestricted free agents and may wait months before making offers.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 1, 2002

For those with visions of Tony Amonte, Teemu Selanne or Bobby Holik in a Lightning uniform, forget it.

Tampa Bay will not pursue high-priced, unrestricted free agents in the market that opened today. Instead, general manager Jay Feaster will look for more cost-effective help and players he can acquire through trade.

"To the extent that we identified certain people, we will be pro-active," Feaster said.

He also is willing to wait until the season gets closer before making a move.

"When you make phone calls on July 1, everybody is a $24-million player," Feaster said. "It's amazing when they're still around Sept. 1 the difference."

Despite the draft acquisition of speedy left wing Ruslan Fedotenko and defenseman Brad Lukowich, Tampa Bay's needs remain the same: a defenseman who can move the puck and a wing who can score 20 to 25 goals.

No word from Feaster on whom the Lightning may target, but one intriguing name is unrestricted free agent Nathan Dempsey. The 6-foot, 190-pound defenseman was drafted by the Maple Leafs with the 245th pick in 1992 and has been stuck in the minors since 1994.

Dempsey, 27, had 8 goals, 38 assists and 54 penalty minutes in 57 games last season for AHL's St. John's. He played three regular season games with the Leafs and six in the playoffs, gaining two assists with seven shots on goal.

Dempsey was slotted to play for Toronto last season but had a terrible training camp. But he can get the puck out of the defensive zone and man the point on the power play.

The NHL side of his two-way contract was for $425,000, meaning he is affordable and may be worth a try.

Ownership appears to be giving Feaster the freedom to at least explore options.

Tom Wilson, CEO of Lightning owner Palace Sports & Entertainment, noted the team recently signed off on a trade he said would have cost Tampa Bay $3-million.

Though the trade, which never was publicly detailed, was not done, Wilson said, "If he was able to spend the money (in trade) then he could conceivably do it in free agency. We've said that Jay has to come to us, but I think he'll be looking a bit."

What he is looking to do is walk a fine line.

"This is the big thing," Feaster said. "For us, we really feel we're close. We lost 19 games (last season) by one goal. So we want to get better, but don't want to affect the chemistry. I think there's a real reason to be optimistic."

GOC MAY RETURN: The Lightning apparently likes Sasha Goc a lot more than he realized. The minor-league defenseman was so disenchanted with his role he threatened to play next season in his native Germany.

But Feaster said he likes Goc's size and strength and his ability to play a physical game. So Feaster made Goc a qualifying offer to retain his rights and is exploring a deal that would allow Goc to play in Germany instead of the AHL.

That would give Tampa Bay access to a potentially useful player while he develops in what would be, for him, a more comfortable situation.