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By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff WriterGoing from champs to chumps is not impossible. Just ask the Hurricanes, the coach and GM say.
BRANDON - The letters began arriving in July.
It was two months before training camp, but Lightning general manager Jay Feaster wanted to remind his players what was expected of them.
Just as important, he wanted to remind them of what happened to the Hurricanes.
Tampa Bay's Southeast Division rivals reached the 2002 Stanley Cup final with a low payroll and loads of spit and vinegar. One year later, Carolina finished 30th in the 30-team league.
So whereas last year's letter urged the players to follow the Hurricanes' lead, this year's warned them to take heed. Especially after a season in which the Lightning won its first division title and went to the playoffs for the first time since 1996.
"You want the players to recognize the line is so fine, you can go from the penthouse to the outhouse in a blink of an eye," Feaster said Thursday, the first day of training camp at the Ice Sports Forum.
"It's sobering when you look at something like that, particularly a team that's in your division. It's right in front of you, and you're forced to look at it."
Coach John Tortorella is determined to avoid it. In a truly scary revelation, he said he will be more demanding and intense. Think of a Category 4 hurricane turning into a Category 5.
Tortorella said it is a natural progression. His players are a year older, so more should be expected. But he also admitted the thought of taking a step back "scares me."
Last season, Tortorella talked of going day to day. This season, it is "hour to hour."
"They're going to be pushed harder," the coach said of his players. "More discipline has to come into play. No nonsense is going to come into play. That's the way you have to do it. Pay attention to details that we need to get better as a team."
Players said they welcomed Tortorella's challenge and will use the Hurricanes' top-to-bottom fall as a cautionary tale.
"You can call it the hangover, the Stanley Cup hangover," defenseman Brad Lukowich said. "From what we hear, they had kind of a laid-back training camp. They came in and basically played a season where they thought they deserved the respect of conference champs.
"When you have an X on your back, you don't have an easy night ever. We have to be prepared to go out every night and know there is not a team that will take us lightly anymore. We have to play at the top of our game every night to get two points."
Lukowich might be right about that X. The Hockey News ranks Tampa Bay fifth in the East. TSN, Canada's equivalent of ESPN, ranks it fourth and the Sporting News seventh.
"It's nice to get a little respect, and we earned that respect," right wing Martin St. Louis said. "But those are only on paper. We have to deal with reality. Hopefully, reality and the paper will be the same."
Tortorella explained his plans in an offseason letter to his players. At Wednesday's team meeting, he mentioned the playoffs once then deemed the subject off-limits.
"That isn't even in the picture," he said. "I'm thinking of what we have to do (today)."
He then gave the players Jim Collins' book Good to Great. It is an exploration of how companies can succeed with discipline and teamwork. But it was the heading of Chapter 1 that really caught Tortorella's eye.
"Good is the enemy of great."
"The first line of that book is where we are as a team," Tortorella said. "We did some good things, but we have to get to a whole different level to even think about where we want to be."
"As John said (Wednesday) night, "If you thought last year's camp was tough, you'd better be ready because we're going to do even more,"' Feaster said. "There is still a lot of room for this hockey club to grow and show we are for real. I do believe the approach John is taking to not take his foot off the pedal will pay dividends down the road."
Talk about good reading.