OTTAWA - Sheldon Keefe figures he will be with a new team by the end of the week.
The right wing was one of seven players the Lightning left unprotected for Friday's waiver draft. Though general manager Jay Feaster said he does not want to lose them, Keefe said because he is involved when he could have been exempt, he believes he is not in the team's plans.
"I was made available and didn't need to be," Keefe said Wednesday. "The writing is on the wall. I think my days in Tampa Bay are numbered."
While Keefe is feeling left out, center Alexander Svitov and right wing Nikita Alexeev must be feeling as if they are in. Both are still with the team though neither needs to clear waivers before being sent to the minors.
And how about defenseman Darren Rumble, who went from being a depth player to a player the team protected and who is fighting for the sixth starting position?
Feaster said "nothing is set in stone," but coach John Tortorella said, generally, of the evaluation process, "That's pretty much done."
Rosters must be down to 23 by Tuesday.
Feaster figures Tampa Bay could lose "two or three" players in the draft from a list that also includes right wings Shane Willis and Jimmie Olvestad, left wing Dmitry Afanasenkov, center Martin Cibak and defensemen Janne Laukkanen and Pascal Trepanier.
Keefe, Willis and Laukkanen are most notable, and Keefe and Willis are most likely to be taken. Keefe is a favorite of Panthers general manager Rick Dudley, who in 1999 made him his first draft choice (47th overall) as GM of the Lightning.
"Hopefully a team has seen enough that I can get a fresh start somewhere else," Keefe said. "I'm a little disappointed the way things worked out here. I thought I had a pretty strong camp. I felt I earned a spot at least somewhere in the lineup."
"We like every one of those guys," Feaster said. "Those guys, by and large, had very good camps. In the case of Keefe, he's a guy who's played over 100 games in the league and Willie's played over 100 games. There are some good players we didn't protect. It reflects that we're a better team than we used to be."
Teams can protect 18 skaters and two goaltenders. Players can be exempt because of a lack of pro seasons (including the minors) or games.
Keefe, Cibak and Afanasenkov are in those categories. But Feaster said because no clear-cut roster spots had been won, they could be sent down. Better to try and get them through the waiver draft than through conventional waivers which, because of slightly different rules, each would need to clear.
Unlike conventional waivers, compensation (monetary or with another player) is paid to teams losing players in the draft. If the team losing a player accepts money, the claiming team must expose another player.
"It doesn't stop somebody from claiming a player, but it causes you to think about it more," Feaster said. "When you don't want to lose a player, it gives you at least a little bit of a speed bump he has to go over to get your guy."
Teams cannot lose more than three players. Unclaimed players are classified as having cleared conventional waivers, which is important.
"The players who require waivers to go down, if they are still guys on the bubble, we want them to have cleared waivers to give us that flexibility," Feaster said.
Laukkanen, who was expected to win the sixth defensive spot, has struggled. Still, questions about his arthritic left hip make him a longshot to be claimed.
Willis is having a good camp but is still on the bubble.
"It has no effect on me right now," Willis said. "I'm still part of this organization. I'll still prepare for (tonight's game against the Senators) like I always would. If something happens Friday, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."
"I don't want to lose any of those guys," Feaster said. "But because we feel we have options, he's a guy we're not prepared at this point to protect over somebody else."
