The ex-Lightning's first season after the Ducks drew him away is dogged by frustration.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published December 29, 2003
TAMPA - He didn't even have to think about it.
Asked the biggest difference between the Tampa Bay area and southern California, Vinny Prospal answered with the same instant reactions needed to merge onto I-5.
"The traffic is just horrendous," said the Mighty Ducks left wing, who last summer signed with Anaheim after two seasons with the Lightning.
"I refuse to go anywhere on the highway in the afternoon. Just if I have to go to the game. But other than that, I refuse to travel."
It's not a lack of etiquette from SoCal's notorious drivers that has Prospal worried.
"It's the amount of people," he said. "I've been told there are more than 36-million people living in California. That's three times as much as my old country (the Czech Republic). It was a big change. A big surprise for me."
The biggest surprises have been on the ice.
Prospal has six goals and 19 points in 35 games, and has zero goals, two assists in his past seven.
It is not what Prospal expected after leading Tampa Bay last season with career highs of 57 assists and 79 points. It certainly isn't what Anaheim expected after signing the unrestricted free agent to a five-year, $16.5-million contract that included a $4-million signing bonus.
It hasn't helped that Anaheim, which added Prospal and superstar Sergei Fedorov to a team that went to last season's Stanley Cup final, is last in the Pacific Division. Neither did a recent radio interview in which, according to the Los Angeles Times, Prospal said it is "still to be seen" if his move to the Ducks was the right one.
It isn't the way Prospal wanted to return to Tampa, where the Ducks face the Lightning tonight at the St. Pete Times Forum.
"The only wish I had when I came here was that we got off to a good start," Prospal said Sunday. "I just hoped we would get going from the beginning so there would not be questions like if I feel any extra pressure or not."
Prospal said his radio comment was innocent.
"I signed for five years," he said. "It's a long period of time. I've only been here for (three) months, so we'll see how it's going to turn out."
Prospal said he does not have second thoughts about leaving the Lightning.
"I'm not going to second-guess myself," he said. "I made the decision that I made in the summer and we'll see. It wasn't easy to make the decision, but I made the choice and that's where I stand."
Still, he called his time in Tampa "probably the best two years of my hockey career so far," and added, "I will always cherish it in my heart, those two years I spent here."
Prospal, 28, was a Lightning catalyst. His 22 goals tied a career high. His plus-9 was tied for second on the team as was his 16.42 shooting percentage.
With nine goals and 20 assists, Prospal was involved in 41.4 percent of the Lightning's 70 power-play goals, second only to Brad Richards.
And he teamed with right wing Martin St. Louis and center Vinny Lecavalier on the MVP line that took over the East quarterfinal against the Capitals.
"He's an awesome passer, one of the best in the league," Lecavalier said. "No matter how tight the play, he's still going to make a pass to make it happen. It's not going to be on another guy's stick. He'll find yours."
All Prospal has found this season is frustration.
He has played most of the season with right wing Petr Sykora but also took turns with Fedorov. Coach Mike Babcock thought the latter combination would be dynamite, but it fizzled.
Prospal also has played with centers Steve Rucchin, Sammy Pahlsson and Andy McDonald. But Prospal dismissed the idea the line changes have kept him from building chemistry, and Babcock said, "Ideally, he's going to find his stride and we're going to find him the right person to play with.
"When a guy comes in and you pay him money, a lot of times he gets too much credit and too much blame," the coach added. "He's just part of our package right now, and we don't have it going the way we'd like to have it."
As for how he will be greeted by Tampa Bay's fans, Prospal said he is not concerned.
"It's not like I was here 10 or 15 years," he said. "I was here two years. ... I can't think of why I should get uptight about how I'm going to get treated here. I'll try to approach it as any other game and we'll see how it turns out."
At least he won't have to deal with California's traffic.
