Tampa Bay reacquires its top scorer in 2002-03 from Anaheim for a 2005 draft pick. Retaining Cory Stillman is now unlikely.
By FRANK PASTOR
Published August 17, 2004
TAMPA - Before concluding his exit meeting with Vinny Lecavalier after the 2002-03 season, Lightning general manager Jay Feaster asked if there was anything he could do for him.
Lecavalier didn't miss a beat.
"Get (Vinny) Prospal signed," he said.
Feaster couldn't then, but he did Monday.
At a discount.
More than a year after Prospal signed with Anaheim as an unrestricted free agent, Tampa Bay reacquired its leading scorer from 2002-03 for $250,000 a year less than it offered then.
The Lightning received the 29-year-old center/left wing from the Mighty Ducks in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2005 draft.
Prospal signed with Anaheim last season for $16.5-million over five years, including a $4-million signing bonus. The Lightning offered $13.75-million over five years.
After a year in which Prospal ranked second on the team in points (54) and fourth in goals (19), Anaheim essentially eats the bonus money while the Lightning will pay Prospal the remaining $10-million on the contract.
Prospal's excitement about returning to Tampa was tempered by the news former Czech Republic coach Ivan Hlinka died Sunday from injuries sustained in a car accident.
"When people from Anaheim called me, I basically told them being traded is not as bad as not being alive," Prospal said Monday from the Czech Republic. "By the time I found out I was traded to Tampa, I got really excited once I started thinking about it because it was a great two seasons that I had there and I hope to get it going again there."
The trade makes it unlikely the Lightning will re-sign left wing Cory Stillman.
The team on Thursday walked away from Stillman's $3.9-million arbitration award, making him an unrestricted free agent. Stillman has three days to work out a deal with another team or accept Tampa Bay's qualifying offer of $2.75-million for one year.
"He's a player with a strong sense of what his value is in the marketplace or what it should be in the marketplace," Feaster said. "So, all things being equal, I would not expect him to come back on his QO (qualifying offer)."
Though they put up similar numbers with the Lightning, Stillman (80 points last season) and Prospal (79 in 2002-03) accumulated them differently.
"When you look at Cory Stillman's career, he has posted on an annual basis more goals than Vinny Prospal," Feaster said. "At the same time, Prospal is a much better playmaker. He sees the ice extremely well, and he makes some incredible passes."
The acquisition of Prospal allows coach John Tortorella to reunite Prospal with Lecavalier and move scoring champion Martin St. Louis back on a line with Brad Richards and Fredrik Modin.
Prospal and Lecavalier developed a rapport in 2002-03, when Prospal set career highs for assists (57) and points (79).
The deal also gives the Lightning flexibility in its attempts to re-sign St. Louis and Dave Andreychuk and replace Jassen Cullimore, key components of a Stanley Cup run Prospal missed.
"When I saw Tampa, how good they were playing and how many goals they were scoring game after game, it was tough to let go because I had such a great two years in Tampa," Prospal said. "It was just a mentally tough season, one of the toughest I've had."
Still, he said he did not question his decision to sign with Anaheim, which was next to last in the Pacific Division with 76 points, 30 fewer than the Lightning.
"When I signed with Anaheim, I basically let it be known that I didn't want to leave Tampa," Prospal said. "I think I put every effort on my part to stay with the Tampa Bay Lightning at that time.
"Hockey is a business, and sometimes you go a different way, and there is no sense to look back right now at what happened last summer. For me, right now is just the future and I'm more than happy to be a Tampa Bay Lightning again."
LABOR TALKS: With two fruitless negotiating sessions behind them, the NHL and players association return to the table today in an effort to move forward on a collective-bargaining agreement.
If there isn't a new deal by Sept. 15, a lockout could cut the season in half - similar to one in the 1994-95 campaign - or cancel it completely for the first time in NHL history.
HLINKA DEATH: Ivan Hlinka, a former Pittsburgh Penguins coach who led the Czech Republic to a gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, died after his car collided with a truck late Sunday night near Karlovy Vary, about 70 miles west of Prague. He was 54. Hlinka was set to lead the Czech team at the World Cup of Hockey later this month.
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Information from the Associated Press was used in the report.
