St. Louis in a can't-win situation
By TOM JONES
Published August 21, 2005
You don't know who to feel more sorry for: Lightning star Martin St. Louis or general manager Jay Feaster.
St. Louis struggled for years looking for a chance, ignoring detractors who told him he wasn't big enough or fast enough or good enough to play in the NHL. Then the Little Wing Who Could becomes league MVP while leading the once-sorry Lightning to the Stanley Cup.
Now he's due a new contract and is told that not only won't he be the highest-paid player in the league, but he won't even be the highest-paid player in his locker room. In fact, the only player who has the hardware to lay claim to the title of "Best Player in the NHL" can't get within $2-million a year of teammate Vinny Lecavalier.
Then there's Feaster, who did things the right way. Despite not being able to spend with the big boys from New York and Toronto and Philadelphia, he assembled a Stanley Cup team with a sensible payroll ($33-million) and set it up perfectly. He worked it so the contracts of stars such as St. Louis, Nikolai Khabibulin, Lecavalier and Brad Richards would end at different times. He then could easily find the money to slowly increase the payroll and keep everyone happy and, if the plan worked as expected, keep the Lightning as a Cup contender for years.
Then came the lockout and a new salary cap.
Feaster wakes up this morning with his Cup-winning goalie in Chicago and St. Louis upset and unsigned. He doesn't even want to think about next summer and trying to squeeze Richards, Pavel Kubina and Cory Sarich under the salary cap.
Feaster understands why St. Louis is offended. St. Louis understands Feaster is in an impossible situation. So what happens now?
In the end, St. Louis is going to have to take the hit. The Lightning is believed to be offering him a five-year deal worth $4.5-million a year. True, it's not Lecavalier money and St. Louis has every right to feel that is unfair. But it's the best deal St. Louis is going to get - not only from the Lightning, but from any team, even if he elects to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
It's hard to imagine any team willing to commit more than $4-million a year right now or next summer to St. Louis, who just turned 30, four or five years down the road.
In the end, St. Louis is going to have to accept that. But he has every right not to like it.
ANOTHER TEAM'S HEADACHES: The Lightning isn't the only team having problems trying to sign one of its star players. The Panthers' negotiations with goalie Roberto Luongo are going nowhere.
Luongo, who probably can be counted among the league's top-10 goalies, turned down a three-year deal worth $3.75-million a year. The Panthers point out that offer is more than what Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff signed for and Luongo has never taken his team to the Stanley Cup final.
Luongo can become an unrestricted free agent in two years and he figures some team will offer him $6-million or more at that time. So if he signs a long-term deal with the Panthers, he wants that kind of money at the end of the contract. Luongo said his feelings are hurt that the Panthers might take him to arbitration and his agent, Gilles Lupien, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel the Panthers are showing "a lack of respect."
If Luongo signs a two-year deal, he almost certainly will leave at the end of the contract. Either way, the relationship between the Panthers and their star goalie might be fractured beyond repair.
LIGHTNING STRIKES: The Canadians wrapped up their five-day Olympic camp outside Vancouver on Friday and it appears St. Louis, Lecavalier and Richards have good shots at making the team.
Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky had especially high praise for Richards.
"You look at what he did at the World Cup and what he did in the Stanley Cup final and all the way through the playoffs for Tampa Bay," Gretzky told reporters at the camp. "He goes to another level. We love guys like that on our team."
The Lightning's Dan Boyle is looking for a spot on defense. If you assume that Adam Foote, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger and Rob Blake are locks then three or, maybe, four spots remain. That leaves Boyle fighting with Robyn Regehr, Ed Jovanovski, Wade Redden, Scott Hannan, Eric Brewer, Chris Phillips and Jay Bouwmeester.
GREAT SCOTT: New Jersey defenseman Scott Stevens is 41 and hasn't played since January 2004, but he has been cleared by doctors after suffering from postconcussion syndrome. But no one is sure if he wants to play.
Stevens hasn't discussed his plans with anyone, including Devils GM Lou Lamoriello.
Hard to imagine the Devils without Stevens and Niedermayer, who signed with Anaheim.