Sports: Keefe wants a trade if he's not in big camp

Keefe wants a trade if he's not in big camp

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO

Sheldon Keefe said he will be in Lightning training camp in September -- if Tampa Bay wants him there.

At this point, however, it appears Keefe, suspended without pay since March 16 for refusing a minor-league assignment, will be assigned to a minor-league camp.

If that's the case, Keefe said late Thursday, he will ask his agent, Michael Gillis, to request a trade.

"The writing's on the wall for me in Tampa," Keefe said from Kingston, Ontario. "If they've decided in their heads that I'm going to be sent to a minor-league camp, it's obvious I'm not in their plans."

Said Lightning assistant general manager Jay Feaster: "Having chosen the course of action he did, I think the player puts us in a situation where we have no choice that he's going to be assigned to a minor-league affiliate to start the season."

The Lightning said it wanted Keefe to gain experience in a playoff situation when it loaned him to the AHL's Rochester Americans. Keefe said the Lightning did not give him enough of a chance in the NHL.

Keefe had four goals and was minus-13 in 49 games with Tampa Bay. He had seven goals and five assists and was minus-3 in 13 games with the IHL's Detroit Vipers.

"I made a decision based on the way I was treated earlier in the year and throughout the season," Keefe said. "Things were told to me, and the opposite things were done. I definitely don't regret any decision I made. The issue was never the Rochester Americans. It was the way I was treated in Tampa."

Feaster said Keefe's decision forced Tampa Bay's hand.

"A lot of guys are unhappy about being sent down, but it's the reality of the business," Feaster said. "The player needs to go where the club assigns him to go."

Keefe said if a trade cannot be arranged, he will report to the minor-league camp, but added, "This is not the way it's supposed to be. If I'm in their plans, you usually get a chance to make the team in training camp."

"When he establishes that this is a player that deserves to play in the NHL, that's when the player will get the opportunity," Feaster said. "This is not a case of hard feelings, but there's a way to do it, and this is the way it needs to be done in the NHL."