Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 19, 2001
He is an optimist, give him that. The Lightning has lost seven of its past nine, but general manager Rick Dudley would rather say it has won two of its past three and is 6-7-1-1 in its past 15. From playoff guarantees to evaluating talent and (not) trading Vinny Lecavalier, Dudley had much to say about a season nearly one-quarter old.
Q : Let's start with Ben Clymer, whose five goals are one off the team lead. How did you conclude a career defenseman could succeed at forward?
A: "He's got decent size (6 feet 1, 199 pounds) as a forward. He can skate like hell. He's got all kinds of grit. He's got good hands and a great shot. The problem is, he's on the small side as a defenseman, and that's where he runs into trouble. He tries to play like a big defenseman. I said he could play forward in the National Hockey League."
Q : Did you really guarantee the team would make the playoffs this season?
A: "It was in passing, walking past (a reporter after a victory) I said, 'This team could make the playoffs next year.' He said, 'Is that a guarantee?' I said, 'Sure.' And that was the end of it. I didn't sign it in blood or anything like that. ... And that turned into a headline writer putting that in there. And then it became gospel. That's exactly how it happened."
Q : At the same time, you didn't mind expectations being raised.
A: "I didn't mind it because I don't think you can ever attain anything if your expectations aren't there. If that goes around and the guys think they have to make the playoffs, that's good."
Q : If someone told you before the season that the team would start 6-10-1-1, would you have believed it?
A: "I don't know where I expected to be. I did know it would take us a little time to get going because we had a lot of new people and one of our top players, Vinny Lecavalier, wasn't there for training camp. So, yeah, I expected it wasn't going to go guns blazing right off the bat. Would I like to be better? Sure. ... We started out with a rough 0-3 start and are one game under .500 since then. We have to do better than that to make the playoffs, one game below .500. But are we capable of that? I think so."
Q : On paper, this is a much better team than last season but after 18 games it has one fewer point.
A: "That means absolutely nothing. This team, hopefully, will never, ever go through the same kind of slump we went through in the past. We started relatively well both of the last two years, and we hit a little skid (three wins in 25 games last season; two in 29 in 1999-2000) and just couldn't come out of it. We had no veterans and the goaltending wasn't at the level it is today. You need things to play out of your downward spiral, and we didn't have it. We think we do now. We hope we do."
Q : How is coach John Tortorella doing?
A: "Good. The team is disciplined. He keeps it pretty simple. He has them playing exactly the way they need to play. We rely on our goaltending. The defense is vastly improved, which you have to give credit to the coaches. We don't have Eric Lindros. We don't have Jaromir Jagr right now. So we have to try to win 2-1, 3-2, and that's what we're trying to do. John tells it like it is. There's not a lot of B.S. He'll get in situations where he's in a player's face. I think they'll be times when at the moment they may be (upset) because they hear something they don't want to hear. But when they sit back and analyze what was said to them and how they were treated, they have to say it was an honest approach."
Q : Lecavalier is not going anywhere, is he?
A: "Not very likely, no. I'll repeat what I've said. If Wayne Gretzky can be traded, no one is untouchable. But he's pretty close."
Q : Do you feel the need to make a move?
A: "I don't feel the need at all. We're one game under .500 the last 15 games, which isn't perfect. But we're a team with a bunch of new people, hearing a new coach and a new coaching staff, and with a goaltender (Nikolai Khabibulin) who is now starting to be the same dominant goaltender he was. So I don't look and say I have to get rid of this guy, I've got to add that guy. If something was out there that made sense, we might entertain it."
Q : So you are not unhappy with this group.
A: "No I'm not. But it would be a wonderful thing if we all got on the same page at the same time. But I guess that's what sports is all about."
Q : Hindsight is easy, but considering that Andrei Zyuzin, Bill Houlder, Shawn Burr and Steve Guolla -- acquired in August 1999 from the Sharks for Niklas Sundstrom and a draft choice -- are no longer on the team, is that a trade you would reconsider?
A: Would I rather have Sascha Goc, Josef Boumedienne and Anton But (acquired from the Devils for Zyuzin) than Niklas Sundstrom? Yes I would. Sundstrom is what he is. He has proven to be one of the those valuable guys that we have lots of. Very good defensively. Not outstanding offensively. He's Jimmie Olvestad with a little bit more offense to him. He may not be as good defensively as Jimmie, though.
Q : If you were CEO Tom Wilson for a day what would you do?
A: (Laughs) "I'm not privy to his world. If you want to rephrase that and say, 'What would I like?' I'd like a top-notch defenseman and a top-notch forward."