Inside The Penalty Box 09.02.08: Meszaros Becomes Another Addition In Tampa Bay

Posted by Neil Borenstein on 09.02.2008

The Tampa Bay Lightning organization has gone through major reconstruction this summer, and they made yet another addition last Friday. After the Ottawa Senators couldn’t work out a deal with their 22-year old unrestricted defenseman, Andrej Meszaros, the Lightning swung a deal for him and agreed to a contract for the next six seasons. In this week’s Inside The Penalty Box, Neil Borenstein takes a look at the trade and its affect on both teams involved.

Lightning Apparently Not Finished Making MovesMeszaros Shipped To Tampa Bay For Kuba, Picard & 2009 First Round Pick

After being traded, Andrej Meszaros agreed to a six-year, $24 million contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Tampa Bay Lightning weren't content entering the 2008-09 campaign with the numerous number of changes already made to the front office, coaching staff and roster. Despite looking like a vastly different squad from the one that took the ice in a last place showing the previous season, the Lightning added one more transaction to their already busy summer. Taking advantage of an impasse between the Ottawa Senators and their restricted free agent defenseman, Andrej Meszaros, the Lightning swung a deal to bring the 22-year Slovakian to their neck of the woods last Friday.

The Lightning paid a hefty price to land Meszaros. In addition to the first round draft selection in 2009 that they previously acquired from the San Jose Sharks, the Lightning shipped defensemen Filip Kuba and Alexandre Picard to the Senators. On Saturday, Tampa Bay completed the deal by signing Meszaros to a six-year contract that will average $4 million per season.

With just a few short weeks remaining before the opening up of training camp, a lack of contract between the Senators and their first round (23rd overall) pick from 2004 called for desperate measures. According to TSN.ca, the parties were separated by $1 million in contract talks that lasted all summer. While Meszaros was reportedly seeking $4.5 million a year, Ottawa was eyeing a deal worth closer to $3.5 million.

Teams used to be able to allow situations like this to run into training camp, even if a player was willing to holdout and make negotiation a more than arduous process. Now, the restricted free agent offer sheet has become a very popular tool for general managers in this new era of the National Hockey League. And, according to The Canadian Press, one was looming from Tampa Bay for as much as $5 million per season over a multi-year deal. As a result, Senators general manager Bryan Murray decided to pull the trigger on a trade rather than lose one of the team's top defenseman for draft picks that wouldn't help next season or sign him for as much as $1.5 million more than desired.

This move is just the latest of many made by Tampa Bay in the past few months. The entire organization has been through many changes – all aimed at reversing the misfortune of being the worst team in the NHL last year.

Dan Boyle
Tampa's #1 D-Man dealt to San Jose

Shortly before the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, the league's board of governors approved the sale of the Lightning to an investment group led by Oren Koules and Len Barrie. Previous to that, though with their fingerprints very much all over the move, head coach John Tortorella was fired after six and a half very successful seasons with the franchise that included a Stanley Cup victory in 2004. Tortorella was later replaced with Barry Melrose on June 24 after 13 years out of the head coaching game. On July 11, the architect of the Cup winning team in 2004, Jay Feaster, stepped down after over five years as general manager – a position that is still vacant today.

As for the on-ice product, there will be a lot of new faces wearing the bolt across their chest this upcoming season. The Lightning landed the first overall pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and didn't hesitate to grab forward Steve Stamkos, who has since signed his three-year rookie deal and should skate as a top six forward. On the trade front, the Lightning dealt for the rights to Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts from the Pittsburgh Penguins before the two hit the unrestricted market on July 1. Both players ended up signing, unlike Brian Rolston, who Tampa Bay also traded for the rights to but weren't able to get a deal agreed upon. On July 4, the Lightning partnered up with the Sharks in a trade that sent defensemen Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich to San Jose in exchange for defensemen Matt Carle, Ty Wishart, a first round pick in 2009 (which was dealt to Ottawa in the Meszaros trade) and a fourth rounder in the same draft. On the unrestricted market, the Lightning added forwards Radim Vrbata, Adam Hall, Mark Recchi, Brandon Bochenski, David Koci and Wyatt Smith, defenseman Steve Hutchinson and goaltender Olaf Kolzig. Now, we can add Meszaros to the list of newbies.

On top of that, the Lightning inked their captain, Vincent Lecavalier to an 11-year extension worth $85 million that should see him retire in Tampa Bay.

No position has gone through as much of a facelift as defense. The Lightning have swapped out Boyle, Lukowich, Kuba and Picard for Meszaros, Carle, Hutchinson and Wishart. Some depth has certainly been lost there and the team went a bit younger on the blue line. But Meszaros, Carle and Hutchinson should join Paul Ranger, Shane O'Brien and Mike Lundin to form a decent group. There will definitely be some kinks and the front office will need to monitor the situation closely because this group doesn't call for as much confidence as one containing Boyle, Lukowich and Kuba. They definitely deserve a chance, though. And, at the root of it all, the entire Lightning team is going to need some time to develop a system and some chemistry considering all the changes made.

As they grow together, I think this blue line core will develop some leadership from Meszaros. He might not become the team's new No. 1, but he has solid all-around abilities to land on the top unit. He can play in all situations, has 35-plus point and 10-plus goal ability and plays well in his own zone. And, he hasn't missed a single game of his NHL career. Undoubtedly, Meszaros still has some growing to do. But at 22, he's already playing great hockey and has the potential to outplay the $4 million he'll make on average over the next six seasons (which will do wonders when he can become an unrestricted free agent at 28.)

Regardless of his potential to develop into a very big defensive talent, the Senators made a good move. Since they also lost Wade Redden, the Senators could have easily just upped their offer to $4.5 million per year to Meszaros out of desperation. But Murray took a stand and landed two serviceable defensemen in the form of Kuba and Picard on top of a first round draft pick. With Chris Phillips, Jason Smith and Kuba leading the charge, the Senators' defense is very questionable. But, Murray did what he felt he needed to do and I think he made the right move. He just needs to keep his eyes open for ways to improve to the blue line with just under $5 million available in cap space remaining.

Photo Credit: Dan Boyle – www.sptimes.com

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~ Neil Borenstein