Update: Lots for the Lightning

Given all of the movements made by the Tampa Bay Lightning's new ownership last season, with the team drafting Steven Stamkos first overall and signing such free agents as Olaf Kolzig, Ryan Malone, Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts, the 2008-09 edition of the Tampa Bay Lightning provided the target-rich hockey-hounding environment.

Forget Vinny Lecavalier's abysmal season, a foggy Mike Smith, the revolving door on defense and, unfortunately, executive office in-fighting. The team, despite its foibles, still carried quality NHL players. Why that talent couldn't jell, that's not my job. That's a question better left to Lightning brass.

Still, hounding the Lightning provided a backbeat to the 2008-09 campaign. Trips were made in bunches, during training camp and clustered throughout the season. All in all, three Lightning-specific themes rounded out the collection: a team jersey, adding 32; a team helmet, a somewhat disappointing effort with only six signatures; and, of course, a bunch of pucks.

Going into last season, I figured to add 75 pucks from the Lightning alone. Didn't make it. Not even close:

Len Barrie (co-owner): Lightning and Kamloops Blazers

Brandon Bochenski: Lightning

Matt Carle: Lightning and San Jose Sharks (no longer with team)

Steve Downie: Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers

Steve Eminger: Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals new

Adam Hall: Lightning, Nashville Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins

Riku Helenius: Lightning

Andrew Hutchinson: Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes (no longer with team

Olaf Kolzig: Lightning, Lightning Prague Premiere game-dated, Washington Capitals new logo, Washington Capitals eagle, Washington Capitals original logo, 2000 NHL All Star Game, Washington Capitals 25th anniversary, 1998 NHL All Star Game, Rochester Americans, Portland Pirates and Tri-City Americans

(Editor's note: A special tip of Hound Central 4.0's battered Cooper SK600 to Olie the Goalie. For what it's worth, he's a class act.)

Oren Koules (co-owner): Lightning and Saw DVD cover

Lukas Krajicek: Lightning and Vancouver Canucks

Tom Kurvers (co-assistant GM): Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils (Never saw him)

Brian Lawton (director of hockey operations): Lightning and Minnesota North Stars

Vincent Lecavalier: Lightning three-stripe, Lightning Prague Premiere game-dated, 2009 NHL All Star Game, 2008 NHL All Star Game and Notre Dame Hounds (at left)

Claude Loiselle (co-assistant GM): Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils and Quebec Nordiques

Ryan Malone: Lightning

Barry Melrose: Lightning, NHL 2Nite, Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and Winnipeg Jets (No longer with team)

Andrej Meszaros: Lightning

Vinny Prospal: Philadelphia Flyers

Kari Ramo: Tampa Bay Lightning-Norfolk Admirals (at left), Norfolk Admirals and Springfield Falcons

Mark Recchi: Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal Canadiens and Kamloops Blazers

Gary Roberts: Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins

Matt Smaby: Lightning, Tampa Bay Lightning-Norfolk Admirals first year affiliation, Norfolk Admirals and Springfield Falcons

Mike Smith: Lightning, Lightning Prague Premiere game-dated, Dallas Stars and Utah Grizzlies

Martin St. Louis: 2009 NHL All Star Game

Steven Stamkos: Lightning, Lightning three-stripe, 2009 NHL All Star Game, Lightning Prague Premiere game-dated, NHL practice puck, Team Canada and Sarnia Sting

Rick Tocchet (interim head coach): Lightning, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes and Phoenix Coyotes geodesic design

Mike Vernon (special assistant to Brian Lawton): Lightning, Calgary Flames, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, San Jose Sharks and Portland Winter Hawks (never saw him)

Radim Vrbata: Lightning, Phoenix Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks and Carolina Hurricanes (no longer with team)

Wes Walz (assistant coach): Lightning, Boston Bruins and Minnesota Wild inaugural season (at left)

Ty Wishart: Lightning, San Jose Sharks and Prince George Cougars (never saw him; hope to real soon)

I had no pucks for Jussi Jokinen (no longer with team), Jeff Halpern, Mike Lundin, Shane O'Brien (no longer with team) and Paul Ranger.

2008-09 Lots for the Lightning totals
Autographed pucks: 64
Autographed jersey: 32
Autographed helmet: 6
Autographed sticks: 2
Bottom line: 104 (or 10.3 percent of Hound Central 4.0's noncard autographs collected during the 2008-09 NHL hounding campaign)

Editor's note: This list originally appeared on Hound Central 3.0.

Getting closer

Now that we're in the final week of the 2008-09 hockey-hounding season down here in Hockey Bay, we're turning our attention to certain work-in-progress projects. In this case, it's the Lightning team jersey.

Given the team's imperfect season, one might reason the need for such an item. Beyond the new Big Three -- Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis and Steven Stamkos -- there are few household names in the Lightning lineup. Maybe that's why the Lightning will miss the playoffs for the second straight year.

No, the reward here will be the depth of the project. Nearly 50 players, including 21 defenseman have donned a Lightning sweater this season. That, to me, makes it a project. To date, we've added 32 signatures, including these two Tuesday:

The jersey wouldn't be complete, no matter the number of signatures, without one from Stamkos. Don't have to worry about that anymore.

Defenseman Matt Lashoff, acquired from Boston with Martins Karsums for Mark Recchi in a trade-deadline deal.

Also signing Tuesday around the team's morning skate were Adam Hall and Cory Murphy (again, my mistake), call-ups Brandon Bochenski, Karsums, Zenon Konopka and Vladimir Mihalik.

A cure for cabin fever

After spending nearly 12 hours Wednesday glued to my computer and TV for the NHL trade deadline day coverage, I needed to get out of the house today, heading over to Brandon, where the Lightning were practicing.

Fresh air, bright sunshine and nearly a dozen autographs combined to make the trip well worth the time.

Besides adding these pucks from assistant coach Wes Walz, left, and newly acquired defenseman Noah Welch, I focused my attention on a few work-in-progress team jersey projects:

Center Vinny Lecavalier and winger Evgeny Artyukhin on the Lightning team jersey;

Winger Vinny Prospal on the Lightning team jersey;

Interim head coach Rick Tocchet on the Lightning team jersey;

Assistant coach Mike Sullivan on the Lightning team jersey;

Goalie Mike McKenna, who's living out his dream, on the Lightning team jersey;

Right winger Marty St. Louis on the Team Canada jersey;

Rookie forward Steven Stamkos on the Team Canada jersey; and

Center Jeff Halpern on the Team USA jersey.

Down the stretch

Like the Tampa Bay Lightning, my hockey season will end with the beginning of the NHL playoffs. Barring a miracle unknown to man, the Bolts' 2008-09 campaign will come to a merciful end when the final buzzer sounds April 11 in Atlanta.

Going into the season, my hopes were high that this would be a successful year for the Lightning. New ownership. New coach. And a kid named Steven Stamkos, who we were all stoked to see. For once, I was bitten by the Bolts bug.

Well, we all know what's happened since then. The new owners did their best to fulfill a derisive "cowboy" tag. The mulleted one lasted, what, 16 games? Only Stamkos, who has picked up his game in the past few weeks, has not become punchline material -- yet.

Despite all of this, one would think it would be easy to walk away from this team. Beyond any dealing of Vinny Lecavalier -- the face of the franchise -- my loyalty remains in check. I'm willing to give the new organization through next season before truly committing myself as a fan.

Even with the disappointment of this season, there will be no abandoning of my first full hounding foray as a fan, this season's Lots for the Lightning campaign. From the initial post and its lofty goals through last week's rain-soaked visit, the project is winding down. Beyond pucks, the main items remaining are the team jersey and helmet.

After a strong start in training camp and preseason visits, visiting NHL teams occupied my time up until the holidays. Last week's trip, after hounding the New Jersey Devils, was the first since then. I like to spread out my visits as the season progresses. Familiarity is good at the beginning, but you don't want to be a nuisance.

The jersey and helmet will receive some much-needed attention once the Lightning return from its road trip. There are a couple of three-game homestands coming up, so that should provide enough opportunity. The rest will be up to the Lightning.

Among the highlights, to date, of the Lots of the Lightning:

~ Helping the Lightning contribute to the biggest haul of the season -- 103 autographs in a day;
~ Recognizing opportunities from Vinny Lecavalier's prep school days;
~ Adding a few more autographs to the Lightning team helmet;
~ Making good use of Barry Melrose 's short stay;
~ Pulling together five autographed pucks from Stamkos;
~ Getting Matt Smaby to re-sign four pucks that didn't turn out too well in the first attempt;
~ Landing the first few signatures, including one from Marty St. Louis, on the team jersey;
~ Watching Hall of Famer Phil Esposito launch the Lightning team helmet project;
~ Snagging 41 autographs, including 14 pucks, from the Lightning in a day;
and
~ Having new faces Olaf Kolzig and Mark Recchi sign the first pucks of the campaign.

Time to hustle

With the NHL trade deadline approaching, I'll be making a concerted effort to work the Lightning team jersey and helmet projects, just in case the team's lineup changes. On Thursday, I hounded the Lightning for the first time since before the holidays.

Helping to flesh out the team jersey were Steve Eminger, David Koci and Matt Pettinger. They join Ryan Craig, Chris Gratton, Olaf Kolzig, Shane O'Brien, Michel Oullet, Karri Ramo, Paul Ranger, Martin St. Louis, Mike Smith and Jason Ward.

As usual, Kolzig, still with the team despite a season-ending injury, was more than willing to sign for a small group of hounds and fans. He signed this Tri-City Americans puck, the 12th he's added to the collection. Kolzig, who played for the Western Hockey League team during his junior days, now co-owns the club.

Among the other noteworthy events:

~ Realizing that ink, rain don't mix and most likely wasting an autograph from Vinny Lecavalier;
~ Having Steven Stamkos sign one of my photos; and
~ Getting a former University of New Hampshire player to sign the American-born goalie stick.

Paint, rain don't mix

Want to know what happens when you get caught in the rain while you're hounding? A puck signed Thursday by Tampa Bay's Vinny Lecavalier comes out with a less-than-perfect signature.

Despite the best efforts of the small group huddled under two small umbrellas, I couldn't block all of the raindrops.

Chances are, I'll use Goo-Gone to wipe away Lecavalier's signature (Oh, the horror!) and try again under sunnier conditions.

Double-duty, not dipping

To some folks, it's nothing more than double-dipping. To us, though, it's putting our time and efforts to good use. What am I talking about? I'm talking about hounding two teams in one day, something that's pretty easy to do whenever the Tampa Bay Lightning have a home game.

After hounding the visiting team before its morning skate, it's only a short walk to catch Lightning players and coaches as they leave the St. Pete Times Forum after their game-day workout.

That's what we did last Thursday, when we added an astounding total of 103 autographs to the collection after a few hounding adventures with the Colorado Avalanche and the Lightning.

After a rather successful morning with the Avs, Colin and I turned our attention, as well as our Sharpies, toward the Lightning.

Needless to say, we weren't disappointed, snagging a cool 20 autographs, including a sweet puck from Vinny Lecavalier, a magazine cover from Steven Stamkos and Colin's No. 37 Little League jersey from Olaf Kolzig.

The successes, thankfully, didn't stop there. Claude Loiselle, the team's assistant general manager, signed the Quebec Nordiques puck shown above. Interim coach Rick Tocchet signed Lightning and Coyotes pucks.

Among those signing cards, shown above from left, were Ryan Craig, Steve Eminger and Mark Recchi.

Given the good luck we've had with the Lightning as of late, as well as a need to restock, we'll likely give the Lightning a bit of a break. We'll see, though. It's hard to walk away from any opportunity.

On a roll

Given that Colin had this week off from school, it made sense to add the Tampa Bay Lightning to our hounding adventures Wednesday. And after scoring another 22 of the 25 autographs we got from the Bolts, it was apparent that his earlier luck with the Rangers would carry over.

Though he added more than a dozen cards to the collection, including four each (above) from solid signers Olaf Kolzig and Andrej Meszaros, Colin also snagged impressive signatures from Vinny Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos.

Sorry, but Marty St. Louis didn't stop this time.

Other Lightning players who signed cards Wednesday were, from left, Chris Gratton, Adam Hall and Vinny Prospal (or V20, as Colin calls him).

No hard feelings

Even though neither won a game when Tampa Bay opened its 2008-09 campaign with a pair of games in Prague, these pucks from Lightning goalies Olaf Kolzig, left, and Mike Smith make for a couple of keepers (yes, folks, the pun is most certainly intended) for the collection.

The Kolzig puck, the 500th autograph of Hound Central's 2008-09 campaign, was among the six items that Colin allowed me to get signed Wednesday. Yes, I feel guilty about it.

No shortage

If there's one thing about Tampa Bay's Mark Recchi, hounds should never have a hard time finding something for him to sign.

Seeing that he's a big name (scoring 500 goals helps with that), has also played for Atlanta, Carolina, Montreal, Philadelphia (twice) and Pittsburgh (twice), and has rookie cards in sets from 1990, I'll have plenty of items for as long as he's with the Lightning.

Despite getting Recchi to sign this Flyers puck and one other card Wednesday, I still need him on a current Penguins puck.

Mixing it up

There are days within hounding that you simply have to grind it out, putting in the time it takes to round out a collection. That's why after snagging 26 autographs on a Florida Panthers team helmet yesterday, I turned my attention toward the Lightning, bringing an assortment of pucks, cards and a team helmet for the team.

Though I may not have scored autographs from all of Tampa Bay's latest Big Three, snagging nearly a dozen signed cards, including four each from Paul Ranger and Lukas Krajicek, is nothing to sneeze at. Sure, it would've been nice, but it's highly unlikely to get Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis and Steven Stamkos to sign on the same day.

Beyond the cards, those adding to the work-in-progress Lightning team helmet yesterday were Evgeny Artyukhin, Chris Gratton, Adam Hall, Andrej Meszaros and Radim Vrbata.

For the record, an earlier autograph from Michel Ouellet, now with the Vancouver organization, was removed.

All told, the Lightning, including Gary Roberts and Stamkos, added another 19 autographs to the collection.

And, yes, another member of the Big Three did stop to sign, but Santa asked me to keep who it was under my hat.

Another nice memento

It's not too often that you get the NHL's top draft pick to sign a game-dated puck of his NHL debut, but this Prague Premiere puck worked real nice for Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos.

I'd heard Stamkos was getting tougher with signing, but this was the second item Stamkos signed in less than a week.

A bit of advice, though: Stick to one or two items. Offering more than that will likely lead to getting shot down.

Get them while you can

It's not that I'm saying Tampa Bay's Gary Roberts is old or anything, but I believe it's always best to load up on players nearing the end of their career. Dating to his days with the Carolina Hurricanes, Roberts has now signed seven pucks for the collection.

On second thought

It was almost an afterthought to bring items for the Tampa Bay Lightning to sign Thursday, but I'm glad I made that call. Though we were primarily hounding the Detroit Red Wings, Colin and I put our relatively short time with the Lightning to good use.

All told, we probably spent less than 30 minutes trying to get autographs from the Lightning. In that time, though, we scored another 18 signatures, including a Sarnia Sting hat signed by the Bolts' star-in-training Steven Stamkos.

Besides Stamkos, other Bolts who signed yesterday were Evgeny Artyukhin (shown above), Steve Eminger, Marek Malik, Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts.

Eminger, the team's most recent acquisition for its turnstile-like blueline, added to the puck collection by signing these Lightning, Flyers and new-look Capitals pucks. This trio brought our Eminger collection to 10, dating to his days playing for the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League.

Those signing cards were, from left, Artyukhin, Malik, Recchi and Roberts.

For the day, and this includes our efforts with the Red Wings, we added another 46 autographs to our collection.

Solid start

I swear I'm not being greedy, but these eight pucks from Tampa Bay's Olaf Kolzig, picked up over the past month at informal skates and training camp, represent 75 percent of my want list.

Coming into this season, Kolzig represented one of the bigger needs in the collection. Before these, all we had were two Washington Capitals eagle logo pucks. Foolishly, both were the same. The collection is much more diversified now.

Though I'd still like to add the Bolts' Prague Premiere, World Cup, German Olympic team, Portland Pirates and Tri-City Americans pucks, I'll wait a few months before approaching Kolzig again. He's a gracious signer, but there's plenty of time. The season hasn't even started.

Even if I never get another puck from Kolzig, this should stand as a pretty solid representation of his career.

We'll take these

With the Tampa Bay Lightning's training camp coming to a close, the past few days were spent trying to get the players who may or may not start the season with the team.

In a sense, then, a beggar shouldn't be a chooser. You're happy with what you get -- from big-name players right on down to kids being sent back to the juniors.

In this case, though, the motivation was to put a bigger dent in the seasonlong Lots of the Lightning project. And, as you can see, the rest of the wish list got a little shorter.

The pucks came from Riku Helenius, Tampa Bay Lightning old logo puck; and Olaf Kolzig, 2000 NHL All Star Game and Washington Capitals eagle pucks. The card, signed by injured center Jeff Halpern, came from one of two four-card strips given away at the end of the 2007-08 season.

Taking it easy

After knocking out most of my to-do list for the Tampa Bay Lightning's new guys and prospects, I really didn't have all that much for the full squad scrimmage Thursday at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.

Coming into camp, my game plan was to focus on the new guys -- because there are so many -- and prospects -- because they won't be here all that long -- as much as possible in the early going.

With certain players, from Vinny Lecavalier to Gary Roberts to Matt Carle, assured of a roster spot, I have all season for the Lightning.

That's why this puck signed by Steven Stamkos is the only true highlight of this morning's effort.

Other signers this morning were:

~ Ryan Malone on four cards;
~ Brandon Bochenski on three cards;
~ Adam Hall, on a Nashville Predators puck, and Andrew Hutchinson, on a Carolina Hurricanes puck; and
~ (shown above, from left) Riku Helenius, Radek Smolenak, Vladimir Milhalik, Andy Rogers, Jussi Jokinen and Karri Ramo on a team sheet from last night's radio show.

I'll be back out Friday morning, looking to button up the prospects. I haven't seen Ty Wishart, part of the Dan Boyle deal with San Jose, in camp yet, so he's at the top of the wish list.

Good suggestion

An old friend of mine once told me that the blog needed more pictures of players signing autographs.

I imagine this -- Hall of Famer and Bolts radio color guy Phil Esposito putting the first signature on my Lightning team helmet -- is just what he was talking about.

Stop by later tomorrow. I'll have another interesting item from a future Hall of Famer.

This is more like it

Seeing that I had one of the more embarrassing mornings of my hounding career Tuesday, I wanted to come back with a strong effort as the Tampa Bay Lightning opened its 2008-09 training camp Wednesday at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.

I believe after adding 41 autographs, including 15 cards and 14 pucks (including this Stars puck from Mike Smith), I can lift my sunburned head a little higher. Granted, I made two trips, bringing Colin along to the Lightning radio show Wednesday night at the team hotel.

Besides the pucks above (clockwise, from top left): Brandon Bochenski, Adam Hall, Ryan Malone and Andrej Meszaros, these were among the day's efforts:

~ Getting one of the Lightning's co-owners to do a favor;
~ Snagging three big names at the radio show; and
~ Getting Matt Smaby to re-sign four pucks.

Among the sweeter cards were the four shown below of the 2007-08 Norfolk Admirals team set: Blair Jones, Vladimir Mihalik, Andy Rogers and Radek Smolenak. Training camp is a great, and perhaps only, time to get prospects.

God's honest truth

Among the Lightning brass taking in Wednesday's opening training camp session were co-owner Oren Koules and top hockey guy Brian Lawton.

Recognizing that I had the Holy Grail of Hounding -- time, tools and opportunity -- I asked Koules, of the Saw movies fame, if he'd sign a puck.

After Koules signed both sides of the puck (yes, both sides, but I'm not complaining), I asked whether Lawton, who pulled the "I'm-on-my-phone" card earlier in the day, would be willing to sign a couple of pucks.

Well, not only did Koules ask him, but he took them to Lawton, had him sign both, and walked them back over to the aisle.

I was stunned. I had the co-owner of the Lightning snagging some autographs for me. Now that is customer service.