Lecavalier

Last year we said we'd had enough of that "young and inexperienced" excuse. This year, we mean it. Never mind that ex-Flyer Ruslan Fedotenko (23) and the Holik-esque Alexander Svitov (19) join Vinny Lecavalier and Brad Richards (both 22) up front. Lecavalier was replaced as captain with team elder Dave Andreychuk (a doddering 39), so Vinny will be free to work on cracking that elusive 25-goal mark.

	The Big Question
	Q: How important is it for Vincent Lecavalier and coach John Tortorella to play nice? For Lecavalier and Tortorella to get along, Lecavalier has to buy into the system. He's one player, he's not the entire team. But if Tampa is going to do anything, a lot of it has to come from Lecavalier. He needs to produce the way the Lightning expected, or they're going to have to trade him. Lecavalier made some good strides at the end of last year and played much better. Tampa was much happier with him by the end of the season. I think he's a great young player with a tremendous amount of talent and I would expect him to have a good year. -- Ray Ferraro
	Good: We're ready to give Vincent Lecavalier the benefit of one more season to prove himself. Will he be like Alexander Daigle? The talent is clearly there, and he might just need a new start elsewhere, but taking a gamble on a 30-goal guy could pay off. Bad: As a defenseman, Ben Clymer put up nice numbers last year. This time around he's a winger and those ordinary numbers will look, well, ordinary. Another 34-point season won't help you much. -- Eric Karabell
	Top Prospect
	Nikita Alexeev, LW A very large winger, taken No. 8 overall in 2001, Alexeev split last season between the NHL Lightning and Springfield, not looking like he was ready at either level. Looks to need a full year in the minors, anyway.
	Minors Outlook
	Springfield Falcons New owners, new coach Marty McSorley, and original Falcon Rob Murray are in, but it will be the same affiliates and same problems for Springfield, which has missed the playoffs for two straight seasons. Top scorer Jean-Guy Trudel departed and neither parent team, the Lightning or Coyotes, has much depth. -- Bill Ballou

Forwards One can't help but wonder how Vincent Lecavalier would do on a good team. True, he registered his worst offensive output since his rookie year, but so would you if your ice time fluctuated between 11 minutes and 22 minutes in a single season. As a whole, they are young, inconsistent and inexperienced. Individually, they may be a tad better, but it's difficult to gauge. Martin St. Louis and Fredrik Modin were each leading the team when they fell out of the lineup with season-ending injuries, leaving Brad Richards, Vaclav Prospal and Dave Andreychuk to carry the load and giving some players more ice time than they'd see anywhere else on the planet. Quality may be thin, but depth is even thinner. Former Flyer Ruslan Fedotenko will help, but Andre Roy and Chris Dingman are more for physical presence than offensive production. Eastern Conference Position Ranking: T13th Defensemen Ranking the Lightning's defensemen would require naming all of them. Not that we didn't know who they were, it's just that outside of Pavel Kubina, Jassen Cullimore (five seasons each) and Cory Sarich (three seasons), the Bolts change trade/sign defensemen like no one else in the league -- which basically tells you how good Nos. 4-6 are. Dan Boyle, who scored 20 points in 41 games after registering six in 25 with Florida, could prove to be a nice addition. Eastern Conference Position Ranking: T13th Goalie Close your eyes. Nikolai Khabibulin is one of the top 10 goalies in the world. With him, the Lightning improved by three points. A list of his possible backups include: Kevin Hodson, Evgeny Konstantinov, Brian Eklund. Combined games NHL experience: 68, all Hodson's. Fortunately, Khabibulin isn't fragile. OK, you can open them again. Eastern Conference Position Ranking: 6th

Rankings: 12th Overall
Forwards | Defensemen | Goalies

RECORD: 27-40-11-4, 69 points Rank: T24th overall T12th East 3rd Southeast Playoffs: None Home: 16-17-5-3 Road: 11-23-6-1 2001-02 results 2001-02 statistics 2002-03 schedule 2002-03 roster OFFENSE DEFENSE GOALS FOR/AVG. Overall: 178/2.17 (28th) Home: 103/2.51 (22nd) Road: 75/1.83 (29th) POWER PLAY Overall: 14.7/46-312 (20th) Home: 15.9/27-170 (19th) Road: 13.4/19-142 (22nd) GOALS AGAINST/AVG. Overall: 219/2.67 (20th) Home: 109/2.66 (22nd) Road: 110/2.68 (14th) PENALTY KILL Overall: 85.3/40-273 (13th) Home: 84.7/20-131 (16th) Road: 85.9/20-142 (7th) STATS LEADERS GOALS Brad Richards (20) Dave Andreychuk (20) Vincent Lacavalier (19) ASSISTS Richards (42) Vaclav Propsal (34) Pavel Kubina (22) POINTS Richards (62) Propsal (52) Andreychuk (37) PENALTY MINUTES Andreychuk (109) Cory Sarich (105) Kubina (96) PLUS/MINUS Martin St. Louis (+4) Jimmie Olvesta (+3) 3 tied (0) GAA (MIN. 20 GP) Nikolai Khabibulin (2.36) SAVE PERCENTAGE Khabibulin (.920) * - no longer with team