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Wednesday, September 6
Updated: September 7, 1:54 PM ET
 
Lightning to test young talent

By Charles Avellino
Special to ESPN.com

 
CAMP AT A GLANCE
 Kevin Weekes
Kevin Weekes will challenge for the No. 1 goalie position.
  Coach: Steve Ludzik
'99-00 record: 19-54-9
Camp location: Ice Sports Forum (Brandon, Fla.)
Report date: Sept. 9

Preseason schedule:
Sept. 16: Carolina (Ft. Myers, Fla.)
Sept. 17: Carolina
Sept. 19: Washington
Sept. 21: Florida
Sept. 26: Florida (Ft. Myers, Fla.)

Despite a 54-loss campaign, Tampa Bay GM Rick Dudley stood relatively pat during the offseason. Dudley did make one key move by acquiring goalie Kevin Weekes and defenseman Kristian Kudroc from the Islanders in exchange for draft picks. Obviously, Dudley feels he has a good foundation which needs to grow a little more. He's banking on young forwards like Vincent Lecavalier, Fredrik Modin and Mike Johnson to continue improving -- while at the same time hoping prospects like Kudroc, Dmitri Afanasenkov, Brad Richards and Ryan Johnson can push for jobs in training camp.

Here's a look at the rest of Tampa Bay's training camp.

Biggest question mark: Offense
Lecavalier, Modin and M. Johnson each scored 20-plus goals last season, but there is not one other forward at camp who accomplished that feat in '99-00. Wayne Primeau, Brian Holzinger, Todd Warriner and Jaroslav Svejkovsky need to prove in training camp that they can score. Holzinger and Warriner will be expected to score at least 20 apiece, while the Lightning hope the other two get in the 15-goal range.

Biggest position battle: Goalie, Defense
Dan Cloutier was brought in to be the No. 1 netminder prior to last season, but after going 9-30-3 with a 3.49 GAA last season, his status is shaky.

Enter Weekes.

The 25-year-old played in a combined 56 games last season for Vancouver and the Islanders, posting a mark of 16-27-8 with a 3.23 GAA. The duo will battle it out for the No. 1 position.

Meanwhile, a total of 16 different defensemen stepped on the ice for Tampa Bay last season. Pavel Kubina, Petr Svoboda, Cory Sarich and Andrei Zyuzin are locked into the first four spots, but after that, it will be a scramble to fill the other three. Candidates include Ben Clymer, Bryan Muir, Sergey Gusev, Jassen Cullimore, Paul Mara and Marek Posmyk. Throw darkhorse candidate Kristian Kudroc into the mix, and it's major congestion on the blue line. Look for Mara to make his move this season.

Future watch
Here, ESPN.com looks at one or two young players who could make an impact, either now or in the future.

Brad Richards (Left wing):
Richards, 20, will be given a chance to make the Lightning lineup, especially given the shortage of quality forwards these days in Tampa Bay. The left wing notched an incredible 186 points in Canadian juniors last season.

Sheldon Keefe (Right wing):
Tampa Bay's first choice (47th overall) in the '99 draft scored 99 goals in his first two seasons playing in the OHL. The only concern with Keefe is his size (5-feet-10, 176 pounds) and whether he can withstand the pounding in the NHL.

Training camp roster
Goaltenders: Dan Cloutier, Dieter Kochan, Evgeny Konstantinov, Alexander Polukeyev, Kevin Weekes.

Defensemen: Kaspars Asthtashenko, Ben Clymer, Jassen Cullimore, Aaron Gionet, Sergey Gusev, Michael Jones, Kyle Kos, Pavel Kubina, Kristian Kudroc, Mikko Kuparinen, Mario Larocque, Paul Mara, Bryan Muir, Marek Posmyk, Cory Sarich, Brett Scheffelmaier, Kenton Smith, Petr Svoboda, Mark Thompson, Andrei Zyuzin.

Forwards: Dmitry Afansenkov, Nikita Alexeev, Martin Cibak, Stan Drulia, Gordie Dwyer, Nils Ekman, Matt Elich, Fedor Fedorov, Kyle Freadrich, Dwayne Hay, Brian Holzinger, Mike Johnson, Ryan Johnson, Sheldon Keefe, Dan Kesa, Alexander Kharitonov, Vincent Lecavalier, Steve Martins, Fredrik Modin, Wayne Primeau, Brad Richards, Dale Rominski, Pavel Sedov, Samuel St. Pierre, Jan Sulc, Jaroslav Svejkovsky, Thomas Ziegler.

Charles Avellino is a lead NHL researcher at ESPN.





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