Bill Meltzer: Meltzer's Musings: Finding a Fit for Lecavalier
- bmeltzer
Without reading Bill's blog I wanna give my opinion of Lecavalier's role on the team without any influence.
Lecavalier's role to me is no different from Danny Briere. He's basically a bigger, stronger Danny Briere. Briere played with Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn and now Lecavalier...should have. All this confusion of whether or not Schenn should play center or wing should have been resolved long before Tampa Bought out Vinny, because this question has been an issue the past two seasons prior to this one.
Many openly admit that they never liked the Lecavalier signing but I've always felt the signing was a bargain and necessary. A year ago we failed to make the playoffs due to weakness and inexperience at center. Outside of Giroux, we were awful at faceoffs. Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier and Max Talbot were not getting the job done. So Homer rightfully brought in the experience of Adam Hall and Vincent Lecavalier.
Now, I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion but Vincent Lecavalier was brought in for secondary scoring at center. He's spend his entire career in Tampa playing center. It's not Homer's fault or even Lecavalier's fault that Berube has kept him on the wing for at least half of his season when healthy. I feel it was no accident that Vinny began to play well on the fourth line once he was finally placed in his rightful position. I don't think him having chemistry on the fouth line had anything to do with it because Vinny saw time with Hall, Rinaldo, McGinn and Rosehill in this span. I just think it just had more to do with him playing where he belonged.
You know, it's funny. I felt near the end of the season that Schenn and Simmonds looked like complete nonfactors more often then not five on five without Lecavalier. I thought Lecavalier completely out played them both in the playoffs until Simmonds scored a Hat Trick in game 6. Then again Simmonds does most of his damage on the Power Play. I felt Lecavalier played better then a lot of players in the playoffs. These names include Brayden Coburn, Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen (who I felt was the worst player on the team).
I'm fine with Vincent Lecavalier. I feel if he had was able to stay healthy, he would have been even better then he was. The guy still managed to pot 20 goals even with the miserable season he's had with a limited role and three different injuries. I tip my hat to him.
Personally I blame a number of issues the team has on Chief. The team has heavily relied on the Power Play this season for wins. The PP was 10th in the league. Great on the road, crap at home. I believe Berube should have tried something different. With Timonen likely to retire, this team is in a transition period. Why not put Mark Streit on this first unit? He was brought here to post points and he's done so but probably could have done more if seeing regular first unit time. Vincent Lecavalier in my opinion could be much more effective then Scott Hartnell on the PP. Lecavalier easily has the best shot on the team and I believe had the best shooting percentage on the team during the regular season.
Now obviously Craig Berube isn't entirely to blame for the team's lack of success but I am seeing a lot of John Stevens in him. I didn't like Stevens as a coach here. His lack of emotion and not screaming at the team when they deserved it, really rubs me the wrong way. It makes me feel like these two guys ( Stevens, Berube) are letting the players off the hook. I really miss Peter Laviolette. I miss him screaming to a point where his face turned red, punching Ville Leino's helmet and calling time outs at key times because he never stopped coaching. it's just a shame that he couldn't adjust his system to be more defensive.
What's definitely apparent, the team has to start outworking the other team. From my understanding, you seriously had to be in shape to play Lavy's system and even Lavy himself did drills with the team.
I digress.
I think many expect Vinny to magically be traded this offseason. Sure a team like Toronto could use a number one center but it's not that simple. I believe Lecavalier has a No-trade of some sort and no matter what, he's in the driver seat of where he wants to play. Whether it be here or wherever he feels comfortable playing. The only player I think it's time to move on from is 6 million dollar, 39 year old Kimmo Timonen for the good of the team and for the good of Kimmo's future. I love Kimmo Timonen but we've rested him quiet a bit this season at times, during big games no less. To me, that's not a good sign. Sorry, Hockey is a business and I don't think the haters can just wish Vinny away. What I do know, after watching what Justin Williams, Patrick Sharp, Jeff Carter, Ben Eager and most recently Dan Carcillo have done to us in recent years, I'd live and die with our youth.
