Leach, Jay

The Norfolk Admirals are reporting that the Tampa Bay Lightning have traded minor league defenseman Jay Leach to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for RW minor leaguer Brandon Segal and a 2008 7th round pick.

TheAHL.com is reporting the Lightning have returned center Blair Jones and defenseman Jay Leach to Norfolk of the AHL.

I'd love a break out of how much money Blair Jones made on a per second of ice time basis in the last week. Ditto Leach. De facto Christmas bonus.

Hat tip to BP reader Sago.

Just a terrible third period as the Lightning waste a quality start by the kid.

CAR-4
TB-1

Karri Ramo stopped 33 of 35 shots faced in the loss.

First Period
Tampa Bay 0:23, Martin St. Louis 13 (Brad Richards, Shane O'Brien)
Carolina 18:04, Andrew Ladd 3 (Matt Cullen, Brandon Nolan)

Secnd Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
Carolina 9:31, Ray Whitney 17 (Cory Stillman, Frantisek Kaberle)
Carolina 19:00, Ray Whitney 18 (empty net) (Scott Walker)
Carolina 19:57, Eric Staal 17 (empty net) (Ray Whitney, Bret Hedican)

A star is born?

TOR-1
TB-2

In his first NHL start, Karri Ramo stopped 31 of 32 shots faced for the win.

First Period
NO SCORING

Second Period
Toronto 16:36, Matt Stajan 9 (Alexander Steen)
Tampa Bay 18:41, Jason Ward 5 (Vincent Lecavalier, Mike Lundin)

Third Period
Tampa Bay 19:18, Vincent Lecavalier 23 (Martin St. Louis, Shane O'Brien)

Fate played the cruel trick of scheduling my girlfriend's company's holiday party on this night, of all nights. Three years I've been covering this kid since all the way back when the only people keeping an eye on him were Karri Kettunen and the couple dozen people showing up to Lahti Pelicans Junior A games, and I have to Tivo his first NHL start? What the heck?

By Ramo standards, believe it or not, I thought he played a pretty mediocre game. He struggled with his rebound control and as far as his positioning goes I thought he played a little deep in the net and overplayed to one side on occassion. Those areas will need to improve, and my expectation is that they will.

Bottom line though, he stopped pucks. Just stop pucks. The Lightning don't need the second coming of Patrick Roy (yet). They just need someone steady who isn't going to spot the opposition cheap goals and isn't going to panic and allow one goal to snowball into giving up three or four goals in a period. He did that tonight and as long as he continues to do that, I'm willing to bet Torts will keep starting him.

Kudos to the Lightning for playing a pretty good game defensively in front of Ramo too, defensemen and forwards alike. They knew they had a rookie in net and they knew they needed to step up and hustle for the new guy. They didn't play a perfect game defensively, but when they made mistakes they generally busted their humps to rectify the situation. I don't recall any clear cut odd man rushes tonight and there weren't any breakaways, and that's how you break a rookie in. They played hard for Karri, and Karri rewarded them by making 2 goals stand up for a win.

Of course, then again, there were those final 7 minutes when suddenly it seemed like several Lightning players were suddenly brain dead (Shane O'Brien I'm looking at you) and where easy clears became unforced turnovers and harrowing moments in the Lightning zone. Scary stuff, which I suppose made Lecavalier putting the finishing touch on the 2-on-1 to win it that much more cathartic.

Mathieu Darche played 15:04 with 3 shots and 3 hits.

Mike Lundin played 15:01 and was +1 with 1 assist, 1 shot, 2 blocked shots and, as rare as a Loch Nest Monster sighting, 1 hit. Of course he also got his world absolutely rocked on a hit in the first period.

Jay Leach played 6:26 with 1 hit and 2 blocked shots in his third career NHL game. Atta boy Jay.

Blair Jones got a whopping 3 shifts and 50 seconds of ice time. In what little he's played so far, I think he's looked good on the forecheck but he's getting absolutely owned in the faceoff circles.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

According to numerous published reports it appears the Lightning will be cutting 7 players from their roster after Saturday's preseason game against the Caps. Here's my initial thoughts on the seven who will go (subject to change based on performance in the Washington game, of course):