Tampa Bay Lightning

The Tampa Tribune’s Erik Erlendsson is reporting Jeff Halpern's knee injury he sustained in the USA's 5-4 loss to Canada Tuesday at the World Championships is a ruptured ACL of his right knee in addition to a Grade III sprain to his MCL and a slight tear to the lateral meniscus.

Erlendsson reports the USA captain will wait 4-6 weeks to allow the MCL injury to heal before undergoing reconstructive surgery on the ACL tendon. He is expected to miss 5-6 months of action from the time of the surgery on the ACL, which means the earliest Halpern could return to action would be late December or early January.

For those pundits in hockey land who were suggesting that perhaps the Lightning should trade their number one pick to pursue a defenseman, or a goaltender, or some other patently stupid idea that would neglect the giant, gaping hole the team has at the second line center position, the Lightning have launched seenstamkos.com as part of an overall marketing campaign heading into next season.

Hmmmm, I wonder what Tampa Bay is going to do on draft day?

It's the most suspenseful #1 pick in a major sport since Jake Long.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are reporting that the organization has reassigned Norfolk Admirals head coach Steve Stirling to be the Lightning's new full time NCAA scout. Lightning General Manager Jay Feaster also confirmed that that the organization has decided not to exercise its option on Admirals assistant coach Darren Rumble. A search for a new Norfolk head coach will commence upon completion of the sale of the Lightning franchise to OK Hockey headed by Oren Koules.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, NHL parent club of the Norfolk Admirals, have announced the signing of forward Paul Szczechura (pronounced sha-HER-a) to a two-year contract, Lightning Executive Vice President & General Manager Jay Feaster announced today.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound native of Belleville, Ontario scored 14 goals in 24 games with the Admirals last season after netting two in 29 games with the Iowa Stars to start the season. He was acquired from Iowa on January 15 in exchange for future considerations and netted points in his first ten games as an Admiral. He was tied for third on the Admirals in goals with 16 and was seventh in points with 31. He led all Norfolk rookies in scoring and was tied for the team lead with three game-winning goals.

Damian Crisdotero is reporting in his blog that the Lightning are in talks with Russian forward and Bolt Prospects alumni Evgeny Artyukhin. Artyukhin has spent the past two seasons in the Russian Superleague after leaving the NHL due to a prolonged contract dispute with the Lightning.