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Lightning start rebuilding project in Prague vs. Rangers

Oct 4, 2008 - 10:01 AM NY Rangers at Tampa Bay, 12:30 pm EDT

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (Ticker) -- Four years removed from a Stanley Cup championship, the Tampa Bay Lightning hope the top overall pick and a new coach can help them forget a woeful season.

Coach Barry Melrose and rookie center Steven Stamkos will make their Lightning debuts on Saturday, when Tampa Bay faces the new-look New York Rangers in the first of two games at the O2 Arena as part of NHL Premiere 2008.

Tampa Bay finished the 2007-08 season with an NHL-worst 31 wins and, as a result, fired hot-tempered coach John Tortorella and plucked Melrose from the television studio.

Melrose coached the Los Angeles Kings from 1992-95, leading the team to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first season. Melrose, however, has not been behind the bench in 13 years, spending the majority of that time as a TV analyst.

The Lightning also won the draft lottery and snagged Stamkos, who was the consensus top pick after notching 100 goals and 97 assists in 124 games over the past two seasons with Sarnia of the Ontario Hockey League.

Tampa Bay's previous first overall pick, Vincent Lecavalier signed a lucrative 11-year contract last season. The franchise's all-time scoring leader, who also is its new captain, tallied 40 goals and 92 points in 2007-08.

The Lightning also were the most active team over the summer, bringing in the likes of Vaclav Prospal, Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi, Radim Vrbata, defensemen Andrej Meszaros and Matt Carle and veteran goaltender Olaf Kolzig.

The Rangers, who are hoping to get past the Eastern Conference semifinals this season, also made significant changes in the offseason. New York waived goodbye to captain Jaromir Jagr, Sean Avery and Martin Straka while adding Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev and defenseman Wade Redden.

A five-time All-Star, Naslund registered 25 goals and 30 assists last season with the Vancouver Canucks. Zherdev, who was acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets, is coming off his best season in which he notched 26 goals and 35 assists.

Redden, who spent his first 11 campaigns with the Ottawa Senators, will quarterback New York's power play and provide the Rangers with another scoring threat from the blue line.

While those additions should help replace the numbers produced by Jagr, they will be hard-pressed to fill in as the leader. New York also has yet to bring back veteran Brendan Shanahan, who was offered a new contract over the summer.