'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
When the Tampa Bay Lightning earned the right to pick first overall in the 2008 draft, "Seen Stamkos?" billboards went up all around the area. It was no secret that Steven Stamkos was their guy, set to become the face of the franchise.
It has been one unbelievable "M*A*S*H" kind of year for the Lightning, with injuries contributing to a season that started with lofty expectations but went off the rails. But Tampa Bay is suddenly getting healthier — getting back the likes of Victor Hedman, Tom Pyatt and Ryan Shannon perhaps just in time.
Coach Bruce Boudreau likes to say that good things happen when your best players play like it. Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin are those guys for the Washington Capitals.
"Of course you want your key guys playing. You got guys like Ryan Malone, of course you want him playing. It's a great help to us; he's a great leader," Lecavalier said. "Heddy, he played 28, 29 minutes a game. Of course you want him there. And Ohlie. They're not there, you've got to battle through it."
