Tampa Bay Lightning Tickets

Tampa Bay Lightning 2010-11 Season Preview The Tampa Bay Lightning were among the worst teams in the Eastern Conference last year despite playing in one of the league's easiest divisions. Can they turn things around and be a playoff contender in 2010-2011?

The Lightning have brought in former NHL coach and ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose to try and turn things around. His last coaching gig did not last very long at all, so there is a lot of trepidation with this move.

Tampa Bay was dead last in goals scored last season and sat in the middle of the pack in points surrendered. They went out and added some offensive pieces in the offseason, but Melrose's previous teams have all strugged when it comes to holding down the opposing offense.

The result could be losing a lot of high-scoring games as opposed to a lot of low-scoring games. I'm not sure that's the type of improvement the team is looking for.

The goaltending will come down to the inexperienced Mike Smith and veteran Olie Kolzig. Kolzig was at one time one of the league's top goaltenders, but that was more than a decade ago. This is definitely an era of weakness for the Lightning.

The Lightning won't be any worse than last year, but they might not be any better, either. It's hard to see Tampa Bay making the postseason, which means Melrose might be hanging out with his pals at ESPN in no-time.